Unbeaten CB Atlético Guardés lift maiden EHF European Cup Women trophy

Spanish side CB Atlético Guardés won their maiden European trophy last weekend, with a 53:44 aggregate win over Slovakian side IUVENTA Mihalovce in the EHF European Cup Women final.

Guardés capped off a consistent season in superb fashion, staying unbeaten throughout all the campaign, after winning nine matches and drawing another one on their way to their maiden international trophy, having already won the Spanish league in 2017.

Guardés entered the competition in the third round, where they dominated Bulgarian side HC Byala, with clear wins, 45:19 and 39:24, for a 84:43 aggregate win. The Spanish side then went on and eliminated Italian side HC Erice, in the Last 16 phase, with a 55:41 aggregate win, after taking a 25:22 away win and a 30:19 home win.

The quarter-finals against fellow Spanish side Atticgo BM Elche was the turning point of the campaign for Guardés, as everything could have unravelled very quickly. Only 81 goals were scored throughout the 120 minutes of the doubleheader, with Guardés taking a narrow 21:20 home win in the first leg.

Elche led by two goals at half-time in the second leg, and by two goals in the 54th minute, but Jazmin Mendoza Peralta scored the decider with four seconds left, to tie the score for Guardés and send them through to the semi-finals, after the second leg ended in a 20:20 tie.

Another Spanish opponent came in the form of Costa del Sol Málaga in the semi-finals, but Guardés, led from the bench by Ana Cristina Teixeira Seabra, who also coached the Islamic Republic of Iran women’s senior team at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, took two wins, 26:24 and 26:23, for a 52:47 aggregate win and a place in the final, where they met IUVENTA Michalovce.

It was Guardés’ second final in the competition, after the one lost in 2023 against Antalya Konyaalti, while Michalovce featured in the last act for the second time in three years, after losing the final against Elche in the 2023/24 season.

Guardés took control of the doubleheader through a 24:20 away win, with Mendoza Peralta scoring six goals in the match, while the second leg was dominated from start to finish by the Spanish side, which led 14:8 at the break, on their way to a 29:24 win.

Therefore, with a 53:44 aggregate win, Guardés secured their maiden European trophy in history, with a strong side which included Lorena Aide Téllez Delgado, the second best scorer at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship, with 54 goals, who scored 28 goals throughout the campaign.

Over the last 10 seasons, the EHF European Cup Women has been won six times by Spanish teams (three for Rocasa Gran Canaria, once by Malaga Costa del Sol, Atticgo BM Elche and Guardés. The third-tier European club competition has been won seven times by German teams and six time by Spanish teams.

Brazilian right wing Isabelle Dos Santos Medeiros, from Malaga, was the competition’s top scorer, with 52 goals, followed by Dutch centre back Elisa Marsman, who scored 51 goals for Caboteer Fortes Venlo.

Credit photo: Tamara Alonso/Sportcoeco/EHF