Odense host double-header, German sides face challenges

Qualification round 2 of the Women’s EHF Cup will start on Friday in Otterup, where Odense Handbold will play DHC Slavia Praha in the first leg match.

On Saturday, the two teams will meet again in the same venue, and it will be the only double-header of the weekend. In 13 other pairings, only the first leg games will take place.

On Saturday, Hoor will be the venue of an exciting encounter, as the Swedish side H 65 Hoors HK will host Kuban, who reached the Women’s EHF Cup quarter-final last season and hope to go far again. This match will be broadcast live on ehfTV.com.

Another Russian-Swedish duel will take place in Zvenigorod, where the 2007 EHF Cup winners HC Zvezda will face Skuru IK.

Romania’s Magura Cisnadie, who played in the group matches last season, will now face the Ukrainian champions HC Galychanka Lviv, and the first match will take place on Saturday in Cisnadie.

The four-time Women’s EHF Champions League winners Hypo, who eliminated fellow Austrian side WAT Atzgersdorf in the previous round, once again do not need to take a long trip. On Saturday, they will play the first leg match against Vaci NKSE in the neighbouring Hungary.

German sides to face tough opposition

Germany has four teams in qualification round 2, and their rivals are not easy.

TSV Bayer 04 – Werkselfen, who easily beat A.C.Latsia Nicosia in round 1, will play against Hungary’s DVSC Schaeffler away in Debrecen on Saturday. On the same day, TUSSIES Metzingen are set to host Kobenhavn Handball.

On Sunday, Thüringer HC will face Norway’s Byasen in Nordhausen (live on ehfTV.com), while Buxtehuder SV are set to host Astrakhanochka from Russia.

Norway also has four teams in Round 2. Along with Byasen, two other sides will play their first leg games away from home.

While last season’s Women’s EHF Cup quarter-finalists Storhamar Handball Elite have to travel to Poland to face Metraco Zaglebie Lubin on Sunday, Fredrikstad Ballklubb are scheduled to play ESBF Besancon on the same day.

The fourth Norwegian team, Tertnes Bergen, will play a double-header against 2018 Women’s EHF Cup winners SCM Craiova next week, and it will be one of the three double-headers that weekend.