SCM Ramnicu Valcea, who competed in the DELO EHF Champions League in 2020/21, earned a spot in the group phase of the EHF European League Women 2021/22. Following a home win in the first leg against Spain's Super Amara Bera Bera (34:28), the Romanian team also won on Saturday in San Sebastian, 29:27.

It was one of five second leg encounters from qualification round 3 played on Saturday, with Herning-Ikast Handbold (DEN), Chambray Touraine Handball (FRA), HC Lokomotiva Zagreb (CRO) and Váci NKSE (HUN) also going through.

• Bera Bera led 14:10 at half-time and 16:11 early in the second half, but Valcea then improved a lot and ultimately clinched a win
• following a 34:27 triumph away at MTK Budapest, Herning-Ikast earned a home win in the return leg, 34:29
• Chambray, who had won 30:27 at home against Molde Elite, claimed a more convincing victory in Norway, 35:25. Notably, the Norwegian goalkeeper Rikke Granlund boasted a 38 per cent save rate for the French side
• a 24:24 draw at HSG Blomberg-Lippe (GER) put Váci NKSE through, as the Hungarian team won 32:27 in the first leg
• seven more second leg games on Sunday will complete the line-up for the group phase, which will start in January

Lokomotiva show strong team qualities versus Lublin

Last season, Lokomotiva reached the final of the EHF European Cup Women, where they lost to Spain's Costa del Sol Malaga. This season, Lokomotiva are playing one level up, in the EHF European League Women, but they still harbour hopes of going far in this competition.

A 25:21 home win against the Polish team MKS FunFloor Perla Lublin did not secure anything for Lokomotiva, but they stood firm in Poland. While Romana Roszak netted 16 times for the hosts, Zagreb were the better team and earned another win, 29:27, thus progressing to the group phase.