HC Dunarea Brăila went through some small changes during the summer, but the biggest one was a change of the coach, happening just before they travelled to Iceland for the qualification round. Jan Leslie, the former coach of Aalborg, Rostov-Don, CSKA Moscow and Team Esbjerg replaced Costica Buceschi.
Yet, Brăila built a strong side with nine nationalities from three different continents represented in the squad with players such as the club's current top-scorer Katarina Jezic, Zivkovic's fellow Serbian Kristina Liscevic and Mireya González.
“Our team has a lot of excellent and very experienced players. Each player played or is playing for the national team and that's no small thing. Each of us likes a good challenge and fight, and we have something different that contributes a lot to the team.”
“When you have players with different qualities and you use that on the court, there is a very high possibility that you will always come out with a positive score at the end. I believe that our main strength is team spirit. We always look ahead and are always ready for a good fight,” adds Zivkovic.
With five more rounds to go in Romania and two exciting matches in Graz, there is not much on Zivkovic's mind other than to aim for more silverware.
“There is not much left until the end of the season. We won second place in the Romanian Cup, which was a great success. We have a few more league games coming up and we hope that we will manage to win a medal. And of course, the main thing is the EHF medal.”
“I sincerely hope that we will manage to win the gold and raise the trophy. This team deserves it after a lot of investment and sacrifice from everyone in the club,” concludes Zivkovic ahead of the EHF Finals Women 2024.