Marius Toma, General manager of SCM U Craiova: I′m glad that we are here

Romanian SCM U Craiova is one of the new clubs for season 2013/2014 in EUROHOLD Balkan League. This club finished 4th in the Regular season of the local championship last year and then was eliminated in the quarterfinals. The General manager is Marius Toma who was presented at the pre-season meeting of the clubs in EUROHOLD Balkan League and had this to say after the end of it:

"The club was founded in 2007. We participated that season in the second league and immediately succeeded to go up. Then we had a small budget and we were in the second half of the standings but every year we managed to stay in the top division. In the last season with more money, more investment and after moving to a new gym, we managed to have our best season. We finished 4th in the Regular season and 5th overall after losing in the quarterfinals against Gaz Metan - a team that did very well in European competition.

We decided to join EUROHOLD Balkan League because of the development of this league. This is a first step when you want to go on and do something big in Europe then - you must work one, two or three years and then go to the next level. The community supports the club, the fans also and want to come and see our project and we wanted to see what′s going on and this is like a test year for us.

It will be great to reach the Final 4 but let′s first see how strong are the other teams, to see what is the level of the competition and after 1-2 rounds I can say something. Until then I don′t want to talk because in basketball teams change rosters almost every year and one that played bad the previous season can do an amazing job the next and surprise everybody.

For sure the gym will be full in the opening game against Levski because it will be the first match in international competiton in Craiova. It will be a great atmosphere, near 5 000 people will come and this is important for us. The home games are the most important for us because they bring joy and happiness to the fans, to the local community that supports us because 95% of the budget is build on community money.

I′m glad that we are here and I hope that everybody will behave fair and with sportsmanship. I wish to everybody to have a great season and to fulfill their dreams and goals this year."