With a hard-fought win over Serbian champions Vojvodina Novi Sad, PPD Zagreb managed to secure what will be their eleventh SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 tournament appearance. “Lions” from the Croatian capital managed to go all the way only once – back in the 2012/2013 season, but after what surely is one of their best summer transfer periods in a long time, they have the right to believe they can fight for their second title on the first week of September in Zadar.

The team started to rise in the second half of the last season coming inches away from securing the knockout stage of the EHF Champions League which means coach Ivica Obrvan obviously has the winning formula and it will be interesting to see how far they can go this season.

On the far left, PPD Zagreb managed to bring in one of the best wingers of the last decade – incredible Russian Timur Dibirov who will surely not only be a huge reinforcement for the team but also a great mentor for Davor Cavar who is already shown what he is capable of last season as well as young Gabriel Buvinic arriving from Umag. On the left back position, PPD Zagreb managed to sign Vuko Borozan whose experience will surely mean a lot to young Zvonimir Srna, Aleks Kavcic and Edin Klis. Zvonimir Srna will surely also be there to help Tin Tomljanovic and Karpo Sirotic orchestrate the offense and get the right side involved where PPD Zagreb has one of Europe’s shiniest rising stars in Luka Lovre Klarica, Hungarian Csaba Leimeter and Milan Milic who arrived from Nantes. Right wingers are experienced Ivan Cupic, Vlado Matanovic, and Paolo Kraljevic. Taking care of business on the line will be Zeljko Musa, Adin Faljic, and Nikola Grahovac while the former Croatian national team player remains one of the key players on the defensive side of the court. Goalkeepers are Dino Slavic, Matej Mandic, and Slovenian Aljaz Panjtar arriving from Gorenje Velenje.

The exciting season is surely ahead of the team which appears to be a perfect mix of experience and potential. With players like Dibirov, Cupic, Borozan, Musa, and Gojun around who surely know what it takes to win – young talented players like Srna, Klarica, Cavar, and Grahovac can definitely develop faster which might prove to be the key as the season goes by. In one of his recent interviews, when commenting on PPD Zagreb’s roster, Timur Dibirov stated that the Macedonian Vardar 1961 managed to show everyone a few years ago how much a well-balanced roster of experienced and young players can do. PPD Zagreb fans have the right to be excited.

Photo credit: kolektiffimages