GK Lada Tolyatti

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GK Lada Tolyatti
Founded 1998
Club colors blue White
address Primorsky bulwar 49, Olimp
445860 Tolyatti
Trainer Alexei Alexandrovich Alexeyev
Venue Multi-purpose sports hall “Olimp”, 2,800 seats

The GK Lada Tolyatti ( Russian Гандбольный клуб "Лада" Тольятти , Gandbolny klub "Lada" Tolyatti , "handball club Lada Tolyatti") is a Russian women's handball club from Tolyatti .

history

The club was founded on April 7, 1998. Although a predecessor club had actually been founded in 1996 on the basis of the children's and youth sports school No. 6 , this team, consisting mainly of inexperienced B-youths, only played in the third Russian league and was also one of the relegation candidates there.

In June 1997 Andrei Stepanow and Alexei Schaworonkow, former coach of the Russian second division club Sapsibowez Novokuznetsk, came to Tolyatti. The city of Novokuznetsk had two second division teams at that time, but could no longer sponsor them appropriately. So Stepanow and Schaworonkow first went to the neighboring, larger Samara , where they were referred to Tolyatti. With the new coaches came nine new players, and the next season the team played in the second division instead of Sapsibovets Novokuznetsk. After a 4th place in the first season, HC Lada Tolyatti, which was officially founded in April 1998, rose to the first division in 1999, the Russian Super League.

In autumn 1999, the AVTOVAZ Joint Stock Company , better known under its brand name Lada , agreed to support the club. Yuri Stepanov, one of the managers, wanted to turn Lada Tolyatti into an internationally renowned handball club. The future Russian women's national coach, Yevgeny Trefilow , took over as coach. While Schaworonkow went to his hometown Urai , where he now trains younger players, Andrei Stepanow stayed and became director of the Special Olympic Children's and Youth Sports School No. 2 "Handball" in Tolyatti, founded in December 1999 . This school later became the cornerstone of Tolyatti's success: female players were spotted from all over the country, who then had to go through the tough Trefilow academy. The later stars all came from their own youth: In 2000, three national players played for Tolyatti, in 2001 there were twice as many.

After a 4th place in the 1999/2000 season, the team was runner-up in 2001, but from 2002 to 2006 Lada Tolyatti was always first. In 2003 the club's reserve even rose to the Russian Super League and finished ninth in its first season.

In 2002, the European Cup Winners' Cup was the first purely Russian team to win a European Cup. In early 2003, the club made its debut in the EHF Champions League , but failed in the quarterfinals at the Danish club Viborg HK and the next year at RK Krim Ljubljana from Slovenia. In 2005, the club even failed in the group stage and was relegated to the European Cup Winners' Cup, where they failed at the German club 1. FC Nürnberg . 2006 was again against the RK Krim Ljubljana terminus.

The summer of 2006 marked a radical turning point in the history of the club: The AVTOVAZ Joint Stock Company took over 100% of the club, and Yuri Stepanov became the “patron”. The club was now primarily called HC Lada. At the same time, on the initiative of the Russian association, the competing club Zvezda Zvenigorod was founded, presumably with the aim of having the center of Russian women's handball closer to Moscow in the future . Coach Yevgeny Trefilow and the players Oxana Romenskaja and Natalja Schipilowa left the club in the direction of Zvenigorod . The new coach was the unknown Alexei Gumjanow. However, the change of coach meant no weakening: In contrast to the authoritarian Trefilow, the psychologist Gumjanow almost introduced a kind of democracy and talked more to the players than Trefilow. As a result, it was 2,007 behind Zvenigorod indeed moved only second in the championship, but won the newly established Russian Cup and - after teams like Viborg HK and Hypo Lower Austria had beaten - sensationally became the first Russian team ever in a final of the EHF Champions League one ; there they were finally defeated against Slagelse DT . In the Champions League 2007/08 Lada Tolyatti cut a fine figure and was able to reach the main round. There the Russians lost the first two games, but still managed to sensationally qualify for the semifinals. There it was the end of the line, Hypo Niederösterreich managed to take revenge for the out last year.

In the summer of 2011 Yevgeny Trefilow took over the coaching office again. Under his leadership, Lada Tolyatti triumphed in the EHF Cup in 2012.

Sponsors

The association has been sponsored by the Tolyatti- based car manufacturer AVTOVAZ Joint Stock Company since it was founded and has its sponsor in its name.

successes

Well-known current players

Well-known former players

Web links