Five quarter-final berths up for grabs

With ruling champions HC Lokomotiva Zagreb as well as Kristianstad Handball Klubb and MKS Perla Lublin already qualified for the quarter-finals of the Women’s Challenge Cup, there are five more berths up for grabs this weekend.

2017 champions Lokomotiva Zagreb may already be through, but the winners from 2016 are not far behind.

Rocasa Gran Canaria, who won the tournament in the 2015/16 season, are defending a five-goal lead, when they host European debutants Boden Handboll IF on Sunday afternoon.

Gran Canaria won the first leg in Sweden 31:26, and this result gives the Spanish side an obvious edge before the return match in Telde.

The other Spanish side in the Last 16, Rincon Fertilidad Malaga will probably have to work considerably harder to make it through.

Malaga are chasing a 28:24 deficit after visiting Lithuania for the first leg against ACME-Zalgiris Kaunas last weekend.

However, closing the four-goal difference on home ground on Saturday evening is certainly possible.

The two Turkish teams in the competition are both virtually through to the next round.

Zagnosspor lead 34:24 coming into their home game against Serbian side ZORK Jagodina on Sunday afternoon, while Ardesen GSK’s lead looks even healthier at 41:27 ahead of their home game against Alavarium/Love Tiles from Portugal on Sunday evening.

The last quarter-final berth is going to be decided by a doubleheader this weekend.

In Kwintsheul, Virto/Quintus, whose squad consists exclusively of Dutch players, host ZRK Naisa Nis from Serbia for matches on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.