Orande Dragons Already in Bucharest

Fresh off their first European victories against the Dutch champions Orion Stars, Slovenia’s reigning champions ACH Volley Ljubljana face a new and formidable challenge. The path to the elite group stage of the CEV Champions League is still long, as head coach Igor Kolaković’s team now prepares for their second-round qualifying matches against Romanian champions Dinamo Bucharest.

The Ljubljana squad has already traveled to Romania with a nearly full roster — the team’s health situation continues to improve daily, with only Tine Urnaut still recovering from injury. The first leg of the second qualifying round will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, November 4, at 6:00 p.m. CET, while the return leg will be played in Ljubljana’s Tivoli Hall on Thursday, November 13, at 8:00 p.m.

Dinamo Bucharest, who claimed the Romanian national title last season for the first time in 30 years, comfortably advanced from the first qualifying round by defeating Strumica (North Macedonia) 3–0 in both matches. Their key player was Serbian opposite Petar Premović (24 points), supported by Romanian internationals Paul Mircea Peta and Gabriel Nicolae Ghionea, and Brazilian outside hitter Jonatas Cardoso. The team, led by Romanian coach Bogdan Tanase, also includes current and former national team players from Turkey (Çukur), Germany (Burggräf), Austria (Kitzinger), and Latvia (Medenis).

Should ACH Volley Ljubljana prevail, they would advance to the third and final qualifying round, where they would meet the winner of Radnički Kragujevac (SRB) vs. TSV Raiffeisen Hartberg (AUT).

Before departing for Bucharest, head coach Igor Kolaković and setter Gregor Ropret shared their thoughts on the upcoming challenge:

Igor Kolaković:
“There was practically no time to rest after the match against the Dutch team. Saturday’s league game against Fužinar allowed us to rest some of the key players, and now we’ve arrived in Bucharest, where we’ll have one evening and one morning training session before the match. Our full focus is on Dinamo — we want to replicate our performance from Tivoli and return to Slovenia with a positive result.”

Gregor Ropret:
“We’re expecting a very tough match in Romania against a highly motivated opponent. Dinamo are a quality team, especially dangerous on their home court. The atmosphere in our squad is excellent, and we’re determined to achieve a good result ahead of the return leg in Ljubljana.”

The first leg from Bucharest will be broadcast live on Kanal A and VOYO tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. CET.
Tickets for the return match in Ljubljana are already available on Eventim.si