All-Spanish duel opens European Cup Women quarter-finals

The other quarter-final pairings are Cabooter Fortes Venlo vs MSK IUVENTA Michalovce and Costa del Sol Malaga vs Hazena Kynzvart; those will be played as double-headers in Michalovce and Malaga, respectively, next week.

QUARTER-FINALS, FIRST LEG:

• Guardes were finalists in 2023 and semi-finalists in 2021, while Elche won the competition in 2024 and were semi-finalists in 2023
• the teams actually met in that 2023 semi-final, with Guardes winning both legs (22:18, 23:22) against Elche
• Guardes have won have won all their four matches so far this season, while Elche — which started a round earlier — won five of their six matches
• best scorers are Carmen Claudino with 32 goals for Elche, and Lorena Delgado with 16 for Guardes
• Bursa play their second international season and have already achieved their best result, having lost in round 3 in the 2024/25 season
• Bursa also faced a team from Greece, AEK Athens HC, in round 3 and won both legs (37:29 and 30:29) before eliminating Spanish side Replasa Beti-Onak in the Last 16
• PAOK started in round 2 and recorded five wins in six matches
• the Greek side have matched their best-ever best result by making it to the quarter-finals again, like five years agp
• leading scorers are Sanja Premovic with 29 goals for PAOK, and Emine Gokdemir with 19 for Bursa

Spain on course to keep dominance going

In three of the five seasons since its inauguration in 2020/21, the EHF European Cup Women has been won by a team from Spain: Málaga in 2021, Gran Canaria in 2022, and Elche in 2024. And in the two seasons where the trophy went elsewhere, at least a Spanish club was in the final: Guardes in 2023 (won by Antalya Konyaalti from Tükiye) and Porriño in 2025 (Valur from Iceland).

Will the story be much different in 2026? Still, three Spanish sides are in the race for the title: Costa del Sol Málaga, Club Balonmán Atlético Guardes and ATTICGO Bm Elche. And with the latter two going head-to-head, Spain will be represented by at least one team in next month’s semi-finals.

However, an all-Spanish final like in 2022 is no longer on the cards, as all three Spanish sides are in the same half of the draw, meaning only one of them could ultimately make it to the final this time.

photos © Joaquin De Haro Rodriguez (main); Aglezamador (in-text)