Iraklis and its "thirsty" fans are ready for the debut

Some 1'800 fans are likely to join the first home match of Iraklis THESSALONIKI in the 2012 CEV Volleyball Champions League coming up on Wednesday night. The “blue team” is back in Europe’s most elitist competition and hopes to celebrate its return with a win over Belgium’s Noliko MAASEIK.
The “DAK Evosmou” sports hall seems rather small for the passionate supporters of Iraklis, especially after 5’000 attended the 2009 final four in Prague, while 3’000 found their way to Rome in 2006 and some 10’000 joined the final match held in Greece’s second largest city in 2005.
“We hope to have a full house and our fans will help us claim this opening match with Noliko” says head coach Sotirios Drikos. “Our opponent is well ready for this debut as they have already played five matches in the national league while we have had only one so far. This match will be very difficult and we shall try to have it a go playing as a team”.
“We are trying to improve the level of our play day by day and we are not yet ready because we started our preparations without the two Latvian players that were recently added to the roster. I hope we’ll show a better quality than we did in the opening match of the national league against Aris THESSALONIKI” continues Drikos.
He has not decided yet who will play as opposite on Wednesday, having three options at his disposal, namely George Tzioumakas, Andrej Kravarik and Ansis Medenis.