The social side of handball: last week in review
It was another fascinating week in the VELUX EHF Champions League, with drama, lopsided wins, beautiful goals and tongue-in-cheek moments. Don’t forget that the Women’s EHF Champions League throws off this week, so we have thrown in something from that side too.
Brace yourself for fun and beautiful goals, because ehfCL.com reviews the best moments from last week, assisted by the most interesting posts on social media.
Time to say goodbye
The past week saw two coaching changes in the VELUX EHF Champions League. First, Celje have replaced Branko Tamse with Tomaz Ocvirk, while in a shocking development, Ljubomir Vranjes has been relieved of his duties as the Veszprem coach, after the 27:25 loss against Vardar.
The marriage with Veszprém didn’t work out as we all wanted. After 12 months working with the team we lost 9 games ( Aalborg, Paris x2 , Kiel, Szeged x2, Skjern, Barcelona and after the loss to Vardar it was to much for the club and some games were very disappointing to me personally as well. But we also had great victories and great games during this time, I don’t want to forget that. The challenge was to build a new team and at the same time introduce a new philosophy, it wasn’t easy with the big goals we had but also not impossible. Despite everything that happened during this 12 months I always did my best, every time, that i can promise you. I want to thank everyone who worked with us, especially my assistant coach @bjosath, you are a 💫. I am sure that the players will give everything to win games for their fans and with the support they have everything can happen. For me personally it’s a sad day today, I wanted so much more. Unfortunately my dreams did not come true this time. I learned a lot and i will fight to come back stronger from this experience. Thank you also to all the good people with the positive attitude who supported me and the team during this time, that I appreciated a lot. And finally I wish all the players and their families the best but mostly that they all keep their health and also to be victorious. Viszlat! Hajra Veszprém!
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Dance, Dance!
Flossing has become viral since a kid from Lawrenceville, Georgia has introduced the dance last year. It is fun, infectious and caught the imagination of the sports world. Flensburg’s players got involved last week, but they could not replicate the smooth moves on court as they went down 23:20 loss to Celje.
The GIFs that keep on giving
In 2017, Dylan Nahi has been called up for the French national team, becoming the youngest ever French player to don the national team jersey. Now, only 18 years old, the PSG left back is already enjoying the experience in the VELUX EHF Champions League, scoring three goals in two matches for the French side. And, yes, we need more Nahi goals for this jolly GIF to pop up.
A week with PSG
The French side have had an up-and-down week, with a draw in the domestic league, 28:28, against Nimes, but lit up the scoreboard in the VELUX EHF Champions League, jumping to a 32:21 win against Zagreb. Here are the highlights of the French powerhouse’s week.
Not everything is black and white…
Unless you make it so. After a confident 33:27 win against Meskhov Brest, the German champions started a seven-day challenge in which they dared former players or rivals to post black and white photos on their Twitter feeds. While the arena might be calm in the pictures, Löwen’s style is certainly the opposite, as the German side scored 100 goals over the first three rounds of Europe’s top flight competition.
The Lions care for each other
The beauty of having several sports under one umbrella in a club is that stars can mingle, enjoy the games and support each other. This time, two of Sporting’s football stars, namely Dutch striker Bas Dost and Portuguese midfielder Nani cheered for the handball team, but could not prevent the defeat against BSV.
Barça’s secret handshakes
Dika Mem won the Player of the Match award against Kristianstad, after scoring six goals in Barça’s lopsided win, 44:25, but has also displayed his swag when his secret handshake with goalkeeper Gonzalo Perez de Vargas was caught on camera. Notice that Perez de Vargas has a different handshake with Jure Dolenec.
The final countdown
We know you have been waiting a lot for this so… drumroll… The Women’s EHF Champions League is back with a bang this weekend. There are eight games and CSM Bucuresti is hosting FTC Rail-Cargo Hungaria in an opener that promises to be a hard-fought one. Meanwhile, just look at this jewel scored by CSM captain Iulia Curea last season.
Goals, goals, goals!
There were 799 goals scored this week over the 14 matches played in the VELUX EHF Champions League. Here are five of the best, including a no-look goal scored by Nantes’ line player Dragan Pehlmabec.
TEXT:
Adrian Costeiu / cor