Amandine Leynaud (FRA) – HC Vardar

• Played seven years in the Champions League with her first club, Metz
• Moved to Valcea, Romania in 2012, where she suffered a knee injury
• “Doudou” has been a crucial player in Vardar’s squad since 2015
• Won three bronze medals and made it to the 2016/17 final of the Champions League with Vardar
• Was a key player when France won the world title at the end of 2017

Paula Ungureanu (ROU) – CSM Bucuresti

• Twice named the best handball player of the year in Romania, in 2012 and 2014
• Romania’s first choice in goal for many years, but retired from her international
career at the end of 2016
• Took a two-year hiatus and had a baby, Paul, in 2012 following a ligament tear in 2010
• Her husband is a football goalkeeper, and has followed her almost everywhere she played

Marina Rajcic (MNE) – Metz Handball

• Followed her sister Olivera Vukcevic (right wing who transferred to Erd, Hungary, in 2016) to Metz in the summer of 2015 after lifting the Champions League trophy with Buducnost
• Voted best young player in Montenegro in 2010
• Made her debut in Buducnost’s goal at only 16 and, at the age of 18, was the youngest player at the London 2012 Olympics
• Named best goalkeeper of the tournament at the IHF Junior World Championship 2010 in South Korea, where she won a bronze medal with Montenegro
• After three successful seasons with Metz, will return to Buducnost for the 2018/19 season

Mayssa Pessoa (BRA) – Rostov-Don

• Played in Brazil until she was 27, when she transferred to Issy Paris
• Has changed clubs a lot: After one year in France, she moved to Dinamo Volgograd before signing with Bucuresti for 2015/16 then joining Vardar for 2016/17
• Transferred to Rostov-Don ahead of the 2017/18 season
• Won the World Championship with Brazil in 2013
• Her nickname is “Taffarel” after her idol, one of Brazil’s greatest football goalkeepers
• Loves tattoos and has 32 on her body. Her favourite ones are the names of her relatives in Chinese and the Olympic rings inked in London

Kari Aalvik Grimsbø (NOR) – Györi Audi ETO KC

• Joined Györ from Danish side Team Esbjerg during the 2014/15 season when Croatian Jelena Grubisic, a replacement for pregnant Katrine Lunde, was injured
• Had a long career in Byasen before joining Esbjerg
• Has won multipile medals and nine titles with the Norway national team
• Started her career at the age of five, and had her debut for Byasen in the Norwegian league at the age of 17

Siraba Dembele (FRA) – Rostov-Don

• Captain of the France national team, who arrived from HC Vardar in the summer of 2016
• Rostov is the eighth club in her career – she previously played for five different French clubs, spent one season with Danish team Randers and played in FYR Macedonia with Vardar for three seasons
• Started to play handball at the age of 10 together with her elder sister Kamion
• Named All-star left wing of the World Championship 2017

Laerke Nolsoe Pedersen (DEN) – NFH - Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub

• Joined Nykøbing from league rivals Holstebro in the summer of 2016
• Has played 62 youth internationals for Denmark
• Has also caught the eye of senior national coach Klavs Bruun Jørgensen, who included her in the senior squad a few times
• Compensates for her modest height (164cm) with speed and technical skill, as well as a varied shot from the wing

Itana Grbic (MNE) – Buducnost

• Joined Buducnost from Vardar in 2016 and previously played for RK Danilovgrad, Buducnost’s second team
• Made her Champions Leage debut with Vardar in the 2014/15 season, against Krim
• Was part of the All-star Team at the Women’s Youth World Championship 2014
• Member of the Montenegro national team since 2015
• Sister of Petar Grbic, who plays for the national football team of Montenegro

Manon Houette (FRA) – Metz Handball

• Spent her entire career with Fleury Loiret before joining Thüringer in 2016, then moved back to France to play for Metz in 2017
• Played every minute of every game in Fleury’s Cup Winners’ Cup 2014/15 campaign
• Elected best left wing of the French league in 2013/14 and 2014/15
• Made her national team debut in 2014
• Champions League All-star left wing nominee for three consecutive seasons, including 2017/18

Anita Görbicz (HUN) – Györi Audi ETO KC

• Consistently among the best players in the world over the last decade
• The team captain, who has spent her entire career with Györ, waited to secure one of biggest prizes at either a club or national level until 2013
• Individual achievements: 2011/12 Champions League top scorer, 2005 World Handball Player of Year, best centre back at three World Championships in a row (2003, 2005, 2007)
• Officially retired from the Hungary national team in 2018

Andrea Penezic (CRO) – HC Vardar

• All-Star Team left back at the World Championship 2011
• Became Croatian player of the year six times while playing with Lokomotiva and Podravka
• Top scorer of the 2014/15 season, together with Cristina Neagu, with 102 goals
• EHF Player of the Month in March 2016 and Champions League All-star team nominee in 2015/16 and 2016/17
• Claimed the Slovenian league title and Cup four times with Krim

Djurdjina Jaukovic (MNE) – Buducnost

• Started handball at the age of nine in her home town Niksic, thanks to her father Jovo, former president of Sutjeska
• Joined Buducnost in 2013 at the age of 15, but was on loan in Danilovgrad for two years
• Named best young player in Montenegro twice (2014, 2015) and is considered one of the biggest talents in Montenegrin handball alongside Djurdjina Malovic
• Scored four goals on her Champions League debut in 2015/16, against IK Sävehof
• Top scorer and MVP of the Women’s 19 EHF EURO 2015 in Spain (71 goals)
• Scored 31 goals in nine games at her debut senior World Championship in Denmark in 2015

Cristina Neagu (ROU) – CSM Bucuresti

• The only female to be named IHF World Handball Player of the Year three times (2010, 2015, 2016)
• Led Romania to bronze medals at the EHF EURO 2010 and World Championship 2015
• Top scorer of the World Championship 2015 (63 goals), EHF Champions League 2014/15 (102 goals) and EHF EURO 2010 (53 goals)
• All-star left back at the EHF EURO 2010, 2014 and 2016 as well as the Champions League 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17
• MVP and All-star left back at the World Championship 2015
• Missed nearly two years on court after a shoulder injury and a torn knee ligament
• Lost two Champions League finals, one with Oltchim (2013) and one with Buducnost (2014), before raising the trophy in 2015
• Returned to her home city to play for CSM before the 2017/18 season

Johanna Westberg (SWE) – NFH - Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub

• Joined Nykøbing from Randers HK in 2016
• Has played 58 internationals for Sweden, scoring 101 goals
• A tall (186 cm) back-court player with a hard and varied shot
• Particularly good at finding the line player and left wing
• Her twin sister Emelie also plays for Nykøbing

Karolina Kudlacz-Gloc (POL) – SG BBM Bietigheim

• Arrived at Bietigheim for the current season after more than 10 years with Leipzig
• Gave birth to her son Jakub last June and therefore missed the first part of the season, but scored 38 goals nonetheless
• Nominated for the 2015 IHF World Player of the Year award
• Team captain of the Poland national team, for whom she has scored 884 goals in 171 matches
• Was coached by Martin Albertsen in her early years at Leipzig before joining him in Bietigheim

Veronica Kristiansen (NOR) – FC Midtjylland

• Joined FCM from Norwegian runners-up Glassverket ahead of the 2015/16 season
• Succeeded her Norway national teammate Ida Alstad in the left back position, which she shares with Danish international Stine Jorgensen
• Has played 111 internationals for Norway, winning the EHF EURO 2014 and 2016 as well as the World Championship 2015, among other medals
• Will transfer to Gyor at the end of the 2017/18 season, where she will join fellow Norway team members Stine Oftedal, Nora Mørk and Kari Aalvik Grimsbø
• Comes from a handball family, as her sisters Jeanett and Charlotte also play. All three sisters have played for Glassverket at some point

Milena Raicevic (MNE) – Buducnost

• Started playing handball with her sister Dragana, while her brother Ivan is a professional football player
• Won the EHF EURO 2012 and took the silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games
• Recorded the most assists (29) and finished as second-top scorer (41 goals, alongside Anita Görbicz) at the EHF EURO 2012
• Voted Player of the Year in Montenegro twice, and Best Young Player of the Champions League in 2012

Grace Zaadi (FRA) – Metz Handball

• All-star Team centre back of the World Championship 2017 in Germany, where France won the gold medal
• One of the products of the local handball school in Metz
• One of the top scorers for Metz this season, with 58 goals after the main round (four behind Ana Gros)
• Plays centre back but is also able to help on the left side
• A big social media fan, often seen on Twitter sporting outlandish hats and original outfits

Aniko Kovacsics (HUN) – FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria

• Made her Champions League debut at the age of 16 and is already playing her 11th season
• Had enough of the strong competition in Györ, due to which she could not play in her favoured position, and decided to join arch rivals FTC in 2016
• Also able to play left wing and was deployed in that position by Hungary during the EHF EURO 2014
• Awarded best young player of the Champions League 2012/13

Iveta Luzumova (CZE) – Thüringer HC

• Top scorer of the Champions League 2017/18 after the main round (105 goals) and top scorer for THC in all current competitions
• Third top scorer of the World Championship 2017 in Germany, with 47 goals in seven games
• After starting her career at her Czech home club Sokol Pisek, she joined French side Mios Biganos for one season (2012/13) then transferred to THC
• Czech international since 2009 and was their top scorer as early as the World Championship 2013, at the age of 24

Dragana Cvijic (SRB) – HC Vardar

• Started handball at the age of 10, first as a goalkeeper and later as a left back. Switched to line player in 2007 while playing for Crvena Zvezda
• Joined Buducnost in 2011 just in time to help them on the way to the Champions League title, before raising the trophy again in 2015
• Serbia national team member voted the best line player of the World Championship 2013, where her team claimed the silver medal
• Moved to Vardar for the 2017/18 season, and will transfer to Bucuresti for 2018/19

Marit Malm Frafjord (NOR) – CSM Bucuresti

• Before transferring to CSM in 2017, she spent three seasons with Larvik and four years on a Danish adventure at Viborg HK
• Gained her first Champions League experience playing for Larvik’s domestic rivals Byasen
• Crucial as a central defender as well in attack, on a club level and for the Norway national team
• An Achilles tendon injury kept her out of the parts of the previous two seasons, before she returned to full strength in 2017

Yvette Broch (NED) – Györ Audi ETO KC

• Joined Györ in the summer of 2015 from Metz. Previously played for Spain’s Alcobendas
• Claimed silver medals at the World Championship 2015 and EHF EURO 2016, and bronze at the World Championship 2017 with the Netherlands
• Named All-star line player at the World Championship 2017 and EURO 2016
• Also known for being the runner-up in Holland’s Next Top Model in 2008 and modelling in fashion shows during Amsterdam Fashion Week
• Left this world for handball when she signed with Amsterdam in 2009, but plans to return to the fashion industry after her handball career is over

Sarah Iversen (DEN) – NFH - Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub

• Born in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen and started her career with the local clubs Virum-Sorgenfri Håndboldklub and Lyngby HK
• Represented Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub from 2009 to 12 then again from 2016 to 2018, returning after four years with HC Odense
• Has played 20 internationals for Denmark
• Her efforts for Nykøbing and the national team have earned her a contract with FC Midtjylland
• A physically strong and efficient line player in attack, as well as a solid defender
• Her younger sister Rikke is also a line player, representing another Danish league club, Silkeborg-Voel KFUM

Olga Perederiy (UKR) – RK Krim Mercator

• Debuted in European competitions at the age of 16, playing in the EHF Cup for Zaporozhye
• Spent five seasons as a rotation player at Rostov-Don
• 2017/18 is her first Champions League season after unsuccessful attempts with Rostov and her previous club, Iuventa Michalovce
• Regular Ukraine national team member