Four teams ready to fight for glory at EHF Finals Women

The final tournament will start with an all-Romanian duel as the still-undefeated Gloria will try to overcome their well-known opponents from Dunarea Braila in the first semi-final.

French powerhouse Neptunes Nantes want to reclaim the throne after winning the title in the inaugural 2020/21 season and give a nice farewell gift to their head coach Helle Thomsen. In the second semi-final, they will pit sides with Storhamar, the first Norwegian team to qualify for the EHF Finals Women.

SEMI-FINALS

CS Gloria 2018 BN (ROU) vs H.C. Dunarea Braila (ROU)
Saturday 11 May, 15:00 CEST, live on EHFTV

• Dunarea Braila are the only side to reach the EHF Finals Women who started their season in qualification round 1; Gloria, on the other hand are the only one without a defeat so far
• Gloria secured a spot in Graz by eliminating Motherson Mosonmagyarovari KC in the quarter-finals; Braila defeated HC Podravka Vegeta
• Braila's top scorer Katarina Jezic netted 41 times and is jointly among the top three scorers of the competition; Cristina Laslo leads Gloria with 41 goals
• this is only the second European season for Gloria, previously they played the EHF Cup in 2019/20
• Braila's best European results so far are the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup in 2007/08 and quarter-finals of the EHF European League 2020/21, when fellow Romanian side CS Minaur Baia Mare eliminated them
• the two sides have never met before in European competitions
• Braila have not beaten Gloria, losing two matches in the Romanian league (26:27, 24:27) and drawing one in the Romanian cup (31:31), although they won that match 36:35 in overtime

Storhamar Handball Elite (NOR) vs Neptunes Nantes (FRA)
Saturday 11 May, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV

• Neptunes Nantes are the only team with the experience of the EHF Finals Women as they were crowned champions in the maiden 2020/21 season
• Storhamar are one of three debutants in the EHF Finals Women in their third European League season, after playing the EHF Champions League in 2022/23
• Neptunes Nantes eliminated two Norwegian clubs already this season – Molde Elite in qualification round 2 and Sola HK in the quarter-finals
• Storhamar paved the way to Graz with a 72:61 aggregate win against EHF Finals Women 2023 participants Thüringer HC
• Storhamar's centre back Anniken Obaidli is the competition's current top scorer with 50 goals since the start of the group phase; Nantes' bright star is Tamara Horacek with 36 goals
• the Norwegian side had the best defence of all 16 teams in the group phase, conceding only 138 goals; French team have the best shot efficiency (65.2 per cent) of all four teams playing at the EHF Finals Women
• this will be the first time these two clubs clash in EHF club competitions

Photos © Uros Hocevar/kolektiff; Ferenc Zengő