The hunter becomes the hunted
For nearly a decade they were the hunter, now Györi Audi ETO will be the hunted for the first time in the Women’s EHF Champions League.
After several attempts, the Hungarian champions made their dream come true to raise the trophy in May – now they top the seeding list for the Group Matches draw for the 2013/14 season, which will take place on Friday, 28 July at the Gloriette in Vienna.
Players like Andrea Lekic and Jovanka Radicevic have since left, but Györ made one of the most important signings in the summer break with the transfer of Katarina Bulatovic from Romanian side Oltchim Valcea, after their non-participation in this season’s competition after reaching the semi-finals last season.
Krim and Larvik remain the same
 Instead of Valcea, 2012 Champions League winner Buducnost Podgorica (Montenegro) is in Pot 1 alongside 2013 finalist Larvik HK (Norway) and 2013 semi-finalist Krim Mercator (Slovenia).
While the Larvik and Krim squad remained mostly the same, Buducnost have undergone some changes, but are the new home of former World Handball Player of the Year, Romanian Cristina Neagu.
Big tradition in Pot 1
None of the teams of Pot 1 have less than eleven participations in Europe’s elite competition, topped by 19 appearances from Krim and 18 times from Buducnost.
However, those teams do not lead the overall ranking, that belongs to record EHF Champions League winner Hypo NÖ from Austria, which is the only men’s or women’s club to be part of all Champions League seasons since the start in 1993 and play for the 21st time with their new coach Morten Soubak, who knows half of his squad quite well as the Brazilian national team coach.
Two former winners in Pot 3
Despite winning the Cup Winnner's Cup in May – the first international title since 13 years – Hypo are seeded only in Pot 3, after they had regularly been eliminated quite early in the previous seasons.
Hypo are in the same Pot with another former champion, Podravka Koprivnica, from Croatia, playing their 20th CL season, the Swedish champions Sävehof and the Polish champions from Lublin, who exactly ten years ago had been part of the Group Phase for the last time, make up the rest of that pot.
Pot 2 consists of the Danish champions Midtjylland, French record champions Metz, German double winners Thüringer HC and a debutant - Bera Bera, who recently became Spanish champion for the first time.
Only national champions directly qualified
In contrast to the VELUX EHF Champions League, only national champions (the top 12 in the EHF nation’s ranking) have directly qualified for the Group Matches. The additional four spots will be decided in four qualification tournaments, which were drawn on Thursday afternoon.
No changes in the playing system
The six rounds of the Group Matches will be played from 5 September to 17 November in a tough and compressed schedule of seven weeks.
The two best ranked teams of each of those four groups make it to the Main Round (1 February until 16 March 2014), when the top eight teams of this competition battle in six rounds for the four spots of the semi-finals, played in home and away matches 5/6 April 2014 and 12/13 April 2014. The finals will be played 3/4 and 10/11 May 2014 and by then Györ will know, whether they are the still the hunted or the hunter once again.
TEXT: Björn Pazen / cor
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