Regional battle for supremacy follows survival quest  

The fifth round of the Women’s EHF Champions League in Group B offers a pair of contrasting clashes, with Vardar and Buducnost locked in a high-quality battle for the section’s top spot while Podravka take on Thüringer HC looking for a window of opportunity to stay in the hunt for a main round berth.

Having secured their passage last weekend, Vardar and Buducnost are set to produce a flowing and rip-roaring contest in Skopje’s Sport Centre Jane Sandanski. Vardar will try to erase a six-goal defeat from the first meeting between the two sides (23:17), in an effort to leapfrog Buducnost with a better head-to-head record.

Podravka have a much tougher task as they are chasing a 13-goal deficit from their reverse fixture against Thüringer, when the Germans side ran riot and celebrated a 33:20 victory.

Women's EHF Champions League Group B

HC Podravka Vegeta (CRO) vs Thüringer HC (GER)   
Koprivnica, Saturday 15 November at 17:30 hrs local time, live on ehfTV.com

The moment of truth for Podravka has come. Following their emphatic defeat by Thuringer in the opening round, the Croatian team’s form has improved steadily and they produced two good performances on home court against Vardar and Buducnost.

Although they lost both fixtures and are rooted to the bottom of the table, the Croatian outfit went down fighting against the giants of women’s European club handball and gave their fans hope that a miracle against Thüringer is possible after all.

A narrow win would put Podravka back into contention for third place and a main round berth, but realistically it would only be a forlorn hope as they would still need to do better in their last game at Buducnost than Thüringer against Vardar on home court in order to qualify.

Hence a win by 13 goals or more appears to be Podravka’s best chance of leaping over Thüringer, a big ask by any means and especially so against a side able to stand their ground under pressure.

Thüringer are unlikely to be discouraged by their nine-goal defeat at Buducnost in the previous round as they were up against one of the prime candidates to win the coveted trophy, while Podravka know they need to improve defensively after conceding an avalanche of goals in last round’s  35:25 defeat to Vardar.

WHC Vardar SCBT (MKD) vs Buducnost (MNE)  
Skopje, Sunday 16 October at 19:00 hrs local time, live on ehfTV.com

The top two teams from the former Yugoslavia, rivals in the Women’s Regional Handball League as well as Europe’s premier club competition, will lock horns again after the Montenegrin giants dominated the reverse fixture in Podgorica when they enjoyed a comfortable win.

Vardar, who have added more steel to their impressive roster during the summer break, showed signs of gelling since that defeat as new acquisition Andrea Penezic started firing on all cylinders from the nine-metre line and formed a highly productive back-court partnership with Andrea Lekic.

Meanwhile, there is a blow for Buducnost with the news that Katarina Bulatovic has suffered an ankle injury in training and may be forced to the sidelines for up to three weeks.

It is hard to see Vardar overturning Buducnost’s six-goal advantage in the battle to win the group’s top spot, but any victory is likely to boost the Macedonian champions’ confidence after they were also beaten by the Montenegrin side in last season’s MVM EHF FINAL4 semi-final encounter in Budapest.

“It’s the group’s derby so I really expect a good game of handball between two teams with top-quality character and quality,” said Vardar winger Jovanka Radicevic, a former Buducnost stalwart who played a key role in winning the 2012 Champions League title with the club.

Her Buducnost counterpart Radmila Petrovic said: “Vardar are a strong side and always formidable opposition on home court. They have obviously raised their game since the competition started but we are off to Skopje to secure the top spot in our group.”