CHAMPIONS
LEAGUE
After winning their domestic championship for the
thirteenth time in the club's history, but for the first
time since 1989, Fenerbahce SK qualified for their
first-ever UEFA Champions League. New coach
Sebastiao Lazaroni, form Brazil, is therefore faced
with the not easy task of defending the domestic title
and, at the same time, ensuring that his team hold
their ground in the UEFA Champions League.
Sebastiao Lazaroni - the one-time Brazilian nation
al coach and coach for wellknown clubs such as
Flamengo, Vasco da Gama, AC Florentina and AS
Bari - is looking forward to this great challenge. "It is
a tremendous honour and satisfaction for myself
and my club to be able to take part in the UEFA
Champions League. The fact of actually being part
of this competition is already a huge success in itself.
"It is not easy to assert oneself in the domestic championship. But if you manage to
do so, then the doors of great European football open up to you. This year, we have
been given the chance to represent Turkey on this magnificent and prestigious
stage. This also gives us the unique opportunity to measure ourselves against the
most famous and traditional clubs in Europe, and to gather valuable experience for
the future."
Sebastiao Lazaroni naturally realizes that, as a South American on the European
floor, he does not have an easy time ahead of him. His task is all the more difficult
if one takes into consideration that, at Fenerbahce, he is following in the footsteps
of his fellow countryman Carlos Alberto Parreira who helped the club and its many
supporters throughout Europe to take their first championship win in seven years.
"The UEFA Champions League is the most important club competition in Europe.
The winners of the European Champion Club's Cup then play against the winners
of the Copa Libertadores for the world title in club football. So whoever succeeds in
asserting themselves in this competition rightly goes down in the history of the
game.
We will certainly not have an easy time in our group, but we will sell ourselves as
dearly as possible. My players realize that taking part in the UEFA Champions
League is also a unique opportunity for them. For my part, I am convinced that they
will all set about cutting a good figure."
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