Lions on Snow: Sponsorship of the Croatian Ski Association presented

At the press conference held in Zagreb, collaboration between the Croatian Ski Association and Generali Croatia was presented. Generali osiguranje shall be a major support to our national team in the World Cup races as one of the main sponsors. Expectations concerning the new ski season have also been announced.

Georg Engl, CEO of Generali Croatia, together with Vedran Pavelek (on the right) and the most successful Croatian male skier Ivica Kostelić during the press conference in Zagreb.

CEO of Generali Croatia Georg Engl pointed out as he was presenting the new sponsorship whereby Generali has become one of the main sponsors of Croatian alpine skiing national teams in the following two seasons: “Generali is a brand which is familiar to sport fans throughout the world as well as in Croatia and skiing enthusiasts learned about it through years of its presence in the ski world cup. Therefore, an excellent opportunity arises for our further contribution to sport in Croatia, in addition to the national football team, through collaboration with the Croatian Ski Association. It is well-known that Croats like skiing and determination of our national team members as well as their inexhaustible efforts and sacrifices serve as an incentive to new success in the future. It is our role to support them as a reliable partner on ski slopes all over the world so they may utilise their sporting and human potential and that is also the message to all young people not to accept anything less than that for themselves. We are rooting for new successes of Croatian skiing and sport!“

Vedran Pavlek, Director of the alpine skiing national teams and the alpine ski pool, commented: “The Croatian Ski Association needs strong sponsors which are important for the financing of our national teams’ training and competitions. I am exceptionally pleased that Generali osiguranje d.d. is with us this season as one of the main sponsors and that they have recognised potential of the new generation of our skiers and whose policies are important for safety of all our competitors. With such sponsors and partners constantly at our side, it will certainly be easier to make it possible to our skiers to achieve good results and a breakthrough to the top of world-class skiing so we could all rejoice at their success.“

Georg Engl, CEO of Generali Croatia, together with Vedran Pavelek (on the right) and the most successful Croatian male skier Ivica Kostelić during the press conference in Zagreb.

Croatia is represented by four best slalom skiers at the first slalom of the season in Levi

Vedran Pavlek also announced the new 2018/2019 skiing season: “Preparation for the new season was excellent and we were fortunate with the weather this autumn and we are ready for World Cup races. The national team travels to Finland as early as this week, and afterwards a part of it moves to North America. In men’s slalom, we received the quota of four and, besides Filip’s giant slalom that is our strongest event. At the moment, we have four excellent slalom skiers (Vidović, Zubčić, Elias Kolega and Rodeš) and a lot is expected from them in the following few years. I expect them to constantly rank among the top 30, as the first step, and then a breakthrough to the very top globally. Also, if he manages to maintain a constant level of his best results, I believe Filip Zubčić may soon rank among the 15 best giant slalom skiers of the world. A novelty is that the combined event is cancelled at all major competitions with the following season, but it is still unclear if this or the following season is the final season of World Cup competition in the combined event. Another development is that the number of parallel competitions in the World Cup is gradually increasing and that they are set to debut at the World Championships and most likely at the Winter Olympic Games. This gives our competitors a chance because everyone is on the same level in this event because bib numbers do not give one edge.“

The most successful Croatian male skier Ivica Kostelić announced his role in the Association and his plans for the season: “My role remains the same as during the past season. I am here to help using my experience as much as I can and I am glad that the girls and boys take my advice well. I expect good results and progress of all of them.“

Watch the highlights from the press conference on this video