Organizing – Directors
The four Organizing Directors of these clubs (pictured) shared their impressions right after the DOL in Vienna. “We are happy with the result of the DOL and we expect we’ll be battling with Noliko for the first place in the group even though we do not underestimate CAI TERUEL and DUPNITSA. We won’t change that much in our roster in comparison with last season but we’ll play our home matches in the fully renovated Atatürk sports hall that was officially opened a couple of weeks ago and has a capacity of 6’000 seats” said Bahadir Osman of Arkas IZMIR, Turkey’s first club to make it to the final four of the men’s competition this past March.
“It is going to be a very demanding League Round for us but we are happy to participate in the Champions League even though the financial crisis is severely hitting Spain’s economy and also our sport” stressed José Luis Toran, the president of CAI TERUEL. “It is an absolute privilege for us to be part of this family and even though we might not be the strongest side out there we will do our best in all of our matches” added Radoslav Dimitrov of Bulgaria’s champions Marek Union-Ivkoni DUPNITSA.
Dieter Leenders of Noliko MAASEIK concluded: “The outcome of the DOL is positive but still we realize that it won’t be easy to make it to the Playoffs 12 because only the first ranked teams and the five second with the best score advance to the next round”. Mr. Leenders actively joined the traditional CL seminars there in Vienna with a presentation recapping the history of the club and the major impact resulting from its adventures in this elitist league that was extremely appreciated by the audience.
