NEWS: All four participants of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 have arrived in Cologne
Boarding complete in the team hotel
If the first to come is the last to leave – then the question on the VELUX EHF Champions League 2017/18 winners is already answered: Already on Thursday morning, the defending champions HC Vardar were the first to arrive at the team hotel Radisson Blu at Cologne, only some hundred metres away from LANXESS arena, where the Vardar stars want to become the first team to defend their title on Sunday.
Of course, all those everlasting memories came back to Arpad Sterbik & Co, when they had checked-in this hotel again, one year after beating Paris in the final – with hundreds of fans celebrating outside.
The first thing Vardar – and of course all following teams – saw, was the reason, why they are at Cologne: the unique and coveted trophy, which will be handed over by EHF President Michael Wiederer on Sunday.
While Vardar already had lunch at the team hotel, the three French sides, which made it to the VELUIX EHF FINAL4, arrived in the evening. Second and third were the debutants Montpellier HB and HBC Nantes, while last year’s finalists Paris Saint-Germain were the last to come.
The whole hotel lobby saw a great gathering and welcoming of the big stars, who will be opponents on court this weekend. Some received their room cards in the team hotel for the first time, others like German Dominik Klein are very used to stay for three nights at the Radisson Blu, as he is part of the event for the eighth time already.
Right on Friday morning, even before the media call at the team hotel, Montpellier and Vardar – the participants of the second semi on Saturday (18:00 hrs. local time, live on ehfTV.com) - will have their first training sessions, while Nantes and PSG, who will clash in the first semi on Saturday (15:15 hrs. local time, live on ehfTV.com), will have their training sessions in the afternoon.
TEXT:
Björn Pazen / br