The Vukovi Belgrade beat the Ljubljana Silverhawks in the last game of last season and with that won their third CEFL title. Now, the team from Serbia hosts the Silverhawks again, when on Saturday in Belgrade, the 2011 season officially kicks-off.
The Vukovi hosted the same team at the start of the last season and that game turned out to be a good indicator of the season that came. The Silverhawks presented themselves as quite a challenge to then also defending champs, but in the end lost. Still, it would be their most successful season to date and they made it all the way to the league finals. Where they lost again to the Vukovi, for the third time that season.
Overall, the Silverhawks never beat the Vukovi, so this is still one obstacle they need to overcome. The Vukovi have a new head coach, one that is not well know for his coaching, but well known nevertheless. When former NFL running back Reuben Droughns joined the team last year it was a big surprise on its own, but now he’s running the team. And as the Vukovi wait to see how he will do this season, Droughns will be one of the few remaining well known faces on the team, even for football fans in Serbia.
As written in the Vukovi 2011 article, the team from Belgrade suffered many losses on the player side in the off-season.
The Silverhawks on the other hand want to continue their rise through the CEFL ranks, with a bit of a new look. Even in their best year, the biggest improvement they showed was just in the quality of play, but this year they’ll have something they never had before.
They signed an import quarterback for the first time, which should make a team that was good last year, but a bit predictable, a little better.