On Tuesday, 3rd of September at 5:15 PM (CET) Meshkov Brest will start the first round of the SEHA – Gazprom League on their home court against Telekom Veszprem. After being absent for two seasons, Telekom Veszprem returned to our League and will try to win points in the first SEHA derby of the season. 

Hungarian champions, Telekom Veszprem won the SEHA – Gazprom League twice so far while Meshkov Brest didn’t manage to win the SEHA trophy. They got all the way to the final twice, but did not reach the top position. Both of these teams will enter the new season with the ambition of ending Vardar’s winning streak and will try to finish the season with the SEHA trophy in their hands. 

The team from Brest have welcomed many new faces. One of the biggest names on the welcome list is definitely William Accambray, brilliant French star. Some other faces that joined the club are Nemanja Obradovic, Branko Kankaras, Daniel Andrejev and Jaka Malus. On the other hand, Petar Djordjic, Sime Ivic, Vid Poteko and Pavel Horak left the club. Meshkov Brest will start the new season with Raul Alonso on the coach position as Manolo Cadenas left the club. 

Telekom Veszprem also faced some changes in their roster. Vuko Borozan, Rogerio Moraes, Pawel Paczkowski, Omar Khaled Yahia, Rasmus Lauge Schmidt and Vladimir Cupara joined the team while Roland Mikler, Gabor Ancsin, Rene Toft Hansen and Iman Jamali will continue their careers elsewhere. Absolute legends, Laszlo Nagy and Momir Ilic said goodbye to the playing court as they decided to retire. 

The match will be streamed on VKontakte (in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine), Belarus TV (in Belarus), Arena Sport ( in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Croatia), Sport TV (in Slovenia), Spiler (in Hungary), Arena Sport (in Slovakia) and ehfTV. 

Raul Alonso, Meshkov Brest coach:
We played a good game versus Kronon in Belarusian championship on Saturday. But on Tuesday we will play against one of the three best clubs in the world. Telekom Veszprem have very good players. But our goal is to play against the best teams in the best leagues. The game will be very tough. We need to prepare ourselves as much as we can. We don’t have so much videos of Veszprem. But we are ready for a big fight on the court. 

Ivan Pesic, Meshkov Brest goalkeeper:
We defeated Kronon on Saturday, and also won six out of seven pre-season matches. We lost only once - due to fatigue. Overall, the results are good. But we will really understand our level of readiness for the season on Tuesday. Telekom Veszprem changed players in three or four positions, but they are still one of the best teams in the world. I think they are the favorites of the match, but Brest is our home. We always play better here. We already had experience of victories against very good teams.

David Davis, Telekom Veszprem coach:
The game will be complicated. They have great players, and they have a lot of experience in the SEHA League and the EHF Champions League as well. They changed the squad a bit and they have a new coach. I know Raul Alonso, who achieved really good results in Austria. The game will be difficult. We play on the foreign court, which makes it even more difficult. We have our 16 players in top form and we are ready to fight for the victory as always.

Kent Robin Tonnesen, Telekom Veszprem player:
I expect a tough game, because it is difficult to play against Meshkov, especially when they are at home. This is going to be our first more difficult game this season. It will be good to see where we are at the moment and this is going to be our first big test this season. We are all looking forward to it.