CSKA SOFIA welcomes back former captain Nikolay Ivanov


CSKA SOFIA, the team that will be representing Bulgaria in the CEV Indesit Champions League for the second year in a row, already started their preparations for the upcoming season. “The Reds”, as they are known within the Bulgarian volleyball family, are definitely happy to have back former captain Nikolay Ivanov who practiced for the first time along with his mates this past August 1. The 37-year old Ivanov, after having spent 13 seasons abroad (playing in Italy, Turkey, Russia and Poland with some of the most well decorated European teams), recently finalized along with local Coach Aleksandar Popov and President Georgi Georgiev an agreement to head back to his volleyball “alma mater”.
“It's a kind of strange feeling to be back to CSKA. Anyway, that was never a foreign place to me. I’ve been always interested in being informed about the results and the problems of the team, even when I was playing abroad. It’s now a step back for me to be again playing in the Bulgarian league. I had some offers from foreign teams that I have been examining, but finally I decided that in this moment they don’t comply with my needs. After all we’re going to play in the CEV Indesit Champions League and to compete against a few very good teams there. I feel in good shape”, commented Ivanov, who’s going to gather his new teammates at the training camp in Belmeken.
For the next season CSKA SOFIA will dispose once again also of Kenyan star Philip Maiyo, while Daniel Peev will continue to play as libero, after national player Teodor Salparov signed with Russia's Dinamo MOSCOW.
The volleyball club CSKA, who has won the Bulgarian Cup 17 times and claimed a total of 27 titles in the Bulgarian league, got the chance to play in the 2009/2010 CEV Indesit Champions League after having received a wild card. The team led by the head coach Aleksandar Popov is going to play all home games at the Arena Samokov located in the city of Samokov, very close to Sofia. “The Reds” have been drawn in Pool B B together with Zenit KAZAN (Russia), TOURS VB (France) and Unicaja ALMERIA (Spain).
“Our ambition is go through the Pool phase. We’ll be ready to compete. We’re brave and we feel our responsibility in front of all the volleyball fans we have here in Bulgaria. I expect a full house for our home games” said CSKA’s coach Aleksandar Popov.

Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:

Δημοσίευση σχολίου

LIVESCORE.in