Win in Skopje on Tuesday evening, after the penalty shootout, means we will for the second time in history watch Nexe play in SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 tournament. Three years ago, they qualified for the SEHA Final 4 tournament which took place in Brest, Belarus eventually finishing fourth.

Last season was definitely one that will have a special place in their history books as well as in the hearts of all the fans. For the first time ever they managed to qualify for EHF Finals tournament in the end finishing fourth in Lisbon, Portugal. The main goals for Branko Tamse and his guys in the first part of the season are to secure a place in the EHF European League group phase as well as to perform well at the SEHA Final 4 tournament now that they managed to reach it. Last season they finished second in the Croatian national league as well as Cup behind PPD Zagreb and now they might have a chance to defeat their rivals at the SEHA Final 4 stage.
This will be Branko Tamse’s third season on Nexe’s bench. Slovenian arrived in the middle of the 2020/2021 season and his footprint is already clearly visible in the way Nexe is playing – defense is looking much better with all the players focusing on good offensive transition and scoring many goals. Their biggest problem this season will be in the fact Halil Jaganjac left the club during the summer joining Rhein Neckar Löwen. Ivan Vida, Mateo Rodin and Aljaz Kavcic are also no longer in Nasice and Marin Greganic was sent on loan. Long-term captain Sasa Barisic-Jaman also decided to call it a career during the summer overtaking coaching duties of Nexe’s second team. New names in the squad are Ivan Srsen arriving from German Wetzlar and Marko Racic (French PAUC Handball). Dominik Kuzmanovic remains the rising star of the team forming a great trio between posts with Moreno Car and Mihailo Radovanovic. Marin Jelinic stayed with the team which will surely mean a lot down the stretch and the good news are that Moreno Car, Janko Kevic and Fran Mileta will all be back after recovering from injuries. Nexe will still be able to count on the experience and quality provided by line player Mario Tomic, right winger Fahrudin Melic and right back Predrag Vejin. Luka Moslavac and Tomislav Severec will do their best to replace Halil Jaganjac on the left side of their attack and in defense. The roster appears to be much wider this season with Borna Manci-Micevic, Andraz Velkavrh, Dorian Markusic, Aleksandar Bakic, Karlo Godec (back from a loan in France) and Gianfranco Pribetic all aiming for their spot in the lineup.

Fans will also remain a big thing for this team and we are expecting a lot of them in Zadar on the first weekend in September. Judging by their roster and everything we’ve seen from the ‘Thunder’ last season – we can definitely expect a lot from Nexe.

Photo credit: kolektiffimages