Handballers to start European League against Valcea

Pre-Match Report

Handballers to start European League against Valcea

Borussia Dortmund's women's handball team will play host to the Romanian team SCM Ramnicu Valcea in the first group game of the EHF European League. The game will take place on Sunday evening (18:00 CET) in the Westpress Arena in Hamm.

"We want to win. Of course, Valcea is a strong opponent that will demand everything from us. On the other hand, we don't have to hide either. We are the leaders of the Handball Bundesliga and did very well in Most in qualification," says Borussia coach Henk Groener. A good 1,000 tickets have been sold in advance so far (tickets are available here). The Westpress Arena is likely to provide a suitably impressive backdrop again on Sunday.

Romania is well represented in the competition, with CSM Bucharest, Rapid Bucharest, Baia Mare, Braila and Valcea all participating. "Romania has a strong league," says Henk Groener. The Dortmund women already experienced as much in the autumn of 2023, when they suffered back-to-back defeats against Braila in the European League qualifiers.

Now the Black & Yellows are on the brink of launching their next attempt to reach the Final4 in the European League, which will once again take place in Graz in May this year. But there is still a long way to go before then. "I think that of all four groups, we have the toughest," says the coach in reference to the remaining two opponents Sola HK from Norway and Ikast Handbold, winners of the 2023 European League in Graz.

But first, the focus is on SCM Ramnicu Valcea. In the Liga Nationala, Valcea are in seventh place in the table with 12 games played. They have two German players in the squad, Julia Maidhof and former BVB player Mia Zschocke. The team also includes players from Norway, Sweden, Hungary and France.

What characterises the team from Valcea, which is located a good 200 kilometers west of Bucharest? "Valcea are physically strong and play at a high pace. The team are a perfect representation of what international handball is all about," said Groener, who watched the matches in the qualifying round against former Hungarian Champions League club DVSC Schaeffler as well as the 29-27 defeat against domestic league leaders CSM Bucharest. 'Valcea also have individual class, they won't hand us anything,"says Groener, going on to add: "We know what we want from the European League games: we want to win and enjoy ourselves. And give our fans a great game. That's what we're competing for in the European League."

Borussia's pivot Lisa Antl has also gathered information about the opponents: from her national team colleague Julia Maidhof, who plays at right back for Valcea. "Physically, it's a completely different level. It's clear to everyone that it's going to be really tough and extremely demanding physically. But we definitely want to start the group phase with a win," explained Antl, who also shed light on the opposition's position in the table: "We mustn't be deceived by that. Valcea had a really tough opening run of fixtures."

There will be no changes in personnel compared to Wednesday evening's game in Buxtehude, which BVB won 28-21. The injured Lena Hausherr, Tess Lieder and Lara Egeling remain absent. In Groner's words: "Fortunately, we have a large squad that we can and will use to manage the workload. With the Final4 in the DHB Pokal, we still have 15 games to play between now and the beginning of March."

The game will be broadcast live on Dyn.