The opening day of the new season of the clubs’ competitions was a day of big wins.
The Champions League Qualification Round 1 started today with matches in groups A, C and D. Group B begins tomorrow.
All favorites recorded convincing wins. There wasn’t much excitement even in matches between teams that weren’t contenders for the top spots in their groups.
Primorac Kotor recorded the biggest victory of the day. The Montenegrins demolished debutant Invictum Sarajevo – 36:4.
Champions League Qualification Round 1, Day 1, results – Group A: Primorac – Invictum 36:4, ZPC Het Ravijn – Steaua 9:15, Group C: Mladost Zagreb – ENKA Istanbul 16:6, Jadran HN – EVK Zaibas 12:2, Group D: KVIK Kastrup – Banja Luka 23:8, Tourcoing – Vitoria 28:5.
2022/23 Champions League Qualification Round 1, Day 1
Group A (Nijverdal)
Primorac – Invictum 36:4 (9:2,7:1, 12:0, 8:1)
Primorac: F.Gardasevic 7, Draskovic 6, Bastrica 5, Milic 5, Crepulja 3, Sekaric 3, Stanojevic 2, Kossic 2, Gopcevic 1, Vukasovic 1, Vujosevic 1.
Invictuim Sarajevo: B.Hadzic 2, A. Hadzic 1, Krivic 1.
Het Ravijn – Steaua 9:15 (3:5, 1:4, 1:3, 4:3)
ZPC Het Ravijn: Ter Brake 3, Muller 2, Wouters 2, Karel 1, Gottemaker 1
Steaua: Moskov 5, Klikovac 3, Fulea 2, Oanta 2, Vuskovic 1, Georgescu 1, Goanta 1.
Vasas bye
Primorac Kotor, the European champion from 2009, showed no mercy to debutant in the LEN competitions Invictum Sarajevo. Besides the final score, the number of exclusions says something about the game. Primorac committed only one, and Invictum had six personal fouls.
ZPC Het Ravijn, the reigning Dutch champion and the host of the tournament, didn’t keep with Steaua for long. In the middle of the first quarter, the score was 2:2. A minute before the first break, the Dutch trailed by a goal (3:4). Then, Steaua produced a 4:0 run, earned an 8:3 lead and maintained the difference until halftime. The Romanian team, led by Montenegrins Nikola Moskov and Filip Klikovac (who both arrived this summer), had an 8-goal advantage (15:7), but the home team reduced the gap with two late goals.
Group C (Herceg Novi)
Mladost – ENKA 16:6 (4:1, 4:2, 3:0, 5:3)
HAVK Mladost: Gluhaic 4, Rakovac 3, Elez 2, Mijic 2, Fabris 2, Dadvani 1, Vrbnjak 1, Adeishvili 1.
ENKA: Baskaya 2, Ozbek 1,Duzenli 1, Yenigun 1, Obradovic 1.
Jadran HN – EVK Zaibas 12:2 (4:0, 3:1, 2:0, 3:1)
Jadran Herceg Novi: Da.Radovic 4 , M.Gardasevic 3, Caraj 2, Hadzic 1, Muscat 1, V. Radovic 1.
EVK Zaibas: Lobov 1, Jonkus 1.
KVP Novaky bye
Favorites Mladost and Jadran opened the tournament the way they wanted – with convincing wins.
Mladost ran over Turkish ENKA. Many believed that ENKA might surprise the favorites, but Mladost left no hope to the Turks. The Croats conceded only three goals in the first half. The attack worked very well, and Mladost cruised to a 10-goal victory. Maroje Gluhaic, who arrived at Mladost from Pays d’Aix this summer, was the best scorer with four goals.
Mladost – ENKA Photo by Vuk Ilic/PVK Jadran
Host Jadran recorded a 10-goal win, too. The good defense was key for Jadran’s victory. EVK Zaibas scored its first goal in the 15th minute (from a penalty), and the second just 12 seconds before the final buzzer
Group D (Mouscron – host Tourcoing)
KVIK Kastrup – Banja Luka 23:8 (5:2, 4:2, 6:1, 8:3)
KVIK Kasturp: Tafuro 4, Koska 4, Varga 4, Nozadze 3, Jensen 2, Groth 2, Hassel 2, Voldby 1, Durjasz 1.
Banja Luka: Djukic 2, Sobic 1, Ganic 1, Cosic 1, Vujkovic 1, Prastalo 1, Stevandic 1.
Tourcoing – Vitoria 28:5 (9:1, 8:2, 3:2, 8:0)
EN Tourcoing: Kujacic 5, Durik 4, D.Zivkovic 4, Krizman 3, Canonne 3, M.Brguljan 3, Dasic 3, Lepoint 2, Marzouki 1.
Vitoria Guimaraes: Ferreira Sousa 2, Oliveira Cunha 1, Mendes Teixeira 1, Lopes 1
Panionios bye
Danish champion KVIK Kastrurp beat Banja Luka, the champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina easier than expected. KVIK’s power engines were 36-year-old Italian Andrea Tafuro (a former player of Roma), who is the head coach at the same time, and Hungarians Norbert Koska and Istvan Varga. Each scored four goals.
Tourcoing Lille has high ambitions for this season. A few months ago, the French club hoped that it would get the Champions League wild card for the Preliminary Stage, but Tourcoing didn’t receive it and have to find the way to the Main Round through qualifications. Tourcoing’s first hurdle on their way wasn’t high. Vitoria, the Portuguese champion, isn’t in the same class as the French team, which signed several excellent reinforcements this summer. The best scorer was a player who isn’t a newcomer. Drazen Kujacic, who joined Tourcoing three years ago, scored five goals.
Day 2 (September 30)
Group A: Vasas – Invictum (18:30), ZPC HET Ravijn – Primorac (20:30)
Group B (Oradea): Savona – Galatasaray (18:00), Oradea – ASA Tel Aviv (19:30)
Group C: EVK Zaibas – Mladost (10:00), KVP Novaky – Enka (12:00), Mladost – KVP Novaky (17:00), Jadran HNN – ENKA (19:00)
Group D: Panionios – KVIK Kastrup (09:00), Tourcoing – Banja Luka (11:30), KVIK Kastrup – Vitoria (16:00),Banja Luka – Panionios (18:00)
All times are local
