In the first leg of the third SEHA – Gazprom League quarter-final, Skopje will on Thursday (18.00 CEST) welcome the encounter between Vardar 1961 and Vojvodina.
 
Top-positioned team after the regular part of the season in Group A – Vojvodina, is travelling to Skopje to meet the second-placed team from Group B – Macedonian Vardar 1961. The team led by coach Boris Rojevic is arriving in the Macedonian capital with a mixed, rejuvenated roster due to the injury situation the team from Novi Sad is dealing with at the moment. Despite that, they are having one of the best seasons in their recent history, doing really well not only in the national competitions but also in the EHF European Cup where they’ve managed to knock Slovenian representatives Gorenje Velenje out in the quarter-finals. 
 
Vardar 1961 has, on the other hand, after a convincing win over their biggest rivals Eurofarm Pelister about ten days ago, suffered an impactful loss against Alkaloid last weekend that has surely shocked coach Vlado Nedanovski and his guys. In the home match against Vojvodina, they will therefore look to rinse off the bitter taste left after the loss to Alkaloid. 
 
It is also going to be a duel between the second-best, and the third-best goalkeeper of the regular part of the season when it comes to the average number of saves with both Luka Arsenic and Martin Tomovski surely aiming to deliver another strong performance, helping their team make a big step towards the next knockout stage. 
 
Vlado Nedanovski, Vardar 1961 coach: 
An important match is ahead of us. The atmosphere is a bit different now due to this recent loss in the national championship, but I’m sure we’ll find a way to catch the right rhythm by Thursday. Vojvodina is having a great season – they are dominating in Serbia, and they’ve displayed some really well performances against both Nexe and Eurofarm Pelister proving to be a really good team. They are playing modern, quick-paced handball, and are playing really well on the defensive side of the court. The schedule we’re dealing with is quite busy, but obviously, we’ll do everything to deliver a quality display in this first leg at home. 

Goce Georgievski, Vardar 1961 player: 
A tough period is behind us, and now we’ve got the match against Vojvodina coming up. They are having a really good season with a roster that appears to be a great mix of experience and potential. I feel like they are a lot better than they were last year. In this first match, we’ll have the home-court advantage, and the goal will obviously be to use it. We’ve got to prepare in the best possible way for what’s waiting for us in this one, as we no longer have the right to make any mistakes. They have a really good back line with Pukhouski who really knows how to get his teammates going. Their offensive transition is also really good. We’ll have to focus on the defensive aspects of the game primarily – defensive transition, and positional defence. Only then, we can start looking toward their goal. 

Boris Rojevic, Vojvodina coach: 
I’m not sure if we’ve ever had this many matches in a single season. On one hand, that’s good as it is proof that we’re obviously doing something right, pushing well in all competitions. On the other hand, however, we’ve got to be smart and determine what our main priorities are. We’re dealing with a significant amount of injuries at the moment which is why we’ll travel to Skopje with a combined team that has already proved to be able to deliver quality outings against SEHA – Gazprom League opponents. 
 
Branko Tomic, Vojvodina player: 
It is a big thing to play against a team like Vardar. No matter the roster that ends up travelling to North Macedonia, our goal is to win the match. This will be a great opportunity for all the players to see where they are at the moment, check their capabilities, and feel what it’s like to play against Vardar. I assure you we’ll all give our absolute best.