Russia is going to hold a full-fledged international tournament — RealnoeVremya.com
Russia resumes international handball matches SEHA-Gazprom Liga, sponsored by Gazprom. In the quarter-finals of the 2021/22 season, teams from Belarus, Slovakia, and ex-Yugoslavia met. Two replacements Macedonia and Croatia, Serbia. Realnoe Vremya talks about the tournament, which can become a participant in the starting event, where the teams of Belarus and Russia will play with Europe.
fell off only Zaporozhian “Motor»
The current season was interrupted due to the national Special Military Operation, after which the European Federation began treating patients from the general sponsor of Gazprom and the Belarusian team from Brest. As a result, both of them remained, and only one participant was “lost” – the Zaporozhye “Motor”. The team has already declared its right to play in the future in the second German Bundesliga, the Belarusian legionnaire of the Chekhov Bears Andrei Klimovets also moved there. The remaining teams in the championship are probably calculated within the framework of the SEHA-Gazprom League, when the West division is called up. In the meantime, the East Division was formed, which includes four teams from Belarus and Russia. These are Meshkov Brest, an almost constant participant in the SEHA-Gazprom League, as well as Minsk SKA, Gomel, Masheka from Mogilev, plus Russian CSKA, St. Petersburg Neva and two teams of bears at once – Chekhov and Perm.
Surprisingly, despite the fact that the main “sehovik” is the company “Gazprom”, the Russian team met very often in this league, except that the Moscow “Spartak” met there at the time of its creation. Now he is returning to the League, having been renamed CSKA in 2020 (this does not happen in Russian handball).
Hope on the Serbia
Most of the Sehoviks meet and are in Serbia: These are the current members of Vojvodina and Partizan, plus Dynamo and Spartak, as well as Zheleznichar, Metalloplastika, Radnički and Crvena Zvezda. In other words, if this is not similar to other countries of ex-Yugoslavia, then it will be possible to form the “West Division” (it is logical to call it that if the East already exists) from the teams of the state united to us. Which, by the way, has already lasted participation in the “Friendship Games” in Kazan. The Hungarian “Vesprem” is also a permanent member of SEHA – the Gazprom League, and contacts at the open level say that Hungary can be calculated.
As for other countries, alas, North Macedonia (current members of Vardar and Europharm, in the past there was another team) and Croatia (current members of Zagreb and Nekse) of all ex-Yugoslavia, only Serbia is in favor of supporting Russia , and even Bosnia and Herzegovina adhere to a policy of neutrality. Bosnians, by the way, were also previously published in the SEHA-Gazprom Liga (Borac, Bosna, Izvidach, Sloga). There were also Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia, but in an emergency it is difficult for them. On the other hand, North Macedonian Europharm is already ready to play on the site with Meshkov Brest on August 25, and the presence of the team from the team in the tournament has not stopped Macedonia, Slovakia and Croatia yet. Yes, and the EHF, the European Handball Federation gave permission for the continuation of the struggle.
In addition to them, there is an interesting option with China. The Celestial Empire is actively building relations with Europe, striving to raise the level of game team sports, a frankly weak link in China’s sports hierarchy. The country already debuted in the League in 2019 with the Beijing Sports University team, which played the season, and the next year there was a coronavirus. China has already scheduled the performance of the Phoenix women’s team in the Russian championship, and the men’s club with the lyrical title Beijing Stork in the men’s championship. Perhaps the “Beijing Stork” are those who previously worked at the capital’s sports university.
AT how charm tournament? Per all paid
Be that as it may, there is at least variability in the selection of a team for the tournament, which is considered for the participants by the sinecure. To begin with, the League takes care of all logistics and catering issues, which is important for these teams, which cannot be called well-to-do, just like the sport itself. Unless Veszprem, Vardar, Zagreb and Meshkov-Brest slow down the Champions League. Hungarian club and lost 4th place at the end of last season. But the post-COVID situation complicates international communication. Not yet forgotten in the 2020 season, when there were many no-shows or team withdrawals in the course of the tournament in European competition. The division of participants into two subgroups Russia – Belarus, the Balkans – Eastern Europe looks comfortable in any way. And on this planet, there are tournaments with luxurious seats to watch, rather than the quirks of drawing lots that are characteristic of other European cup tournaments.
The resumption of the tournament SEHA-Gazprom League SEHA-Gazprom is the real first fact of breaking the international blockade. The same as in 1922, when Vladimir Lenin and Ataturk established ties at the political level, and in 1924 the USSR national team played the first international match with Turkey. Unlike the Game Friendships held in Kazan, where teams with a security service background or youth squads are gathered, the first match of the renewed SEHA-Gazprom League includes most of the traffic and Slovakia with the strongest squads, with significant legionnaires from the most unfriendly countries Russia in the distant past. The press service of the League to the questions of a correspondent of Realnoe Vremya: “Do you plan the participation of foreign clubs, as it was before? Can a decision be made to recognize this international as a full-fledged one?”, answered: “Yes” and “Of course, yes!”.
In handball, we cooperate with China
It is worth noting that this year the Russian company demonstrated an exemplary lesson on how not to calculate the decency of the oldest and most legitimate former, proven partners. For example, FC Schalke 04 unilaterally terminated a sponsorship agreement that had been in effect for 15 years. The club’s website has lost the Russian language, as one of the profile ones, and only the fans have a few T-shirts with the Gazprom logo.
On the other hand, in response to the unfriendly actions of already former Western counterparts, it is worth noting the variability of the Russian handball federation, as one of the main current partners of the SEHA-Gazprom League. Realizing that the western and northern countries of Europe are most belligerent towards Russia, they began to invite Asian (China) and African (Zambia) athletes to the national championship. Meanwhile, signs of neutrality in the current situation began to appear in the international federation. In addition to the fact that she gave the green light to the withdrawal of the SEHA-Gazprom League tournament, they also issued a warning about the main Norwegian handball federation, Kore Lio, for repeatedly excluding Russia from international and European handball federations.
Jaudat Abdullin
Reference
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors of Realnoe Vremya.
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