The EHF Champions League Women will conclude this weekend with the EHF FINAL4 in Budapest, Hungary, as the top four teams in Europe are fighting for the coveted title, in a winner-takes-all scenario.

Reigning champions Györi Audi ETO KC have qualified for the 10th time in the 11 editions of the current format of the competition, the EHF FINAL4, and will face Team Esbjerg in the semi-finals for the third time in the last four years, while debutants Odense Håndbold and Metz Handball collide in the second semi-final, where a maiden finalist will be decided.

A star-studded Györ side are gunning for their seventh title, already holding the record in the European premium club competition with six trophies, but will face a motivated Team Esbjerg, which has qualified for the EHF FINAL4 for the fourth time in a row, but lost all three semi-finals and won a single match from the six played so far in Budapest.

The two sides also met in the semi-finals in the last edition of the competition and Györ won 24:23, on their way to the sixth title, as they embark on a new edition of the EHF FINAL4 as the reigning champions.

The Hungarian side are also the best defensive outfit this season and have won all the nine mutual encounters with Esbjerg, including two in the preliminary round this season, 28:26 on their home court and 29:23 in Denmark.

“Of course we are thinking about that, but with the club having been in the EHF FINAL4 so many times, we all know that it is going to be very difficult. All the teams here are strong, so we know that there needs to be a perfect game for us to take the trophy,” says Györ’s left back, Bruna de Paula, for eurohandball.com.

On the other hand, Esbjerg have the 2024 IHF Female Player of the Year, left back Henny Reistad, in their roster, the top goal scorer of the competition, with 139 goals, which holds a 43 goal lead over Sarah Bouktit, the first player still active in the competition.

Reistad will become the fourth player in history to win the top goal scorer award in the EHF Champions League Women three times, after Natalia Morskova, Nataliya Derepasko and Cristina Neagu.

The second semi-final, also scheduled for Saturday, will pit Metz Handball and Odense Håndbold, as the winner of this match will qualify for the final of the European premium competition for the first time in history.

Metz have made the EHF FINAL4 three times so far, in the 2018/19, 2021/22 and 2023/24 seasons, but have failed to make the final in all of the three editions and have secured a single win in six matches in Budapest.

But this time around, the French side are coming into the EHF FINAL4 as the only unbeaten side in the competition, having won 15 of the 16 matches played so far, drawing the other one, but will be missing left wing Chloe Valentini and right back Laura Flippes, who are pregnant.

“There is so much exigency within this club that you can’t imagine it just looking from the outside. Whether it’s the staff towards the players, the other way around, or towards the president. That is what takes us a mile further every day. That, and the hate of defeat,” Metz’s coach, Emmanuel Mayonnade said for eurohandball.com.

On the other hand, the semi-final will be no walk in the park for Metz, which are facing Odense, the third Danish side to make the cut at the EHF FINAL4, after FC Midtjylland and Team Esbjerg.

Coached by Ole Gustav Gjekstad, who will leave his position to take over the Norway women’s senior national team, Odense were reinforced in winter with some fantastic transfers, including legendary goalkeeper Katrine Lunde, who won the largest number of titles in the EHF Champions League Women, seven.

Gjekstad has won the EHF Champions League Women three times with Vipers, in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and has steered Odense into the final for the first time in history. In their last four EHF Champions League Women encounters, Metz have won three times, while one game ended in a draw.

The first semi-final will be played on Saturday, 31 May, at 15:00 CEST, with the second one at 18:00 CEST. The bronze medal match and the final are scheduled at the same hours on Sunday, 1 June.

Credit photo: Györi Audi ETO KC