Seven Last 16 tickets still up for grabs

The last seven teams for the round of the Last 16 in the Women's Challenge Cup are going to be found this weekend, and three of them will be found in double-headers.

The action starts Friday night in the Netherlands, where Schuler Afbouwgroep/DOS play the first leg of their Round 3 tie against ABU Baku.

The Dutch hosts were also in Round 3 of the tournament last season, and will obviously try to get even further this time.

However, the visitors from Azerbaijan have considerably more European experience and have been in the Last 16 of the competition the previous three years.

The second leg is taking place on Saturday.

Colegio de Gaia have two Last 16 berths in a row to defend, when the Portuguese team travel to Finland to meet HIFK in Helsinki Friday and Sunday.

However, the home team, who consist entirely of Finnish players, also have certain European traditions and were even in the Champions League back in the 1996/97 season.

The two matches in the Finnish capital are being played Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening.

KGHM Metraco Zaglebie Lubin have been in Europe each and every year since the very first season in 1993/94.

This season is the first one in the Challenge Cup for the Polish side, though, and they are opening it with a double-header at home against Maccabi Arazim Ramat gan from Israel.

The visitors are also in the Challenge Cup for the first time, as their previous European career consists of the EHF Cup in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.

“The hope is the last thing to die,” claim DHB Rotweiss Thun in their website ahead of the return match at home against Izmir BSB SK.

The Swiss team lost the first leg in Turkey's third largest city 27:17 and are looking ahead on a difficult task, catching up with this ten-goal deficit in the Sporthalle Lachen Saturday evening. However, the Thun women obviously refuse to give in.

The second Swiss team in the competition Yellow Winterthur are much closer to the Last 16 gate as they take a 13-goal advantage to Ferrara, Italy for the second leg.

Find the complete overview of the Women's Challenge Cup Round 3 matches here