A week before the start of the LEN Euro Cup, Trieste announced that it wouldn’t participate in this competition due to the problems with COVID-19.
The Italian club was drawn into a very strong group with Mladost (Croatia), Primorac (Montenegro), and Eger (Hungary). Mladost is the host, the tournament will be played in Zagreb.
Trieste has had many infected players in the last few weeks. Only seven players were present at yesterday’s training. After considering the situation, the club decided to withdraw from the LEN Euro Cup.
Trieste has never played in the LEN competitions. The tournament in Zagreb was supposed to be Trieste’s debut on the European stage.
The club’s announcement:
“Pallanuoto Trieste will not play in the Euro Cup. This is the difficult decision taken by the club leaders after several days of deep reflection. The great pride and the enormous desire to participate, for the first time in the history of the Pallanuoto Trieste in a continental club competition, are broken in the face of a health situation that has become complicated over the last few weeks.
The positivity that emerged following the numerous and detailed checks on Covid-19 carried out by the team forced many athletes to a prolonged stop. They aren’t fully recovered, and making them play in these conditions is a risk that Pallanuoto Trieste has no intention of taking. The protection of our members’ health is more important than any competition. It is more important even than the competition that all of us – staff, athletes, fans, enthusiasts – have been waiting for for a long time.
We get back to work with even more determination than before. The goal is to return to Europe next season.”
