#CLVolleyM home fixture of OK STRUMICA Nikob another historic milestone for Macedonian Volleyball
News
In the last few years, the Macedonian Volleyball family has experienced a number of major achievements and milestones. After the men’s national team secured two straight EuroVolley appearances, before Skopje plays host to a CEV EuroVolley 2023 Men pool after delivering this year’s #EuroVolleyU19W, Volleyball fans from the Balkan country will have the opportunity to witness a CEV Champions League home fixture for the very first time.
Although it is only the initial stage and we are still in the early rounds of the elite competition, the team of OK STRUMICA Nikob these days is drawing much attention from the Macedonian audience, and not only among its own fans from the city of Strumica. The most dominant club on the domestic stage in the last decade decided to test its skills in the company of other national champions, thus accounting for another historic achievement for Macedonian Volleyball in general. Since the establishment of the CEV Champions League more than two decades ago, a Macedonian team had never featured in the most prestigious club competition in Europe.
Trajche Atanasov“Our goal is to determine our level. We are trying to develop the club in the long term, and not just think about the upcoming season. That is why the management decided to participate in CEV competitions, so that we can get a real picture of what we need to work on."
One of the founders of OK STRUMICA Nikob
Seven days ago in Apeldoorn, the Macedonian champions lost to the Dutch team of Dynamo APELDOORN in three sets, but due to visa problems, three Russian internationals could not contest that match. The return game is different, so Aleksei Lobodin, Maxim Mikhaylov and Alexander Zlobin will be taking to the court this time around, so the Macedonian team believes that it can play much better than it did last week.
Kiril Ricliev“The opponent was especially dominant by scoring ten aces more than us, we could not organise the attack as we wanted and the defeat was imminent, but this time we have a better chance to put up a fight."
Head coach of OK STRUMICA Nikob
Regardless of the result, the club with as many as 16 trophies claimed since 2012, eight from the Macedonian championship and just as many from the national cup, will play a European match again next Tuesday. If it does not continue its path in the CEV Champions League 2022, it will move to the CEV Cup. Macedonian Volleyball pundits these few days with elite matches explain it with Neil Armstrong's famous quote: ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’