FEATURE: While the VELUX EHF Champions League is still in full flow, the stars of the women’s top-flight club competition in Europe have shifted their focus to the EHF EURO 2018 in France
The social side of handball: last week in review
Round 9 in the VELUX EHF Champions League provided us with a lot of drama last week. But there was also a lot of fun from the teams, irrespective of winning or losing.
Bonus: two posts from the Women’s EHF EURO, which is throwing off in France on Thursday.
Late drama in the VELUX EHF Champions League
Drama is one of the key ingredients in handball and there was no shortage of it in Round 9 of the VELUX EHF Champions League. Particularly, two late Sunday games duly delivered, with winning goals coming with four and eight seconds to spare. Truly impressing was Swedish right wing Valter Chrintz, the 18-year old who scored a beauty at the buzzer to help IFK Kristianstad power past title holders Montpellier HB.
Another beautiful week from PSG
PSG might have lost their first game after eight consecutive wins in the VELUX EHF Champions League, they still win the social media battle with the other teams, due to their superb coverage of the week both from their domestic league and in the training sessions.
A Lion-ish Christmas for Rhein-Neckar
There is only one round left in the VELUX EHF Champions League in the calendar year 2018, which means that Christmas is just around the corner. Therefore, the teams are starting to prepare for the festive period, with Rhein-Neckar Löwen the first to throw off the preparations, even if they lost against Telekom Veszprém HC last week.
Time-out for MOL-Pick Szeged
Before handing PSG their first loss of the season in Europe’s premium club competition, Szeged’s players had the time to unwind, trying some VR-gear, driving a rally car simulator and bonding with their fans. It definitely helped before the biggest win of the season so far.
Kylian Mbappé, a handball fan
The Women’s EHF European Championship is just around the corner and many French athletes are looking forward to cheer for ‘Les Bleues’ to earn their first EHF EURO gold medal. One of them is Kylian Mbappé, the youngster who took football by storm this year, who did not miss the chance to take a photo alongside playmaker Allison Pineau.
Eiffel Tower on their table
The Romanian team did a promo shoot for their domestic broadcaster before leaving for France. A replica of the Eiffel Tower was on their table and they hope to qualify between the top four teams in the competition, in order to play in Paris in the final weekend. In the preliminary round, Romania play against Czech Republic, Germany and Norway in Group D.
TEXT:
Adrian Costeiu / ew