pet, 21. veljače 2020. 11:55
The national futsal team of priests of Bosnia and Herzegovina is again European second best. In the final match at the end of the 14th European Championship in Prague on February 20th, they lost to their Polish counterparts after shooting penalties.
On the last day of the European championship for priests, played from February 17th to February 20th in the Czech capital, after the Holy Mass held at the Prague Cathedral which was led by Cardinal Dominic Duka, the finals games were played.
The semi-finals saw teams from Poland and Slovakia and last year's finalists Bosnia and Herzegovina and Portugal. In exciting matches, Poland and BiH were victorious after better penalty shots.
In the most important and exciting match of the championship, the BiH priests lost to Poland after a great fight and the penalties. Again, they did not manage to finish, although they had more notable results and were never placed below fifth place. The third was the selection of Portugal who defeated Slovakia.
After the matches played, a ceremony of handing out the medals and cups to the most successful teams followed and the best players of the tournament were declared. The best player of the tournament was OFM Nikica Tomas from the BiH team. Then a joint dinner was organized for all participants, 200 of them from 18 European countries, thus ending another European Championship of Catholic priests.
The BiH team won first place in their group, beating Kosovo 8-0, Montenegro 4-0 and Austria 5-0. In the quarterfinals, BiH was better than Hungary by 1-0, securing a semi-final performance against Portugal.
The football team of BiH priests, under the direction of coach Mate Neretljak, consisted of: OFM Mario Jelić, OFM Jure Perić, OFM Davor Petrović, OFM Marijo Plavčić, venerable Vladimir Pranjić, OFM Jure Šekerija, OFM Ivan Jaković, OFM Nikola Pejčin, OFM Ivan Jelić, OFM Nikica Tomas, OFM Ivica Tomas, OFM Josip Tomas, rev. Stjepan Didak and rev. Dražen Kustura. The team also included physiotherapist Saša Tirić.
Let us also mention that the next European priest futsal championship will be held in Romania from 8 to 12 February 2021.