Dortmund book last play-offs ticket; Storhamar eliminated
The EHF Champions League Women 2025/26 group phase finished with four matches on Sunday, all played in group A. Despite losing at Györi Audi ETO KC, BV Borussia Dortmund secured the last play-off spot, finishing ahead of Storhamar Handball Elite, who were defeated at home against Gloria Bistrita.
We knew we were facing a good team, but that we had a chance to win. In the second half, we lost a bit of steam. We have a lot of faith, but we got tired in the end. We have a small squad compared to Gloria.
Storhamar is a very hard opponent for us. We have met them many times. I think we started a bit hard, but then we got the rhythm and controlled the game.
We knew it would not be easy, and that proved to be true, as we had to fight throughout the entire match. At the beginning of the second half, our defence came together and we were able to help our goalkeepers. It was important to finish the group stage with a win. We are excitedly looking forward to the continuation.
I am sad about the defeat, but I know it is difficult to win in Debrecen. The welcome felt very good, I felt that the fans here still love me. The result is realistic, we missed many chances, and that is not acceptable in the Champions League!
I’m really proud of the team. I think we defended very well. Everyone was in her role, which makes it much easier to read the game and anticipate what they are going to do. I felt like we were always one step ahead of them. On top of that, Johanna [Bundsen] made some great saves, which allowed us to score quickly afterwards.
We weren’t there today. We had a good start defensively and could have taken a big lead early on. We tried to take an early timeout to be more decisive in our actions, but we couldn’t manage it. When you play against a team like Metz and they show all their quality, you can’t win playing the way we did. I’m actually really disappointed with how we looked today.
Overall, we’re very pleased with the result and with finishing top of the group to reach the quarter-finals, especially considering the difficulties we’ve faced recently. We’ve had injuries and defeats, so the upcoming break will do us good. A tough period awaits us at the end of the season, and we’ll also need to integrate a new player into the team.
It’s always a great feeling to play in this arena and in such an atmosphere. At the same time, we could have performed better, because we made too many mistakes in the first half and Györ punished them mercilessly. We improved after the break, but congratulations to our opponents on their victory.
