Meet the fellows

The Champions League group of VfL Gummersbach is a big family meeting for the players. When the German team played last weekend in Reykjavik, they were invited by the family of Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson for a dinner. The three other Icelandic in the club, coach Alfred Gislasson, Robert Gunnarsson and Sverri Andreas Jakobsson, were also happy to see their country again.

Next weekend, someone else meet a lot of old friends: goalkeeper Nándor Fazekas.

“It will be a great match for me, and great joy to see them all again,” says the Hungarian international before the match against his former club MKB Veszprém.

Fazekas lived near Veszprém for a long period and he has become an international star of the club. Three years ago, he signed a contract in Germany with TuS Nettelstedt. After a great season he went to play for VfL Gummersbach to gain more international experience and play Champions League. Now Fazekas is playing his second season near Cologne and also his second CL season, as Gummersbach qualified as the fourth team of the Bundesliga.

Fazekas shares the “job between the goalposts” with Goran Stojanovic – a great pair of goalkeepers.

“It might become a match between the goalkeepers,” Fazekas is thinking about the meeting with world-class keeper, Dejan Peric on the other side.

“I think we have a chance, our team is improving from match to match, and we won the first CL match in Reykjavik,” said Fazekas after the defeat against triple winner Kiel in the Bundesliga. But Fazekas is not the only one on Saturday that will meet his old friends. Veszprém coach, Lajos Mocsai, also worked for the VfL before.

“We have to win all our home matches if we want to reach the second group phase as we have the hardest group with international top teams,” VfL-manager, Francois Houlet, comments. He agrees with Fazekas: “We must win, and we will win, but Veszprém is a top club and hard to play against. After they lost their top scorer, Kiril Lazarov, they divide the responsibility between many players. This makes the match even more difficult for us.”

After this match against Veszprém, the family visits will end. Vedran Zrnic and Momir Illic will travel home to Celje soon. Illic is in top-form: on Wednesday he scored 16(!) goal against THW Kiel, but it was not enough as Gummersbachlost 31:33.

“This is a good result against the Champions League winner. We played better than at the beginning of the season. With such a performance we have a good chance to win against Veszprém,” said Houlet. But either they win or lose, Nándor Fazekas will have a drink with his old mates after the game.