16 teams dare to rise in the EHF Champions League Women
The EHF Champions League Women returns with a bang, as the top 16 clubs in Europe face off, with the battle for a place at the EHF FINAL4 in Budapest starting right now.
There are returning teams, there are powerhouses who aim to dethrone Vipers Kristiansand and there are also new names, ready to make their stand. With eight games scheduled throughout Europe on Saturday and Sunday, there will be no shortage of drama and exciting matchups, including a Scandinavian Match of the Week, when Vipers face Ikast Handbold.
I believe it will be a tough game! The team of Odense is stronger than last year, so it will be a big fight on Saturday night. We will need to be strong both individually and as a team.
But I’m really excited that the Champions League starts again! We are looking forward to it!
The Champions League is a big adventure for us, but we want to make our mark. Our goal is to advance, but it is not an expectation from the team. I think we can grab the sixth place and one of our big rivals will be Sävehof in this competition. In order to achieve our goal we must collect a lot of points at home, which is why the first match will be very important.
This type of experience, competing against the best in the world, will be very valuable for us. We are looking forward to playing this first match of the EHF Champions League season, also since we are going to meet our former teammate Tamara (Haggerty) again.
We want to get off to a good start in the EHF Champions League, but we also know that we have a difficult task ahead of us against Buducnost. After the good national start, we travel to Podgorica with a lot of self-confidence and want to go home with two points.
Bietigheim run a lot, and we have to concentrate in attack and play a good game. The first game of the season is always difficult, especially for us, because we didn't have many preparation matches. They are the favorites because they have been together for three years; they have more players in the rotation, but on the court we will show that we can play against them.
First match is always interesting in all parts. We know it is always difficult to play in Brest. As usual the physical conditions will be important, because I expect a physical match. For sure we need control the speed for that it would be a top match.
Vipers are an absolute world class team and the have some of the best handball players in women´s handball: Katrine Lunde and Anna Vyakhireva.
Meeting the three-time EHF Champions League winners at home in round one of this season's Champions League is a dream for us.
We’re working every day towards the same goals. We want to get a little bit better by every game, and I’m certain that we’ll be better against Ikast than we were last game. We have had a good couple of days of training, and the girls are looking ready for the task at hand.
This group we are in is extremely hard. We need to be at our best for every single match. The first game is in Esbjerg, they have been in the EHF FINAL4 in the last two years and at home they are really, really strong. So, it's a tough test but we know that if we play up to our best we have a chance to put pressure on them and this is what we go there for.
It is difficult to know what the deciding thing for this match will be. I guess we will have to wait and see. Of course, getting a home win against Rapid who I think we be one of the challengers in this group would be great. But at the start of the season, I think the winner of the match is going to be the team, who can adjust to play in the Champions League again.
