17.01.2010, 11:41
All eyes on the draw!

A preview on the Main Round groups that will be drawn on Tuesday, 10.00 in Linz.

All eyes on the draw!

Eight teams, eight lots and two pots – these are the ingredients for the main round draw of the EHF Women’s Champions League on Tuesday, 19^thJanuary 10.00 in Linz/Austria. Since Sunday evening the eight participants for the next stage are known. Pot A contains the group winners Viborg, Krim, Valcea and Larvik, pot B the runners-up Leipzig, Hypo, Györ and Wolgograd. Live presentation of the draw will be available on www.eurohandball.com.

First, the four group winners will be placed in the first two rows of the two main groups. Then two teams placed second in the Group Stage will be drawn to the rows three and four of the two Main Round Groups. Teams that faced each other in the Group Stage cannot be drawn into the same Main Round group.

No further draws will be necessary after the Main Round. The semi-finals will be played between the second of Group A and the first of group B as well as between the second of Group B and the first of Group A.

In the Group Phase we witnessed some surprises as we saw favourites fail. It’s some surprise that only one team from Denmark – Viborg – reached the main round. The others, FCK and Aalborg didn’t even qualify for the cup winners cup, as they finished last in their groups.

Krim was the positive surprise, as the Slovenians had to dismiss some international top stars before the start of the season due to financial problems. But then Krim was the first team to qualify for the main round – and remained without a defeat until round six, when they were beaten by Hypo, securing the second place in their group.

Aside Krim, Viborg was the only team with only one defeat in six matches and qualified for the main round as number one of Group A ahead of HC Leipzig – the second German team in CL history to remain in the round of the last eight teams.

In Group C, the “group of death”, Valcea and Györ went on to the next stage, as Zvezda, the CL winner of 2008, again failed and will continue in the cup winners cup. For the first time in club history, Larvik HK is among the eight best teams, even as they lost their last match in Wolgograd.

So the CL main round is totally international with eight teams from eight countries. The next round will start on 6^th of February.

Leg 1: 06./07.02.2010
Leg 2: 13./14.02.2010
Leg 3: 20./21.02.2010
Leg 4: 06./07.03.2010
Leg 5: 13./14.03.2010
Leg 6: 20./21.03.2010

TEXT: Björn Pazen