Dobele “Tenax” will meet with the Russian club “Neva” in St. Petersburg in the third round of the European Cup of the European Handball Federation (EHF), the Latvian Handball Federation (LHF) reports on the results of the lottery.
“Neva” is currently in the second place in the table of the Russian handball super league tournament with a total of 11 games, of which nine have won, but in two matches there is a draw.
This team last won the title of champion of the Russian handball super league in 1993, but in the last decade it has won the second place five times, and in the last three years it has steadily taken the third place in this league.
Last year, in the EHF European Cup (then called the Challenge Cup), the St. Petersburg “Neva” entered the list of the best 16 teams. In 2018/2019, it managed to reach the semi-finals, but lost to the Bucharest CSM team. Neva has also spent four seasons (from 2010 to 2013) in the EHF Champions League.
Sandris Veršakovs, the head coach of Dobele “Tenax”, admitted that the team had a strong opponent in the draw. “Right now, the most important thing is to plan a safe trip for our athletes, because we will play the first game away,” says Verkhakov.
The first games will take place on December 12 or 13, when Dobelians will go to Russia. The answer games in Dobele will follow a week later.
In the third round of this tournament, a total of 32 teams will participate and games will be played in 16 pairs to determine the best 16 teams that will continue the tournament. In this round, the eight best teams of the last year, which according to the results of the previous year had a road sign to the third round of the tournament, also automatically joined the draw.
On September 28, a decision was officially made to cancel the second round of the EHF European Cup between Dobele “Tenax” and Helsinki IFK teams.
