The new-look EHF European Cup Women opened its inaugural season with three qualification round 2 games on Saturday. One of them determined a team progressing to round 3, with the SPONO Eagles comfortably defeating DHB Rotweiss Thun in a Swiss derby.

• the two Swiss teams agreed to play only one game, so Eagles’ 30:17 victory sealed their ticket to the next stage
• the two other Saturday matches were first-leg games, with the second leg to be played next week
• Ukraine’s HC Real and Italy’s Ali-Best Espresso Mestrino will also play just one game, next Saturday
• two more ties will be held as double headers next week: Rocasa Gran Canaria vs Westfriesland SEW and Alavarium Love Tiles vs KH-7 BM. Granollers

Not only Switzerland, but also Kosovo saw a national derby played on Saturday, and KHF Istogu made a step towards the next round by beating KHF Vushtrria 26:21 away from home.

The Montenegrin centre back Esma Muratovic made a big contribution to her team’s success, scoring nearly a half of Istogu’s goals, with a tally of 12.

The third Saturday game was not a national but a regional derby, between two Balkan sides: WHC Cair-Skopje from North Macedonia and ZRK Naisa Nis from Serbia.

Playing away from home, Nis strongly dominated and won 41:26, with Marija Filipovic scoring 10 goals at 100 per cent for the winners, and Anastasija Nikolovska even more – 13 – for the losing side.