The business end of the EHF Champions League Women has come, with four teams still alive and fighting for the coveted title this weekend in Budapest, on 4 and 5 June.

The eighth edition of the EHF FINAL4 Women will also be the first to take place in the MVM Dome, a new multi-purpose arena in the Hungarian capital, which can hold 20,000 spectators.

Four powerhouses – three established EHF FINAL4 participants and one rookie in this part of the competition, Danish side Team Esbjerg – will fight for the trophy, which Norwegian team Vipers Kristiansand will look to retain after securing a 34:28 win against Brest Bretagne Handball last season.

The record holder in terms of titles won, Hungarian champions Győri Audi ETO KC, will look to extend their domination from the last decade over the competition, having won four of the seven editions played in the EHF FINAL4.

Boasting the best attack in the competition, with an average of 32.9 goals scored per game, and the best defence up until this point in the EHF Champions League Women, 24.8 conceded goals per game, Győr will be once again favoured, despite missing the MVP of the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship, line player Kari Brattset Dale, due to pregnancy.

It will also be the seventh EHF FINAL 4 edition for Spanish coach Ambros Martin – six with Győr and one with Rostov-Don – who can become the first player or coach in history to secure five trophies in Budapest, moving closer to the all-time record of six trophies held by players Ausra Fridrikas and Bojana Popovic.

“We need to focus on doing a good job, having a good Saturday, bringing down a good Sunday, and being able to grow in order to make this weekend as successful as possible,” said Martin, according to the official website of the competition, eurohandball.com.

However, Győr’s path to the final will lead to a crunch semi-final against Team Esbjerg, as the two teams that won their groups in the first phase of the competition will collide.

Esbjerg, who have lost only one single game, just like Győr, until this point in the competition, will make their debut in the EHF FINAL4 after a painful 24:25 loss against HC Odense on Tuesday in the last game of the final of the Danish league. 

Conceding the title they coveted so much will lead Esbjerg to bring extra focus to the table when meeting Győr, especially boasting a superb pair of world champions, Henny Reistad and Kristine Breistøl. The two Norwegian backs, who also shone at Spain 2021, with Reistad being named the All-star left back of the competition, combined for 164 goals this season, proving unstoppable at times.

In the other semi-final, reigning champions Vipers Kristiansand will face Metz Handball in a do-or-die clash between two sides that have already met in the group phase, when Metz surprisingly took two wins, 23:18 and 31:25.

Vipers became the first Norwegian team to secure an EHF FINAL4 berth three times in a row and are coming to Budapest in superb form after clinching the domestic title in emphatic fashion with two wins in two games against Storhamar Håndball Elite, combining for a 53:40 aggregate win.

Metz have also won the French league, with a superb comeback and a one-goal aggregate win against Brest Bretagne Handball, 49:48, before arriving for the second time at the EHF FINAL4, after finishing fourth in the 2018/19 season, when they lost the bronze-medal game against Vipers 31:30.

“We have to put it in our heads that when you arrive in Budapest, you enter a different world. You have to forget what you have done and not done during the season. It’s one weekend, 120 minutes, and either you lose it all or you take the trophy,” said Meline Nocandy, Metz’s centre back, to eurohandball.com.

Out of the four sides vying for the big prize in Budapest, only Győr and Vipers have clinched the trophy in seven editions, with Esbjerg making their debut and Metz playing only for the second time in the EHF FINAL4.

The record holders for the number of goals scored in EHF FINAL4 matches are two former Győr players, Nycke Groot and Anita Görbicz, both with 57 goals. From the players that will take part in this edition, Vipers’ centre back Isabelle Gulldén places fifth with 47 goals, while Norwegian back Henny Reistad has scored 30 goals in two editions in Budapest.

EHF FINAL4 Women 2022 schedule

4 June – Semi-finals
15:15 CEST M01: Győri Audi ETO KC (HUN) vs Team Esbjerg (DEN)
18:00 CEST M02: Metz Handball (FRA) vs Vipers Kristiansand (NOR)

5 June – Final and bronze-medal game
15:15 CEST Bronze-medal game: Losing team M01 vs Losing team M02
18:00 CEST Final: Winner M01 vs Winner M02

For more information on the EHF Champions League Women and the EHF FINAL4 Women 2022, visit eurohandball.com.

Header photo: Győri Audi ETO KC / Peter Szalmas