Croatian SEHA representatives will once again face off against each other in the first round of the new season with King Tomislav sports hall in Nasice hosting the match between big rivals - NEXE and PPD Zagreb. Clash is scheduled for Thursday (20.45 CET) and will be broadcasted on Arena Sport channels.

Both teams went through several roster changes during the summer. 'Lions' have a new coach – Lino Cervar as well as whole lot of newly-signed players like Gregor Potocnik, Senjamin Buric, David Mandic, Filip Vistorop and Lovro Jotic along with former NEXE's right back Ivan Srsen.

Slavonian 'Thunder' on the other hand signed two new goalkeepers – Radovanovic from Serbia and young Croatian goalie Car. New faces in Nasice are also Ivan Vida and Vladan Loncar along with two returnees – Vozab and Turkish international Can Celebi.

NEXE definitely won't have an easy job playing multiple Croatian champions, especially knowing the fact that they have never managed to beat the team from Zagreb but they will surely look to achieve that in the season ahead of us.

Hrvoje Horvat, NEXE coach:

I can say I'm satisfied with the way we prepared for the season and I really hope we'll make an additional step forward this year. We've spent a lot of time working on our attacking options during the pre-season but we still have to see how things will work in an official match. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to count on Marin Sipic in this one due to an injury. PPD Zagreb on the other hand once again have a really strong team despite of the fact that some of their most important players from last season like Josip Valcic or Igor Vori retired during the summer. I believe we're all up to a great one on Thursday. Our goal is of course to be patient and make smart on-court decisions.

Marko Mrdjenovic, NEXE captain:

We’ve played really well on this last tournament in Kanjiza. PPD Zagreb of course once again have a very good team but I feel like we’re ready. I hope our fans will also be there to support us. I expect us to deliver a strong performance, not only on Thursday but each time we step out there this season and hopefully fight for a Final four place.

Lino Cervar, PPD Zagreb coach:

We’re entering the new season with a whole new face, without some of the players we relied on heavily last season. Our roster is way younger now so we’ll have to change some things in order for everything to work the way we want it to. It won’t be easy to play in Nasice in the first round because I really feel like NEXE deserve a lot of respect. We won’t have all of players on disposal on Thursday but the goal is to play better than we did on tournament in France and open the season with a win.

Josip Bozic-Pavletic, PPD Zagreb player:

Pre-season was really tough but I feel like we did a quality job. We didn’t really play our best handball during those preparation matches but I believe things will be way different now that official matches are on. We’re definitely up to a tough match against a quality opponent. It won’t be easy but we’ll surely look to win the match although we know they will have a good atmosphere in their hall and be fully motivated against us. However, we worked quite hard during the pre-season and we’re eager to start proving what we can from the very first match of the season.