CL Draw: Danish viewpoint

Danish Ikast/Brande are back in the Women’s CL after four years. This time they will meet Rulmetul-Urban Brasov, Lublin and a still unknown team from the first qualification phase.

Ikast have the right to organise a qualification group on 3-5 October; nevertheless, sports director Frank Henriksen expects a tough job for his team:

“Of course, it will be a great advantage to play at home, still it will be tough. I expect the game against Brasov to decide the group. Even though Lublin have improved recently, they should not be a threat for us,” Frank Henriksen told Eurohandball.com.

"Dynamite group”

Viborg HK was the only Danish club to gain a direct place in the CL, while Ikast and FCK Håndbold will have to go through qualification matches. This was no surprise for the Ikast sports director.

“We were used to a Danish team winning the Champions League every year and the other Danish teams benefitted from that. As not a Danish squad won last season, we have to play qualifications,” said Frank Henriksen.

Ikast will play Zvezda Zvenigorod, Győr and Kometal Skopje if they manage to win their qualification group.

“That group will be a ‘dynamite group’… We have to realise that it will be difficult to proceed to the main round, and we will have to win at least our home matches and pick up a point or two away too. This will be hard with very difficult away grounds in Zvenigorod, Győr and Skopje. Zvezda have a huge experience in playing away games. Quite a lot of things happened there since we defeated them at home in the EHF Cup two years ago by 5 goals,” Frank Henriksen added.

FCK Men: Respect for Hamburg

Though Magnus Andersson, head coach of Danish men’s champion FCK Håndbold, did not yet have time to collect information about the opponents, he is pretty sure already that his own team will proceed to the main round together with HSV Hamburg. The other two teams in the group will be Slovakian champions Tatran Presov and the winner of the qualification tie between Serbian champions Crvena Zvezda Beograd and Italian champions Italgast Casarano.

“Hamburg will be a tough opponent, but taking in consideration the fact that we will take the results with us to the main round, we have to try and take a point or two from them,” Magnus Andersson told Eurohandball.com.

Tatran Presov: unknown factor

“I don’t know a lot about Tatran Presov, but Slovakian handball has improved recently, so they may be an unknown factor. I don’t know a lot about the Serbian or Italian team either, but I believe that it is possible for us to take the second place behind Hamburg. The Germans have an extremely strong side this season and they are probably among the favourites to win the Champions League. But at least our home match can attract a lot of fans,” said Magnus Andersson.

FCK are Champions League debutants, while their coach Andersson played many CL matches during his actives days with THW Kiel.