National champions women - part 3: central Europe

The domestic leagues have come to an end and we now look forward to the qualification and group matches draws of the 2014/15 Women's EHF Champions League. In four parts, ehfCL.com shine 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 third part is dedicated to teams from central Europe - Hungary, Poland, Austria, Slovenia and France.

Hungary – Györi Audi ETO KC

After their triumph at the first MVM EHF FINAL4 in Budapest at the beginning of May, Györ’s players completed their season to remember with the domestic crown to boot.

Suffering just one loss from 22 games during the regular season, Ambros Martin’s team finished two points ahead of nearest rivals FTC Rail Cargo Hungaria.

Neither side had much to worry about in the semi-finals and set up two more encounters in the final. Györ did the damage in the first leg at Ferencvaros with a 32:25 win and wrapped it up thanks to a 30:25 win at home, giving them a berth in the Women’s EHF Champions League as two-time reigning winners, while FTC must battle through the qualification in September.

Poland  - MKS Selgros Lublin

Their return to the Women’s EHF Champions League Group Matches after ten years last season seemed to be a satisfactory motivation for MKS Selgros Lublin to claim another ticket to the European top flight.

However, straight from the main round of the Polish Superleague it was clear that it would be an all but easy task, losing three matches and finishing on the top of standings only one point ahead of Zaglebie Lubin.

That single point proved to be priceless in the play-off as Lublin clinched the home right in the finals.

After both rivals met in the final best-of-five series and exchanged blows on their respective home courts in the first four games, Selgros took advantage of the last game played in the Globus Arena and beat Zaglebie 26:22 for their 17th championship title.

Austria – Hypo Niederösterreich

Austria’s record winners’ title run was never in doubt as they tore through the league once again this season, winning all 22 league games by an average of 25 goals.

Wiener Neustadt were their nearest rivals, joining them in the final ahead of Hypo’s second team, with just three defeats to their name.

The finals were over as a contest as early as half-time in the first leg, as the team laden with World Championship winning Brazilian players took a 37:19 win back home with them and added a 32:24 victory to take the title and book a place in the Women’s EHF Champions League Group Matches for the 2014/15 season.

Slovenia Women – RK Krim Mercator

The indomitable RK Krim Mercator cruised to their milestone 20^th Slovenian championship title.

Their final league match win against Gen-I Zagorje at home Arena in Stožice 37:25, was the icing on the cake for Slovenian heavyweight, who took over as the leading force in Slovenian women’s handball from RK Olimpija, before going on to win twenty consecutive domestic titles.

RK Krim Mercator faced the likes of Larvik as well as the MVM EHF FINAL4 participants Györ and Budućnost in the main round of the Women's EHF Champions League, and will look to impress in the coming season as one of the top seeds ahead of the group matches draw.

France - Metz

By beating Issy-Paris two games to nil, Metz won the 20th national title of its history, making this a record. Issy-Paris, the surprise guest in the final after defeating Fleury in the semi-finals, struggled and lost the first leg at home, 22:26, making it an even harder task.

And even though, fifteen minutes from the end of the final game, they had the opportunity to create a significant gap, they did not convert and thanks a superb finish, Metz also won the second leg of the final 26:25.

It was a fitting result for Metz, after finishing the regular season with only two defeats ahead of Fleury and Issy-Paris, who finished third.