Former champions headline European Cup Women round 3 start

Round 3 is scheduled for the two upcoming weekends and features four teams from Spain, three from the Netherlands and two each from Slovakia, Italy, Poland, North Macedonia, Greece, Austria and Portugal.

• six of the 16 ties in round 3 will be decided in double-headers — and three of them are scheduled this weekend in Erice (Italy), Skopje (North Macedonia) and Byala (Bulgaria); these will decide the first teams that secure their place for the Last 16
• last season’s semi-finalists Hazena Kynzvart from Czechia start their international season against Austrian side Union Korneuburg Damen, who eliminated Azeryol HC from Azerbaijan with a clear 73:55 aggregate result in round 2
• Italian club Jomi Salerno took one of the biggest aggregate wins in the previous round, 83:39 against KHF Ferizaj, and now prepare to travel to Poland to face Energa Start Elblag; the other Italian team in the competition, Handball Erice SSD ARL, will be supported by their own fans in the double-header this weekend, aiming to make it to round 3 for the third time in a row
• both Greek sides start round 3 with away matches: PAOK first travel to Vienna to face MADx WAT Atzgersdorf, while AEK Athens HC lock horns with the only remaining Turkish club, Bursa Büyüksehir BSK
• the best scorer of round 2 is no longer part of the competition: Mariana Silva Azevedo netted 21 times for ZRK Kumanovo in two matches, but failed to proceed to the upcoming round; the best scorer still in the competition is Ivona Barukcic (ZRK Mlinotest Ajdovscina/20 goals), who will face the Dutch side Westfriesland SEW in round 3

Two Spanish clubs await exciting double-headers this weekend

Spain, the leading country in the previous years of the EHF European Cup Women, is the only nation with four teams still in the competition. After Costa del Sol Malaga, Replasa Beti-Onak and ATTICGO Bm Elche successfully completed round 2, now Club Balonmán Atlético Guardes — who were seeded to round 3 — get ready to rumble.

Only Malaga, winners in 2021, have both a home and an away match in round 3, first travelling to Iceland and then hosting Haukar for the return leg. 2024 champions Elche travel for a double-header to Skopje to face HC Gjorche Petrov-WHC AD Skopje this weekend, and the same applies to Guardes, who will play two away games in the Bulgarian city of Byala. The other Spanish team this season, Replasa Beti-Onak, host Swiss side Yellow Winterthur for next weekend’s double-header.

Photos © Costa del Sol Malaga (main), ZRK Mlinotest Ajdovscina (in-text)