On opening day of a new Champions League season and the first of three days of competition in the first qualification round some nice results were posted already with the top spots in group B and C up for grabs after draws by the favourites on Friday. In Valletta it was Vojislav Cupic who saved the day for Romanian champion CSM Oradea by scoring the equaliser in the final second of the match against Sport Management Verona for the 11-11 tie; his only goal of the game. As Budva defeated home side Valletta 5-9, the Montenegrins are now leading the group after day 1.
Meanwhile in group C, played in Tbilisi, it was OSC Budapest who had to tie in their match-up with German squad Waspo 98 Hannover who came back nicely from trailing 4-1 at half-time and even led 6-7 with under 2 minutes remaining before Bence Batori netted the 7-7 equalising goal with 1.34 remaining after which both sides could not manage to score anymore. Marseille now leads group C after Friday's competition topping hosts Lokomotiv Tbilisi where even 2000 Olympics silver medal winner Revaz Chomakhidze played, 9-17 behind 5 goals from lefthander Ugo Crousillat.
In Herceg Novi home team Jadran did a nice job by beating Mladost 7-5 thanks to new acquisitions Nikola Janovic and Miroslav Radnic who scored 2 goals each to lead their team to a nice and important 2-goal win in the competitive group. Euro Cup champion Spartak Volgograd topped Montpellier 18-12 in a goal-scoring festival to also post a win on day 1 of the Champions League first qualification round.
Champions League 2015-2016
Qualification Round 1
Group A (in Herceg Novi)
Friday 04-09:
Spartak Volgograd (RUS) vs. Montpellier (FRA) 18-12 (4-3, 3-3, 5-1, 6-5)
Spartak scorers: Vitaly Yurchik 4, Nikolay Lazarev 3, Pavel Khalturin 3, Igor Bychkov 3, Stepan Andryukov 2, Alexey Agarkov 2, Sergey Lisunov.
Montpellier scorers: Petar Filipovic 5, Milos Maksimovic 2, David Heinrich 2, Duje Zivkovic 2, Geoffrey Laux.
Jadran Carine (MNE) vs. HAVK Mladost (CRO) 7-5 (1-0, 0-1, 4-2, 2-2)
Jadran scorers: Nikola Janovic 2, Miroslav Randic 2, Aleksa Ukropina, Vlado Popadic, Stefan Pjesivac.
Mladost scorers: Marin Dasic 2, Luka Bukic, Ivan Milakovic, Marko Valecic.
Saturday 05-09:
17.15: Spartak Volgograd vs. HAVK Mladost
19.00: Jadran Carine vs. Montpellier
Sunday 06-09:
17.15: Montpellier vs. HAVK Mladost
19.00: Jadran Carine vs. Spartak Volgograd
Group B (in Valletta)
Friday 04-09:
Valletta (MLT) vs. VK Budva (MNE) 5-9 (1-2, 2-0, 0-4, 2-3)
Valletta scorers: Andreas Galea, Mark Meli, Matthew Zammit, Jordan Camilleri, Aurelien Nicholas Cousin.
Budva scorers: Bogdan Djurdjic 3, Blazo Mitrovic 2, Milorad Radunovic, Alexandar Radanovic, Petar Cetkovic, Branko Franeta.
Sport Management Verona (ITA) vs. CSM Digi Oradea (ROU) 11-11 (2-2, 3-4, 3-1, 3-4)
Sport Management scorers: Cristiano Mirarchi 4, Tommaso Busilacchi 2, Alessandro Brambilla 2, Andrea di Fulvio, Francesco Coppoli, Tommaso Vergano.
Oradea scorers: Mihnea Gheorghe 3, Tiberiu Negrean 2, Dusan Markovic 2, Mihnea Chioveanu, Ramiro Georgescu, Vojislav Cupic, Gheorghe Dunca.
Saturday 05-09:
18.00: VK Budva vs. CSM Digi Oradea
19.15: Valletta vs. Sport Management Verona
Sunday 06-09:
09.30: Sport Management Verona vs. VK Budva
10.45: CSM Digi Oradea vs. Valletta
Group C (in Tbilisi)
Friday 04-09:
OSC Budapest (HUN) vs. Waspo 98 Hannover (GER) 7-7 (0-0, 4-1, 0-2, 3-4)
OSC scorers: Bence Batori 2, Toni Nemet 2, Adam Decker, Zsolt Juhasz, Miklos Gor-Nagy.
Waspo scorers: Andreas Schlotterbeck 3, Aleksandar Radovic 2, Erik Bukowski, Bence Toth.
Lokomotiv Tbilisi (GEO) vs. CN Marseille (FRA) 9-17 (4-5, 0-5, 3-2, 2-5)
Lokomtiv scorers: Dragan Draskovic 4, Beka Kavtaradze, Srdjan Aksentijevic, Revaz Chomakhidze, Zurab Rurua, Filip Kljajevic.
Marseille scorers: Ugo Crousillat 5, Nicolas Constantin-Bicari 4, Sebastien Monneret 3, Mathias Olivon 2, Thibaud Simon, Guillaume Dino, Alexandre Camarasa.
Saturday 05-09:
18.00: CN Marseille vs. OSC Budapest
19.30: Lokomotiv Tbilisi vs. Waspo 98 Hannover
Sunday 06-09:
10.00: Waspo 98 Hannover vs. CN Marseille
11.30: Lokomotiv Tbilisi vs. OSC Budapest
*Top 3 of each group qualifies for qualification round 2.
* Lower ranked sides of the respective qualification rounds in the Champions League will be eliminated and cannot continue in the Euro Cup – only the four losing sides of Round 3 (the play-off) will be ‘redirected’ and join the eightfinals of the Euro Cup.
* Time mentioned is local time.
A new Champions League season is already set to get underway on Friday with the first of three qualification rounds being played in three different cities. The draw produced a though group A, to be played in Herceg Novi, while in Valletta (group B) and Tbilisi (group C) favourite sides such as debuting Sport Management Verona, CSM Oradea and OSC Budapest will battle throughout the weekend to advance to round 2 and join the seven sides representing the wild-card holding federations.
The teams to qualify out of group A will be tough to call ahead of competition. Home team Jadran Herceg Novi, with the returned star Nikola Janovic highlighting this year's roster, tries to overcome reigning Euro Cup champion Spartak Volgograd, 7-time Champions League winner Mladost Zagreb, also having done some business in transfers this summer, and ambitious French runner-up Montpellier. People visiting the Skver pool in Herceg Novi will be up for a treat with all teams well into contention for a spot in round 2. In Malta meanwhile it seems debuting Italian side Sport Management Verona and Romanian champion CSM Digi Oradea are favourites to take 2 spots. It will be up to the combined home team of Valletta, full of Maltese players, to upset Budva. In Tbilisi, where group C is contested, Hungarian powerhouse OSC enjoys the favourite status. They will meet up-and-coming German contender Waspo Hannover, full of new players including Montenegro shooter Aleksandar Radovic, French champion Marseille with the returned centre forward Nicolas Constantin-Bicari from Canada, and home side Lokomotiv Tbilisi who are up for a tough task.
Champions League 2015-2016
Qualification Round 1
Group A (in Herceg Novi)
Friday 04-09:
17.15: Spartak Volgograd (RUS) vs. Montpellier (FRA)
19.00: Jadran Carine (MNE) vs. HAVK Mladost (CRO)
Saturday 05-09:
17.15: Spartak Volgograd vs. HAVK Mladost
19.00: Jadran Carine vs. Montpellier
Sunday 06-09:
17.15: Montpellier vs. HAVK Mladost
19.00: Jadran Carine vs. Spartak Volgograd
Group B (in Valletta)
Friday 04-09:
18.00: Valletta (MLT) vs. VK Budva (MNE)
19.15: Sport Management Verona (ITA) vs. CSM Digi Oradea (ROU)
Saturday 05-09:
18.00: VK Budva vs. CSM Digi Oradea
19.15: Valletta vs. Sport Management Verona
Sunday 06-09:
09.30: Sport Management Verona vs. VK Budva
10.45: CSM Digi Oradea vs. Valletta
Group C (in Tbilisi)
Friday 04-09:
18.00: OSC Budapest (HUN) vs. Waspo 98 Hannover (GER)
19.30: Lokomotiv Tbilisi (GEO) vs. CN Marseille (FRA)
Saturday 05-09:
18.00: CN Marseille vs. OSC Budapest
19.30: Lokomotiv Tbilisi vs. Waspo 98 Hannover
Sunday 06-09:
10.00: Waspo 98 Hannover vs. CN Marseille
11.30: Lokomotiv Tbilisi vs. OSC Budapest
*Top 3 of each group qualifies for qualification round 2.
* Lower ranked sides of the respective qualification rounds in the Champions League will be eliminated and cannot continue in the Euro Cup – only the four losing sides of Round 3 (the play-off) will be ‘redirected’ and join the eightfinals of the Euro Cup.
* Time mentioned is local time.
Preliminary round draw results and more, click here.
Pictured: The 'Skver' pool of Jadran in Herceg Novi.
