The Danes prepare with a success for the CL qualifiers.
Aalborg win Nordic Cup
Aalborg DH runner-up in the Danish women´s league after Viborg, will not have to fear the qualification tournament for the coming Champions League. …at least based on the performance of the team at the Nordic Cup in Aalborg.
ADH won in front of two teams who qualified for the CL group phase already – Norwegian champion Larvik HK and German title holder HC Leipzig.
Aalborg DH started the tournament with a 27-27 draw against Leipzig. Then they defeated KIF Vejen by 29-18. The last group match was against Danish league newcomers Team Tvis Holsebro (34-30).
In the final, Larvik were the opponents. The Norwegian champions had even easier road to the final.
In their group they started by defeating Danish league team FC Midtjylland Håndbold by 38-26. They won by 29-20 against SK Aarhus and by 29-25 against Norwegian Våg fron Kristianssand.
Close final
The final was a close game. Aalborg were leading 14-11 at half-time, but early in the second half the Norwegians took the lead. At the end, however, Aalborg DH secured a 25-23 win.
It was the second time in succession that Aalborg won the Nordic Cup – and for the second time against Larvik in the final.
In the second qualification round for the Champions League group stage, Aalborg DH are in Group 4, where the opponents on the first weekend of October will be Spanish Parc Sagunt, Greek champions Patras and a team from the first qualification round.
HC Leipzig finished the tournament third. After their 27-27 draw against Aalborg they defeated Team Tvis Holstebro (31-27) and KIF Vejen (26-22). They won 27-26 against FC Midtjylland for the third place.
TEXT:
Peter Bruun