 AEK eager to reach new heights for Greek handball
The new Greek champions AEK prepare for the upcoming season, which should become a breakthrough campaign in the history of the team from Athens. The club with a rich football tradition want to make step forward and write a new chapter of handball story in this Mediterranean country.
An ambitious businessman and a devoted AEK fan Dimitris Lazopoulos has made decision to invest in the club on long-term basis and has big plans for the future.
“Our vision is to see our team among the elite of European handball. We wish to participate at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 and also to win the trophy in the next few years. Our ambition for the upcoming season is to meet with the strong established teams and gather as much experience as possible. That will help us for the future,“ Lazopoulos said for ehfCL.com
Although their league rivals and dethroned champions Diomidis Argous claimed the Challenge Cup trophy in 2012, A.E.K president knows that similar achievements of Greek handball on the club or the national level are few and far between over the past years.
“I am aware that the reputation of Greek handball isn’t very good, but starting from this year, our club, the biggest one in Greece with over 1.5 million fans, wants to change that.
"A.E.K wants to upgrade handball in Greece. My decision to invest in handball was based on the true love for my team, what he represents in the society and dream to see how our trophies make our fans proud,” added Lazopoulos.
New players, new ambitions
A.E.K coach Yiannis Arvanitis is satisfied with the list of newcomers and roster for the upcoming season.
“We made several good signings. The problem was that only two foreign players can play in domestic championship, so we tried to sign some experienced Greek players as Sanikis, Karypidis, Tsilibaris and two experienced foreigners – Mladen Rakcević from RK Metalurg and Petar Žujović from RK Partizan,” he said.
"Our wish is also to promote some talented domestic players as left back Nikolaidis and playmaker Koumaradelis. The most important thing is that we didn’t make a lot of changes in our roster so it will be easier to make team spirit. Team roster is consisted from 10 experienced and 10 young players,” Arvanitis added.
During summer only two players left the team, Balomenos and Noumidis, and all should be set to meet ambitious expectations for the upcoming season. To defend domestic trophies and to qualify for the VELUX EHF Champions League. Their rival in the qualification tournament semi-final in Slovak city of Prešov will be the Belarusian champion Dinamo Minsk.
“Our goals are to win the double crown in Greece and to qualify for the Champions League. We know that our chances aren’t big against Dinamo taking into account the list of players who signed contract in Minsk. No matter, we wil be ready to give them a good fight.
“Also Tatran and Besiktas have good chances to qualify for the elite competition. If we miss out on qualifying, our next goal will be to win a place in the EHF Cup Group Phase,“ concluded Arvanitis.
TEXT: Žika Bogdanović / br
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