09.11.2017, 10:30
Belarusian champions travel to Norway again

ROUND PREVIEW: HC Gomel head to Norway for the second time this season for the third and final qualification round of the Women’s EHF Cup

Belarusian champions travel to Norway again

24 teams from 13 nations around Europe will be fighting for 12 places in the Women’s EHF Cup Group Phase over the coming two weekends in the third and final qualification round.

Three matches will be streamed live on ehfTV.com, Vaci NKSE vs Kastamonu Belediyesi GSK (Sunday 12 November at 14:30 CET), Zvezda Zvenigorod vs DHK Banik Most (Sunday 12.11 at 16:00 CET) and DVSC-TVP vs SCM Craiova (Sunday 19.11 at 18:15 CET).

The action begins on Friday 10 November with Hypo Niederösterreich, who won the Women’s EHF Champions League four times in the past, welcoming Romanian side H. C. Zalau for the first leg in Maria Enzerdorf.

The Austrian club begin their EHF Cup campaign in this round after failing to qualify for the Champions League Group Matches, while the Romanian visitors, who reached the EHF Cup final in 2012, eliminated Turkey’s Ankara Yenimahalle BSK in the previous round.

Belarusian champions HC Gomel will be travelling to Norway for the second time this season. Back in September, Gomel failed to qualify for the Champions League in the qualification group in Kristiansand.

This weekend, they will travel further to the north east of the Scandinavian country, to Trondheim, where they meet Byasen Handball Elite.

Byasen got this far by eliminating Romanian H. C. Dunarea Braila in the second round after their 10-goal win at home proved to be just enough as they lost by eight in the second leg.

In May 2016, DKKD Dunaujvaros won the EHF Cup, defeating Metzingen in the final, and their quest to emulate this achievement sees them face Kobenhavn Haandbold in Round 3.

Kobenhavn, who lost the Danish championship finals last season to Nykøbing Falster, eliminated Cercle Dijon Bourgogne from France in the second round, while Dunaujvaros sent Romanian C. S. M. Roman out of the competition.

Last season, H 65 Höörs HK won the Swedish championship for the first time in history, but their Champions League adventure ended before it really began.

Höör, who won the Challenge Cup in 2014, lost the final in Qualification Group 1 in Germany, 33:24 to hosts Thüringer HC.

Now, the team from Southern Sweden is entering the EHF Cup, where they will be facing German opposition once again.

TusSies Metzingen, who reached the final of the EHF Cup in 2016, and who were in the semi-final last season, will be visiting Sporthallen in Höör Sunday evening for the first leg.

Metzingen are the only German representatives left in the qualification rounds for the group phase and it will be a weakened German side travelling to Sweden.

Metzingen will be missing their Hungarian left wing Dorina Korsos, who joined from Champions League winners Györ Audi ETO KC this summer, as she underwent surgery for a meniscus injury and is not likely to be back on the court until the final stages of the season at the earliest.

The 12 teams which win their Round 3 ties will be joined in the group phase by the four fourth placed teams in the Women’s EHF Champions League Group Matches.

Women's EHF Cup Qualification Round 3 overview

TEXT: Peter Bruun / cor