Tuesday, 23. July 2024 |
Poland's top team Unia Oświęcim with CHL premiere Ex-Ljubljana striker led the Poles to the championship // CHLThe first away game of the 2024/25 CHL season takes the Red Bulls to Oświęcim in Poland, who will be competing in Europe's premier league for the first time after winning the championship title last season. The Red Bulls have played against Polish teams three times in the past and won all three encounters. However, the 3:2 win in Jastrzębie (2021), also their only match in Poland to date, was a tough nut to crack and was only decided in the final minutes. In Oświęcim (Auschwitz, where one of the largest concentration camps was operated by the National Socialists until 1945), the Red Bulls are also expecting a strong home team that would also like to shine on the European stage in front of a home crowd.
Former serial winners back at the top
Having emerged from a higher-level club in 1957, the club was promoted to the first Polish league for the first time in 1970. Many ups and downs followed before the club was able to stay in the top league permanently from 1987 onwards. The club only spent the 2008/09 season in the second tier again.
The Poles won their first championship in 1992 and went on to win seven more titles in a row from 1997 to 2004. 20 years after their last full success, Unia Oświęcim were crowned champions once again in 2024, becoming the fifth Polish team to qualify for the CHL.
Salzburg's assistant captain Mario Huber is looking forward to the game: “I always associate Poland with a lot of mentality. They have a good work ethic and always keep fighting, no matter what the score is. The Polish league may be a bit below the ICE Hockey League, but the Polish champions certainly have a good team and will be ready for us. Just like us.”
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A reunion with Nik Zupančič
Well-known players in the Polish squad from a Salzburg perspective include goalkeeper Linus Lundin, who has already been in the box for the Grz99ers and Dornbirn Bulldogs in the domestic league, and Andreas Söderberg, who bolstered Bolzano in the playoffs last season. Overall, the team with an average age of 27.2 years (half a year younger than the Red Bulls) currently relies on nine Poles, five Finns, four Swedes and three other players from abroad.
Head coach Nik Zupančič is likely to bring back memories for the Red Bulls. The now 55-year-old former striker once had a tough final series with the Salzburgers with HDD Olimpija Ljubljana (2007/08), at the end of which the Red Bulls celebrated their second championship title in Ljubljana. None of the current Salzburg professionals were there at the time.
2008 | Daniel Welser vs. Nik Zupančič
Two years later, the Slovenian switched from the players' to the coaches' bench. Zupančič has been at the helm in Oświęcim since 2019 (with an interruption for the 2021/22 AHL season with Jesenice) and has now won his first Polish title with the team.
Unia Oświęcim | Factbox
Founded: 1957
League: Tauron Polska Hokej Liga (PHL)
Stadium: Hala Lodowa MOSiR / 2,686 spectators
2023/24 season: Polish champions
Achievements: 9-time Polish champion
CHL: First participation
WEB: www.unia-oswiecim.pl
Champions Hockey League | Mode
24 teams play in the regular season. Each team has six games against six different opponents, which are allocated by lot. This means that each team has three home games and three away games against six different opponents. Teams from the same league cannot play each other in the regular season. The results of the regular season (3-point ranking) are used to produce a ranking of all 24 teams.
The first 16 teams qualify for the play-off round of 16, with 1st playing against 16th, 2nd against 15th and so on. This results in the playoff tree up to the final. The play-off matches are decided by a first and second leg, with the total number of goals (aggregate score) being decisive in the event of a tie. Only the final is decided in an all-important match.
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