The group phase of the second edition of the EHF European League Women, the second-tier European club competition, will throw off this weekend, with seven games on the cards.

After two qualification rounds, 16 teams have progressed to the group phase, which runs from 8 January to 20 February and features three teams each from France and Romania, two teams each from Denmark, Norway, Hungary and one team each from Poland, Croatia, Russia and Germany.

Reigning champions Les Neptunes de Nantes, who underwent a rebrand this summer, are also part of the group phase, after taking a commanding 74:49 aggregate win against Swedish outfit H65 Hoors in the Qualification Round 3.

However, the French side, who lost the MVP of last season’s EHF Finals Women, Brazilian back Bruna de Paula Almeida, to domestic rivals Metz Handball last summer, will have their work cut out, facing a tough challenge in Group B.

The German Bundesliga leaders, SG BBM Bietigheim, fellow EHF Finals Women participant CS Minaur Baia Mare and Polish side MKS Zaglebie Lubin will be Nantes’ opponents in the group, with two teams progressing to the quarter-finals.

Group D is also touted to be a balanced one, with Danish powerhouse Viborg HK facing Hungarian side Vaci NKSE, former Romanian champions SCM Ramnicu Valcea and French up-and-coming side Chambray Touraine HB.

In Group C, Danish side Herning-Ikast Handbold are clear favourites, while Romanian side Magura Cisnadie are still looking for their first-ever win in the groups of a European competition. Russian team HC Lada and Norwegian side Storhamar HE are completing the line-up in the group.

Norwegian outfit Sola HK, who boast left wing Camilla Herrem, a part of the Norway team who won the gold medal at the IHF Women’s World Championship in Spain last December, headline Group A, alongside Hungarian team Motherson Mosonmagyarorvar, French outfit ESBF Besancon, who have right wing and Spain 2021 silver medallist Lucie Granier in the roster, and the leaders of the Croatian league, Lokomotiva Zagreb.

In total, four Spain 2021 gold medallists – Viborg’s Moa Hogdahl, Chambray’s Rikke Granlund, Storhamar’s Emilie Hovden, and Herrem are playing in the EHF European League Women’s group phase. Granier is the only silver medallist in the competition, while Denmark, the Spain 2021 bronze medallists, has seven players in the competition – Herning-Ikast’s Simone Petersen and Emma Friis, Viborg’s Laerke Nolsoe, Line Haugsted, Anna Kristensen and Kristina Jorgensen and Bietigheim’s Trine Ostergaard.

The top two sides in each group will progress to the quarter-finals.

The EHF European League Women’s winner will be decided in a final-four tournament, due to take place on 15 and 16 May.

For more information on the EHF European League Women, visit eurohandball.com. 

Photo: Marco Wolf