EHF Champions League Women is back with heavyweight clashes
The EHF Champions League Women 2025/26 returns with round 9 after an almost two-month break, following a thrilling 2025 IHF Women's World Championship, where Norway lifted their fifth title. In the first Match of the Week in 2026, the two best teams of group A will face each other, as Metz Handball will try to end Györi Audi ETO KC's winning run.
I want us to play a great match. To beat teams like Györ, we can't afford to make any mistakes. I think back to the match in 2023, the atmosphere was crazy. The Arènes in Champions League mode is a whole other level. Obviously I can't wait, I want us to prepare for the match properly. Everything is in place and I have no doubt that we will do everything we can to win this match.
We expect a really tough game because we know Metz has a lot of quality, a lot of good players and even more when they are playing in their home. So yes, we know it will be a tough game, but we are preparing really good and our goal is to go there and to win this game.
We are really looking forward to this match! We had a break, recharged our batteries, and now we are eager to get started again. A tough match against a strong team awaits us. We want to continue our good run. We are playing at home, in front of our supporters, and we aim to deliver a strong performance.
One of the toughest away games in the Champions League awaits us. They are a strong team, made up of national team players, including four Romanian internationals. In addition, they have what is probably one of the best home crowds, making it very difficult to play there. That should be an extra motivation for us.
For us, our defence will be extremely important — we need it to be very stable and of high quality throughout the entire match, not just for 30, but for 60 minutes. In attack, we also need to be as creative as we were in Norway in the first game. If these two things work, we can win again.
I think the biggest challenge will be that it is a tough away game, where there will be many tough duels both forward and backward. It will be important to be on top from the start and try to avoid long periods of poor play.
We will, of course, try to keep the game against Esbjerg exciting for as long as possible and build on our strong second half from the first leg. Esbjerg struggles a bit more away from home than they do at home.
Our defence is going to be essential in this match. We know Dortmund have a strong offence with smart players, but we have shown that we also have an offence that can score many goals in any match.
We are looking forward to starting the Champions League again. We know we can match FTC, especially after an exciting match on their home field. We have had a good start to the year with good training and think the match form is good, so we are ready for the match on home field in IBF Arena.
This match is very important for us in terms of the result. I hope everything will go according to what we have been working on in training and that we will be able to transfer it onto the court. If we show the same level of performance as we did in Norway and take advantage of fast breaks to score easier goals, I believe the result will be in our favour.
We are very pleased to be back in the Champions League after the break. The team has used the time well and feels better prepared than last time. The first match against Krim gave us valuable experience, and now the focus is on delivering a much stronger performance.
This match is perhaps the most demanding for us in the group. I think the hardest part will be in the defence segment due to our narrowed rotation and their constant attack throughout the entire 60 minutes. I believe in my teammates and I am sure that each one will give their maximum and contribute to the match.
Podravka is a team we know well. Things didn’t go very well last year, so we’ll be wary of this opponent. We’ll need to be consistent throughout the whole match. It’s a big game awaiting us against a very strong European team.
We are really looking forward to playing European handball again, and we are up against a world-class opponent. They have got a new coach since last time, which gives us new things that we have to analyse and look into, but they are still — as we know them — a very physical strong team, where we really have to take care in the defence and stay compact.
