The players of Vojvodina started preparations for the new season today. Only 11 days after winning the second Serbian Cup in the history of the club, the red and whites gathered at FC Vujadin Boškov and started preparing for the challenges that await them. In the next season, Vojvodina will participate on three fronts, since, in addition to the Super Liga and the Serbian Cup, it will also compete in the qualifications for the Europa League.

27 players appeared in the first training session, including:

goalkeepers: Emil Rockov, Nikola Simić, Nemanja Toroman;

defense: Igor Jeličić, Mladen Devetak, Aranđel Stojković, Lazar Stojsavljević, Siniša Saničanin, Đorđe Đurić, Slavko Bralić, Nikola Mirić, Nikola Andrić, Marko Bjeković, Marko Mandić;

midfield: Nikola Drinčić, Bogdan Mladenović, Mirko Topić, Petar Bojić, Dejan Zukić, Miljan Vukadinović, Mihajlo Nešković, Jovan Kokir, Ognjen Đuričin, Miodrag Gemović;

forwards: Nemanja Čović, Momčilo Mrkaić, Vukašin Bogdanović.

With the Manager’s permission, Stefan Đorđević was absent from today’s gathering and he will join his teammates tomorrow. Also, due to the injuries they have, Petar Bojić and Mirko Topić missed the first training, but they are expected to join the work of the first team soon.

Before the start of the training, the players were greeted by a member of the Management Board of FK Vojvodina, Ljubomir Apro, who wished them good health and good luck in the upcoming season. Also, the players were addressed by the Manager Nenad Lalatović, who, after that, pointed out to the present journalists that it is a great feeling to start preparations for the new season as the winner of the Serbian Cup.

– A man always feels nice when he wins a trophy, especially if he does it the way we did. Only we know how it was for us there in Niš and what we went through in front of 10,000 Partizan fans, so it really wasn’t easy to bring the trophy to our Novi Sad. Partizan is a very good team and it was difficult to beat them twice in five days. However, we succeeded because we were a better opponent in both games and that is why we deserved it. The credit for that goes to the players, who endured everything and did everything I asked of them, and showed that they are a great generation. I always feel nice at trainings and in my Vojvodina and I couldn’t wait for the preparations to start. We didn’t have a long break, only ten days, but I didn’t even want it to be longer. The next season will be even harder, because there are more quality teams, and more teams will be relegated in the end – says Lalatović.

According to him, the team will probably not go to Zlatibor this summer.

– Our plan was to do two trainings here on Monday and Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and to go to Zlatibor on Thursday. However, since the situation regarding the corona virus is becoming critical there, we will most likely stay and carry out all the preparations here. We have all the conditions, so we don’t need to risk anything and put the players in danger of getting the corona virus. Then they would have to take a break for 10-15 days and they would miss the start of the season in which we play in Europe. Along with Partizan, which has Zemunelo, we have the best working conditions at our Vujadin and we just need to find opponents for five friendly matches until the beginning of the season – says Lalatović.

In the previous two days, the players of Vojvodina performed the necessary medical tests before the start of preparations.

– The health situation in the team is excellent, although I am very sorry for Topić, who will not be able to join us in the next seven to 10 days, although the situation with him is nothing serious. He is an important screw in our play and he is 19 years old, and you know that in our league a rule has been implemented that from this season every team must start and finish the game with at least two players under the age of 21 on the pitch. I think that is great for those young players and our Serbian football, and we have very talented players, so that will not be a problem for us. Bojić skipped today’s training because of the nail, but he will join us tomorrow. We will also try to refresh the team with two or three reinforcements, because we will play 20 games in the half-season, plus the Cup and Europe. That is about 30 games in just four months, and sometimes that much was played in a year – Lalatović points out.

The Manager of the red and whites points out that he has no information about the possible interest of other clubs in the players of Vojvodina.

– Honestly, I’m not very knowledgeable. I have to say that I would very much like to have a sports director, because I cannot call Mr. Bajatović, Mr. Ljubo Apro or Mr. Gajić about such things. Those people have their business, and I have a sports director only on paper, because he receives a salary. However, I don’t have him physically. When he is already on the payroll, I would like him to come, no matter who it will be. I need someone with whom I can cooperate and talk about bringing players. I hope that the club will finish once and for all whether it has a sports director or not. If it does, let him come to work, and if it doesn’t, let us find a new one, in order to make my job easier and make a serious team. We are a serious club, where you have to know where the sports director is and whether we have him. If we do, let him come to continue our cooperation – said Lalatović.