Top teams meet in Nordhausen

Thüringer HC and HC Vardar go head to head in Group C, a week after both teams won their season-opener in the Women’s EHF Champions League.

It’s the sole match between two winning teams from Round 1. Five more teams are chasing their second win while five others are fighting for their first points.

• Nykøbing chase second straight win in their maiden season

• Thüringer HC and HC Vardar play early top game in Group C

• Brest, Bietigheim and Vipers each have first-ever Champions League home game

GROUP A

RK Krim Mercator (SLO) vs NFH Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub (DEN)
Saturday 14 October, 15.00 hrs local time, live on ehfTV.com

Two teams in very different situations meet in Ljubljana Saturday afternoon. While Krim have a long tradition in the Champions League, which they won in 2001 and 2003, Nykøbing are new and the Danish champions will be playing their first ever away match in the competition.

Also, their start into the season has turned out completely different for both teams. While Nykøbing won the duel of the debutants 27:21 at home against Vistal Gdynia, Krim lost as big as 30:18 away against CSM Bucuresti.

After CSM took another big win Wednesday, Nykøbing will try to keep up with the Romanian side, while Krim are fighting for their first points.

Nykøbing travel to Slovenia coming off a hard-fought 30:30 draw at home against Viborg HK in the Danish league.

Vistal Gdynia (POL) vs CSM Bucuresti (ROU) 23:34 (9:18) match report

GROUP B

Brest Bretagne Handball (FRA) vs Györ Audi ETO KC (HUN)
Sunday 15 October, 15.00 hrs local time, live on ehfTV.com

While Györ opened their Champions League campaign with a convincing 27:16 win at home against FC Midtjylland, Brest put pressure on Rostov-Don in their first Champions League group match in history. Brest narrowly lost 26:24 but the French team could fly home from Russia with confidence.

Last season, Györ had their trouble with another French team, Metz Handball, who defeated the Hungarian powerhouse by a single goal in the first leg of the quarter-final.

Györ did win on aggregate and went on to win the Champions League, but head coach Ambros Martín and his players will be travelling to Brest with a sound respect for French teams.

FC Midtjylland (DEN) vs Rostov-Don (RUS)
Sunday 15 October, 16.30 hrs, live on ehfTV.com

GROUP C

Thüringer HC (GER) vs HC Vardar (MKD)
Sunday 15 October, 14.00 hrs, live on ehfTV.com

The match is a premature top game in this group as both team got off with a win. Thüringer HC won 31:27 in Norway against Larvik, while Vardar won 34:31 at home against FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria after leading by nine goals along the way.

Therefore, the team who win the clash in the Wiedigsburghalle in Nordhausen will be in a good position to proceed to the main round and even take some points with them.

Vardar would be well advised to keep an extra eye on Iveta Luzumova. THC’s Czech centre back scored no less than 13 goals against Larvik last weekend.

FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria (HUN) vs Larvik (NOR)
Saturday 14 October, 18.00 hrs local time, live on ehfTV.com

GROUP D

SG BBM Bietigheim (GER) vs Metz Handball (FRA)
Saturday 14 October, 19.00 hrs local time, live on ehfTV.com

Bietighem quickly learned what the Champions League is all about as the German champions lost their first group match in history 32:24 away to Buducnost.

Back from Montenegro, Bietigheim’s Danish head coach Martin Albertsen and his players have to prepare for another tough task in the club’s first Champions League home match ever.

Metz got a much more convincing start to their Champions League campaign, winning 30:22 at home against another Champions League debutant, Norwegian champions Vipers Kristiansand.

Both teams will be entering the court with big wins in their national leagues during the week to boost their self-confidence. In the Bundesliga, Bietigheim won 34:21 away against Neckarsulm on Wednesday while Metz won 31:18 at home against Have Handball that same evening.

Vipers Kristiansand (NOR) vs Buducnost (MNE)
Saturday 14 October, 16.00 hrs local time, live on ehfTV.com