One of the main favorites for the final title of champions in the strongest European club competition currently occupies first place in the Group B standings. They have 18 points on their account, four more than the Vipers in second and six more than Metz in third. The guests won the first match between the multiple Slovenian and Hungarian national champions this season in the Stožice Arena with the final result of 31:26. Eun Hee Ryu and Veronica Egebakken Kristiansen brings the most headaches at the time, scoring seven goals, while Amandine Leynaud and Silje Margaretha Solberg were in the goal with eight and seven saves, respectively.
Krim’s opponents have already won five European titles (2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019). In 2013, the current Krim player Andrea Lekić was also part of the Hungarian team, wearing the white and green jersey for two seasons and scoring 112 goals in the Champions League. Nataša Derepasko, coach of RK Krim Mercator: “In the continuation of the competition, a hard rhythm awaits us, but all the teams in the group have a similar one. First we travel to Hungary, on Saturday we go to France. I think the Hungarians are currently the best team in Europe. They play very fast handball, they are aggressive in defense. Despite the fact that we are aware of the qualities of the competitors, who will also have the advantage of the home field, I want to show our qualities. The game we showed in the first ten minutes of the second half against the Danes will be an example for us.
Győri ETO KC (Hungarian: Győri Egyetértés Torna Osztály Kézilabda Club, lit. Concordance Gymnastics Department of Győr Handball Club) is a Hungarian women's handball club from Győr. On domestic level ETO won 19 Hungarian Championship titles, including seven in a row between 2008 and 2014. ETO won the Champions League 7 times (in 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2024, and 2025). The ETO was founded in 1904, but the women's handball section was not created until 1948. President János Lang and department leader Vilmos Joósz started to build the first "golden team" in the mid-fifties. The members of the first team that succeeded were Magdolna Matulay, Ilona Dittrich, Magdolna Novák, Ilona Szalai, and Éva Boudny. At the beginning, the coach of the team was Pál Kellner, but he emigrated to Sweden after the 1956 revolution, so the team was in a need for a new coach.
In 1957, ETO won their first Hungarian Championship title - in their first season playing in the top level championship - after a victory in the final round against Goldberger. Multiple players missed the 1958 Championship due to pregnancy, therefore the team finished at the disappointing eighth position. The new year however brought success again, thanks to signing one of the greatest players of the era, Magda Jóna. ETO won the 1959 Championship, while Jóna became the topscorer with 225 goals scored. The successful performance continued, in 1960 they finished second behind Bp. After Magda Jóna left the team in 1960, the success seemed to avoid the club as well. Between 1961 and 1965, ETO reached only a fourth and an eleventh position, while László Stéger left the bench. His replacement was Jenő Kheim. In 1966, ETO finished 13th and was relegated from the Nemzeti Bajnokság I.
They gained promotion to the first league once more for a season, but could not make their good run last long, since they were relegated even from the third division. Between 1980 and 1992, the handball team in Győr went through several struggles. They either played in the lower championships or were considered as a "middle team" in the first league. There were several name changes in the club's life, including Győri Vasas or Győri Richards. In 1992, Győri ETO Kézilabda Club was established, which was owned by the Municipality of Győr. Since 1993, Győri ETO had assembled a strong team featuring Mariann Horváth, Beáta Hoffmann, Anikó Nagy, Gabriella Szabados, Eszter Mátéfi, and Anna Szántó. The club finished fifth in the league, and Eszter Mátéfi became the top scorer of Nemzeti Bajnokság I. In 1994, Kálmán Róth took over as head coach. Under his direction, Győri ETO played its first European Cup match in the City Cup against the Swiss side ZMC Zürich. ETO played in the EHF Cup for the first time in the 1998/99 season. After playing in lower tier European competitions for a couple of years, ETO got to debut in the top tier, also known as the Champions League in the 2000/01 season after beating Polish MKS Lublin in Round 2 of qualification. They could not go through from the group phase with one victory, two draws and three losses, on the other hand they finished third in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I.
Important players left the team, so the staff decided to fill up the empty gaps with players from their own youth team. In 2005, ETO strengthened their team with Romanian internationals; Aurelia Brădeanu and Simona Gogîrlă. Since 2005, the club is sponsored by Audi, therefore the official name for the team is Győri Audi ETO KC. In the European Cups they first failed to qualify for Champions League 2004/05 season after losing to Ukrainian Motor Zaporizhzhia in the qualifiers, but they reached the final of EHF Cup in the meantime, after beating Polish SPR Lublin in Round 3 of qualification, Norwegian Våg Vipers in the 1/8 finals, Romania HC Zalău in the quarterfinals and German HC Leipzig in the semifinals, however they fell short against Hungarian rivals, Alcoa FKC.
In 2009, Győri ETO reached the final of the Champions League for the first time, meeting Danish champion Viborg HK. In the semifinals they triumphed against Austrian record champion and 8-time CL winner Hypo Niederösterreich, 54-47 on aggregate. Due to a knee injury suffered days before the first leg, captain Anita Görbicz couldn't take part in the finals. Győr won the first match away 26-24, however was defeated at Veszprém Aréna 23-26, a venue that substituted for their home soil. ETO players missed nine penalties combined in the finals.
- In 2012, the team made it to the Champions League finals again, this time felling short to ŽRK Budućnost Podgorica on the away goals rule. ETO won the first leg on home soil to 29-27, while their Montenegrin opponent achieved a 27-25 victory in the rematch which was just enough for them to gain the title. Not even Göbricz's 21 goals scored in the finals combined were sufficient.
- ETO's bad luck seemed to continue internationally, as this final was the seventh on European level they lost, out of the seven finals they have reached.
For the 2012/13 season, coach Ambros Martín joined the squad and have worked with the team for six years. ETO reached the final of the Champions League and could finally win after seven lost European cup finals with the help of the Spaniard. They were able to win a thrilling semifinal rematch against Oltchim Vâlcea, where the guest Romanian team were leading in the 51st minute even with six goals. The last ten minutes of the match were incredible from Győr's point of view, because they were able to come back to the match and lose with only one goal. Considering they have won their first match in Romania with two goals, the loss meant that they have made it to the final. Tables have turned, ETO won 48-47 on aggregate, and as a result they had to face the Norwegian powerhouse Larvik HK for the trophy.
Since 2014 the winner of the Champions League have been decided in a Final Four tournament. In the Ambros Martín era (2012-2018) ETO won 4 Champions League titles (in 2013 against Larvik, in 2014 against Budućnost, in 2017 against HC Vardar and in 2018 once again against HC Vardar) and lost one final (in 2016 against CSM București). Except for the 2014 final against Budućnost, which ended with a 27-21 ETO victory (with the top scorer being Anita Görbicz with seven goals), all the finals of Martín led Győr had a thriller of an ending. The aforementioned match will forever be memorable due to its heated atmosphere, which was the results of the two teams' previous match in the main round played on 9 March 2014. Milena Knežević, the centre back of the Montenegrin team head-butted Görbicz. The intentionality of the act was beyond question, and the EHF punished her with a 2-match ban. The ban expired for the final, so the player was able to play there, and ended up hitting the net twice. In 2016 ETO lost the final against CSM in a penalty shootout, where Anikó Kovacsics was the only ETO-player able to score from the 7-metre line. They managed to beat Vardar in extra time on both occasions (31-30 in 2017 and 27-26 in 2018) with the second final becoming especially memorable with the last second save courtesy of Éva Kiss. Anita Görbicz, Nycke Groot and Nora Mørk led the team in the 2017 final, while Groot and Eduarda Amorim were the top scorers for Győr with nine and six goals respectively during the 2018 final.
In Hungary, their dominance remained, they won five Hungarian Championship titles and five Hungarian Cups, as well as two Hungarian Supercups. Danyi's first season as the head coach was one of ETO's best seasons so far. They did not just win all the titles possible, but remained unbeaten throughout the whole season. However, in May 2021 Danyi got sacked after a huge defeat against the domestic rivals Ferencváros, which also meant the team lost the National Championship title for the first time since 2015. The team lost two matches in total during Danyi's three-year tenure. Ambros Martín returned to the bench. In the Danyi era (2018-2021) ETO won one Hungarian Championship title, two Hungarian Cups and one Champions League final as well as finishing third once in the most prestigious European competition. During this period multiple players who were considered to be the leaders of the team decided to either leave the team or retire from professional sport. On 4 June 2021 Anita Görbicz played her last match for the team and retired after spending 24 seasons playing for the club, scoring 3797 times. Eduarda Amorim also played her last match for the team that day, leaving the club after 12 seasons with 1742 goals by her name.
ETO holds the record for the longest unbeaten run in the EHF Champions League. Between 5 February 2018 and 6 February 2022 all their matches ended with either a victory or a draw. The second Martín era (2021-2023) came to an end after the season, and the management decided to turn into a different direction with assigning the Danish Ulrik Kirkely as the head coach of Győr. With Martín the club won both domestic national titles, but lost both domestic cups. The tenure of the Danish coach wasn't long, on 13 March 2024 the club announced that they terminated the contract of Ulrik Kirkely and Kristian Danielsen with immediate effect, while Attila Kun was named as the temporary head coach until they found their new head coach, Swedish Per Johansson. With Kirkely the team lost to Mosonmagyaróvár and Ferencváros away in the national championship, and after 11 victories on 11 games in the Champions League they lost two out of their remaining matches and also drew once. On top of this ETO lost the Magyar Kupa final against Ferencváros. Although Győr lost both the domestic title and cup, they managed to triumph in the Champions League for the sixth time overall after trying unsuccessfully for the previous four years. Johansson's squad led by Estelle Nze Minko and Sandra Toft first beat Team Esbjerg in the semi final (24-23), then German SG BBM Bietigheim for the trophy (30-24). Stine Bredal Oftedal ended her professional career with a Champions League title, her third one in the green and white jersey overall.
With seven new players joining the team for the 2024-25 season, there was some uncertainty about whether Győr would still be the top team in the world. But as the season went on, the new players proved up to the task of maintaining Győr's legacy. New arrivals Kristina Jørgensen and Dione Housheer linked up well with existing back players Bruna de Paula and Estelle Nze Minko, as well as with Kari Brattset Dale on the line. This new-look Győr side won the Hungarian Championship in 2025 after coming in second the previous year, with the crucial game being a strong 32-24 victory over arch-rivals Ferencváros. In the Champions League, Győr finished first in the group stage and defeated HB Ludwigsburg to reach the Final Four once again. Just like in the previous season, they defeated Team Esbjerg by one goal in the semifinal, and then defeated Final Four debutants Odense Håndbold 29-27 in the final to win their seventh Champions League title.
In the 2025-26 season, Győr had to revise their lineup right from the start as four players were unable to play due to pregnancies. Despite this, they went through the entire first half of the regular season undefeated, including pulling off a massive 32-17 victory over arch-rivals Ferencváros in the Hungarian League. At the beginning of 2026, Győr suffered a double blow as both of their pivots picked up injuries, leading to a slightly uneven second half of the regular season as they lost to domestic rivals Debrecen and Danish powerhouse Team Esbjerg in the Champions League. Nevertheless, Győr's form seemed to stabilize during the playoff period, as they won the double in Hungary and easily defeated Odense Håndbold in the Champions League quarterfinals to reach the Final Four. Szuperkupa (Super Cup of Hungary); Championship vs. ↑ "Györi AUDI ETO KC". European Handball Federation. ↑ "Buducnost win EHF Women's Champions League 2011/12". European Handball Federation. 13 May 2012. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014.
Klíčové momenty a současný status v turnaji
- Győr je dominantní klub v evropské klubové soutěži s více než sedmi tituly Ligy mistrů a dlouhou historií různých éér.
- Historie střetnutí s Krim Mercator ukazuje tradiční boje o evropskou špici, s hlavními hvězdami jako Görbicz, Amorim či Minko.
- Návraty a změny trenérů v letech 2021-2024 měly dopad na výkon, ale klub si udržel status hlavního favorita díky kvalitě kádru a mezinárodnímu know-how.
Výsledek a výhled na zápas 10. listopadu
V kontextu boje o Final Four bude klíčové udržet vysokou intenzitu, rychlý a agresivní obranní styl, a efektivitu v útoku, která charakterizuje Győr v posledních letech. Zkušenosti z minulých sezon v Lize mistrů a několik klíčových zápasů s Krim Mercator mohou rozhodovat i v tomto utkání, když hosté budou usilovat o body v těžké skupině B.