Bietigheim tie record, but fail to make the play-offs

GROUP A

SG BBM Bietigheim (GER) vs DHK Banik Most (CZE) 47:25 (22:12)

• the German champions broke an eight-game winless streak, their largest in the history of the competition, but failed to progress to the play-offs, due to their inferior goal difference (-4) in a three-way tiebreaker against Krim Mercator Ljubljana and Brest Bretagne Handball
• Bietigheim tied the record for the largest number of goals scored in a single game in the EHF Champions League Women, previously set by Vardar in their 47:29 win against Krim in March 2015
• making her comeback after three months, returning from an injury, left wing Antje Doll scored seven goals for Bietigheim
• Most became only the second team after Kastamonu Belediyesi GSK in the current format of the European top competition to finish the group phase with 14 losses in 14 matches, after dropping each game by at least three goals
• the Czech side finished the season with a 17-game losing streak, the second longest in the history of the competition, after Kastamonu’s 18-game losing streak

Bietigheim leave it too late to see play-offs hopes gone

It was only a few months ago when Bietigheim were riding a 64-game unbeaten streak in all competitions and looked like a good bet to contend for the EHF FINAL4 come June in Budapest.

However, injuries came in droves for the German champions, which could not adapt and eventually failed to make the play-offs, despite their large win against Most, 47:25. Bietigheim finished last in the three-way tie with Krim Mercator Ljubljana and Brest Bretagne Handball, boasting a weaker goal difference, -4, than Brest, 0, in this standings, which will definitely be a huge blow for Markus Gaugisch’s side.

While Most conceded at least 40 goals in nine of the 14 matches they played, the Czech side will be surely helped to develop by the steep learning curve. They also seem to have unearthed a gem of a player in left back Charlotte Cholevova, the top scorer of the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship in the summer of 2022, who finished this season with 76 goals and is currently in sixth place in the top goal scorer standings.