12.09.2020, 09:00
Big return of big handball to Moscow

MATCHDAY EXTRA: In what was the first women’s continental top-flight match in Moscow after more than 50 years CSKA nearly snapped Györ's record unbeaten string

Moscow is a huge city, offering many kinds of entertainment, but the DELO EHF Champions League is something new for the Russian capital.

In fact, the last match played there in the women’s continental top flight took place in 1966, when Trud Moscow faced Kobenhavn.

The tournament was then called European Champions Cup, and Trud represented the USSR. Later Spartak Kiev clearly dominated the Soviet handball for many years, and in the post-Soviet Russia, Zvezda Zvenigorod used to be a major force, but they came from a Moscow suburb and usually played in Chekhov, outside Moscow.

Founded just one year ago, CSKA have big ambitions. The team coached by Jan Leslie proved it in their first-ever match in a European club competition, snatching a point from the Hungarian powerhouse, Györi AUDI ETO KC (27:27) after bringing the reigning winners to the brink of losing their record unbeaten streak.

"If someone offered me before the game a draw with Györ I would have taken it but now it is tough that we let the victory slip between our hands in the last five minutes. However, together with Györ we did a really good game tonight and I hope we can continue like this, because if we want to achieve something this season we need to raise our game and we will not be satisfied with only one point even from the games with the top teams," CSKA head coach Jan Leslie hinted huge ambitions of the Moscow-based club at the post-match press conference.

TEXT: EHF / Sergey Nikolaev