National champions women – part 5: south-east Europe

Based on the current European Cup ranking, only the 19 best national leagues will provide teams for the 2013/14 Women's EHF Champions League season. In five parts, ehfCL.com shines the spotlight on each of the teams who qualified for the next edition of Europe's top flight and their race for the ticket in their respective national competitions.

The final part is dedicated to teams from south-east Europe - Croatia, FRY Macedonia and Montenegro

Croatia

RK Podravka successfully defended the championship title as they made a perfect run in the winners’ stage of the league winning all ten matches and finishing eight points ahead of Lokomotiva Zagreb, who were later awarded with a wild card place for the EHF Champions League by the EHF Executive Committee.

Podravka, who already have 20 championship trophies in their cabinet, also won the regular season of the regional WRHL, but failed to confirm their “pole position“ in the final tournament, losing to WHC Vardar Skopje in the semi-final and also to Lokomotiva in the third place match. On the domestic scene they lifted the Croatian cup for the 19th time.

FYR Macedonia

The previous season of the Macedonian Superleague was more like a prelude of what should handball fans in this country and in Europe expect in the coming years. ŽRK Vardar SCBT won their first national title. After winning the regular season they easily sailed past semi-final and defeat the defending champions Metalurg 2:0 in the final.

They become only the third team to claim the championship title after Kometal gathered 17 and Metalurg three trophies. After a huge bolstering of their squad over this summer they should be also the hot contenders for the EHF Champions League title.

Montenegro

2012 EHF Champions League winners from Budućnost Podgorica did not allow any surprises in the Montenegrin league as they swept their opponents in all six rounds. The domestic reign of Budućnost has been extended to 22 years and their last championship title was already their 25th in total.

In the regional WRHL regular season Budućnost ranked second, one point behind Podravka, but in the final tournament they proved their dominance all over the Balkan peninsula as they eased past Lokomotiva Zagreb 32:15 in the semi-final and WHC Metalurg Skopje 30:16 in the final.