Young players rise to prominence in continental topflight

Machineseeker EHF Champions League

Mitja Janc, RK Celje Pivovarna Laško

The Slovenian champions have lost all three matches so far, but their 20-year-old centre back has done a good job. In fact, he is currently the team’s top scorer in the competition with 17 goals – already one more than during the entire previous season.

The younger brother of Barca right wing Blaz Janc scored six goals in Celje’s opening match against GOG, and a week later, he became a top scorer of the game with FC Porto with nine goals. However, Janz was less successful last Wednesday at SC Magdeburg, converting just two of his seven attempts as his team lost 39:23.

Two years ago, Janc was both MVP and top scorer of the M19 EHF EURO 2019. This year, he scored 29 goals at the 2023 Men’s Junior World Championship. And now it looks like the promising centre back is becoming a leader at his club.

Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu, THW Kiel

The 21-year-old centre back did a great job at the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, where he became a joint top scorer with 55 goals alongside Japan’s Naoki Fujisaka. Besides, he recorded a competition-leading 48 assists and fully deserved to be included into the All-star Team.

Seen as one of the biggest talents in world handball, the Torshavn-born Ellefsen á Skipagøtu played for three seasons at IK Sävehof. But this summer, he decided to make the next step in his career and joined German powerhouse THW Kiel.

With Sävehof, he played in the EHF European League, but now he had a chance to make his debut in the continental top flight. And it looks like he feels more and more confident with each game: scoring two goals against HC Zagreb, four against OTP Bank-Pick Szeged, and five at HC Eurofarm Pelister last Wednesday.

His 11 goals I total make Ellefsen á Skipagøtu Kiel’s third-best scorer behind Niclas Ekberg and Patriсk Wiencek. And getting more experience at this level will certainly help him to further improve.

Diogo Rêma Marques, FC Porto

In 2022, the goalkeeper starred his home M20 EHF EURO in Portugal, helping the team win silver. And this year, he recorded a 31 per cent safe efficiency at the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship, where his team ranked sixth.

Now he is making a breakthrough at his club Porto, and in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League in particular. While Porto’s opening game with Plock proved to be a real thriller, Rêma’s 10 saves for a 34 per cent save rate helped his team to snatch a 24:23 win, and his double save in the 18th minute was just amazing.

In the following matches, the young goalkeeper, who shares the goalkeeping position with the more experienced Nikola Mitrevski, also had some impact, stopping six balls against Celje (20 per cent) and four against Barça (27 per cent), underlining his big potential.

Milos Kos, HC Zagreb

Serbia boasts a talented young generation, which has already won bronze at the M20 EHF EURO 2022 and finished fourth at the 2023 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship. Left back Kos was one of the leaders of both teams, and in particular, he became a third-best scorer at Germany-Greece 2023 with 50 goals.

Last October, Kos moved from Bosnia’s HC Izvidac to Zagreb, and during the 2022/23 season, he made his debut in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, scoring one goal. In the new season of the Europe’s premiere club competition, the 21-year-old has netted eight times in three matches.

In the opening game against KIel, the left back converted two of his five shots, and a week later at Paris Saint-Germain Handball, he also scored twice, but from six attempts. This Thursday, Kos was more efficient, as he netted four times from five attempts and helped Zagreb to comfortably beat Kolstad Handball, 31:20.

Petar Cikusa Jelicic, Barça

Just as his twin brother Djordje, the 17-year-old right back was a prominent figure at the 2023 IHF Youth World Championship, where he scored 33 goals and helped Spain win the title. And now the son of former Croatian international Zoran Cikusa, who was born in Girona, is making his first steps in the EHF Champions League.

Of course he is still very young to constantly play a key role in the star-studded Spanish team, but Cikusa showed his potential in Bar­ça’s opening match of te 2023/24 season, scoring four goals at Montpellier HB. In the next two games against reigning champions SC Magdeburg and FC Porto, the young Spaniard failed to find the net, but there is no doubt that many more of his goals are yet to come.

EHF Champions League Women

Sarah Bouktit, Metz Handball

The 21-year-old line player is one of the most talented young players in women’s French handball. She delivered a great performances at the W17 EHF EURO 2019 and the W19 EHF EURO 2021, and made her debut in the France senior national team last year.

And at club level, Bouktit has been playing for Metz since 2019, although she also moved to Fleury Loiret Handball for the 2020/21 season. So the line player now has enough experience at the continental top flight, as she scored 46 goals in the 2021/22 campaign and 64 goals last season.

This season, Bouktit has a tally of 13 goals after three matches, and she has been quite consistent, netting four times against both FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria and Ikast Håndbold, and five times at Team Esberg last Saturday. And while Metz claimed just two points from these games, their line player has done quite a good job.

Julie Scaglione, Ikast Håndbold

Seen as a rising star of the Danish handball, Scaglione has been playing for Ikast since the age of 16. Last season, she won the EHF European League with the club, contributing to team’s success with 33 goals. And now Ikast qualified for the EHF Champions League Women for the first time in six years, so the left back has the opportunity to make her debut in the topflight.

Her team has done a great gob so far, winning all three matches in the competition. However, Scaglione has seen that it might take some time for a young player to adjust to the EHF Champions League. In the first match against titleholders Vipers Kristiansand, the 19-year-old found it hard to score against the much more experienced Kathrine Lunde, converting just one of her four attempts.

A week later, Scaglione again netted just once, this time at Metz Handball, but in the third encounter against CS Rapid Bucuresti, the Dane scored five goals from as many attempts, so this good performance should boost her confidence ahead of the next games.

Nina Koppang, IK Sävehof

Just like Scaglione, the Swedish right back has a tally of seven goals after three matches in the current EHF Champions League season. However, Koppang had her best performance in the opening game at DVSC Schaeffler, when she became her team’s joint top scorer with five goals.

After that, the 21-year-old was less prolific, scoring just one of her seven attempts against Brest Bretagne Handball and one of her five attempts last week at WHC Buducnost BEMAX. All in all, her shot efficiency, which now stands at 37 per cent, needs improvement.

Sävehof sit bottom of group A with zero points, but they hope to improve in the next games. And Koppang, who was elected the best right back at the W19 EHF EURO 2021, is certainly one of the players who might help her team to achieve better results.

Valentina Klemencic, Krim Mercator Ljubljana

At the age of 21, the Slovenian line player has enough international experience at senior competitions. Four years ago, she played for her national team at the 2019 IHF World Championship, and in 2020, she also participated at the EHF EURO.

And at club level, Klemencic, who has been playing for Krim since she was 16, started her already fifth season in the EHF Champions League. Her 34 goals in the 2020/21 season is still her personal record, but time will show how many she will score this season.

So far, the line player has six goals under her belt. A 36:18 opening win at Zaglebie was her best game, as Klemencic converted all her four attempts. The folowing week, she failed to score against Esbjerg, and last Saturday, her two goals helped Krim to earn their third consecutive victory, 32:26 on home court against FTC.

Paula Arcos, Vipers Kristiansand

One of the top Spanish prospects of the recent decade made a big step in her career this summer, moving from BM Bera Bera to Vipers Kristiansand, the winners of the last three EHF Champions League Women editions. Now her goal is to prove that she belongs to that level.

A senior international since 2020, Arcos has the experience of playing at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and while she competed in the EHF European Cup and EHF European League only with her previous teams Club Balonman Atlético Guardes and Bera Bera, now she made her debut in the continental top flight.

It is obviously not easy for a young player to make a breakthrough at the best club of Europe, which boasts a star-studded squad, but Arcos is trying her best to integrate. So far, the left back has scored three goals in the EHF Champions League, two against FTC and one at Lubin, but it is only the beginning.

photos © Slavko Kolar; Peter Spark/PhotoReport.in; Sara Gordon; nhcfoto.dk; Istvan Derencsenyi