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Who will continue making history? An entirely new winner of the DELO EHF Champions League 2020/21 will be crowned on Sunday in Budapest, as Brest Bretagne Handball and Vipers Kristiansand fight for the title in what is the first final in the top-flight competition for both sides.
Prior to the final, Györi Audi ETO KC and CSKA will decide third place in what will be the last DELO EHF Champions League match for the ‘queen of handball’ Anita Görbicz, who will retire at the end of this season.
FINAL
Brest Bretagne Handball (FRA) vs Vipers Kristiansand (NOR)
Sunday 30 May, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
- Brest reached the final by beating Györ for the first time in their mutual history, with a 27:25 victory decided after a penalty shoot-out
- Vipers had an easier semi-final against CSKA, winning 33:30 in regular time after controlling the game from the 20th minute on
- Brest and Vipers have met only twice before in official competitions, in the quarter-final of the 2018/19 season, taking a win apiece before the Norwegian side proceeded to their debut DELO EHF FINAL4 with an aggregate victory
- at their first DELO EHF FINAL4, Vipers beat another French side, Metz (31:30), to clinch third place
- Brest’s previous best record in the DELO EHF Champions League was the quarter-finals, which they reached three times, in 2016/17, 2018/19 and 2019/20
- Vipers’ 2018/19 season was by far their most successful until now, as the previous results were reaching the main round in 2019/20 and progressing no further than the group matches in 2017/18
- neither team has a long history in the DELO EHF Champions League, with both playing their fourth season in 2020/21
- four members of the 2020/21 All-star Team will feature in the final: from Vipers, coach Ole Gjekstad, best young player Henny Reistad, and right back Nora Mørk; from Brest, line player Pauletta Foppa
- Brest right back Ana Gros is essentially sure to take the season’s top scorer crown. She counts 127 goals in her tally after entering the semi-final with 118. Her nearest rival still in the competition is Györ’s Veronica Kristiansen, with 91 goals
- five Vipers players have won the DELO EHF Champions League before: Mørk, Jana Knedlikova, Katrine Lunde, Heidi Løke and Linn Jorum Sulland. Mørk, Lunde and Løke could all take their fifth trophy with a third club on Sunday
- from Brest, only Isabelle Gulldén has won the title before — when she led CSM Bucuresti to the top of the podium as debutants
- just two other Brest players had played a DELO EHF FINAL4 prior to this edition: Djurdjina Jaukovic, twice with Buducnost, and Sandra Toft, once with Larvik. Neither clinched the trophy
- Gulldén holds the record for most goals scored in one game at the DELO EHF FINAL4, with 15 in the 2016 final. On Saturday, it was Gulldén who netted the winning penalty against Györ
3/4 PLACEMENT MATCH
Györi Audi ETO KC (HUN) vs CSKA (RUS)
Sunday 30 May, 15:15 CEST, live on EHFTV
- despite a disappointing loss in Saturday’s semi-final, CSKA have had an impressive maiden season in the top flight, after the club formed the women’s handball team just two years ago
- Györ will finish with their lowest ranking since the 2014/15 season, when they were knocked out of the DELO EHF Champions League in the quarter-final stage. After that, they reached four straight finals and won three consecutive trophies
- A 55-game unbeaten run for Györ, stretching back to January 2018, came to an end with Saturday’s loss
- excluding qualification matches, Györ stalwart Anita Görbicz has scored 1,013 goals in 185 DELO EHF Champions League games and a total of 1,310 in 234 European cup matches. It will be the last Champions League game for the Hungarian legend
- the teams have met twice before, in the group stage this season, with a 27:27 draw in the first game of 2020/21 and a 31:24 win for Györ in Hungary
TEXT: EHF / Courtney Gahan
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