Vojvodina, Dinamo and Dubocica Learn EHF Cup Rivals
The draw in Vienna set up second round EHF Cup matchups for three Serbian handball clubs: Vojvodina against Maccabi, Dinamo against Trimo Trebnje, and Dubocica against Tenaks Dobele.
Slana Bara Hall could host the same European opponent twice in a row this fall. On Tuesday, September 22, Vojvodina’s handball players drew Israeli club Maccabi Rishon LeZion for the second round of the EHF Cup at the draw in Vienna, and since Israeli clubs cannot play on their own turf because of the war in the Middle East, there is a real chance the team from Novi Sad will play the entire tie at home.
Serbia has three representatives in the second round, and Milutin Lucic’s Vojvodina is the only one of them to play the first leg in its own arena. Dinamo from Pancevo and Dubocica from Leskovac both travel first, picking up home advantage only in the return leg.
As has become the rule in recent seasons, Dinamo drew the toughest rival of the three. Slovenian side Trimo Trebnje won the Slovenian Super Cup this season, and coach Branko Tamse’s team opened the domestic championship with an away win over Celje. The first leg between the Pancevo side and Trimo is played in Slovenia, with the return leg in Pancevo.
Dubocica, on the other hand, got an opponent that looks more manageable on paper. The Leskovac side first travels to face little known Latvian club Tenaks Dobele, then hosts the second leg in front of its own fans. Mozzart Sport, which followed the draw in Vienna, lists Vojvodina and Dubocica as favorites in their pairings, while Dinamo, as usual, again faces a difficult task.
For Vojvodina, this is a chance to confirm its status as Serbia’s runner up on the European stage too. The Novi Sad side advanced in the previous round, and now meets an opponent playing away from its own country because of the war, without real home support behind it. That circumstance favors the home side on paper, but in handball those margins are often wiped out in 60 minutes on the court, no matter who is in the stands.
When It’s Played
First legs of the EHF Cup second round are played on October 17 or 18, with the return legs seven days later, on October 24 or 25. Until then, all three Serbian clubs have domestic league fixtures, where current form ahead of the European ties usually says more than any draw.
Vojvodina drew an opponent no one in Europe would currently call an easy task, whatever the paper suggests. Dinamo faces the toughest test of the three pairings, and Dubocica goes up against a team the home crowd in Leskovac has never seen play before. The answers arrive in mid October, from Novi Sad, Trebnje and Riga.
