RRI Sport Club – Handball
A new season has kicked off in the European handball with mixed results for the Romanian sides
Daniel Bilț, 16.09.2026, 13:45
This season Romania has three handball sides in the Champions League: two in the women’s contest and one in the men’s. Two legs have already taken place in the women’s competition. The Romanian side, which made the best debut in the prestigious competition is CSM Bucharest. In the previous edition of the Champions League, the Tigresses, as they are dubbed, ranked third getting the best performance of the Romanian handball in recent years, and now, in the present edition they have already won the first two matches they played. In the first leg they defeated Krim Ljubljana 37 – 29 in Slovenia and then in the last weekend they clinched a 36-26 home win against Buducnost Podgorica of Montenegro. Together with CSM, three other sides in Group A boast the same performance, victories in the first two games they played. These are: Ferencváros, Brest-Bretagne and Esbjerg. All of these sides have as their key objective one of the first two positions in the group, thus securing a place in the quarter finals. On Saturday in Dortmund, the Romanian vice-champions will be taking on Borussia, the side that has lost its first two matches this year.
In Group B, Romania is represented by its en titre champions, Gloria Bistrita. Gloria won their first away game in Lemgo, against the German side, Blomberg-Lippe – 28 – 23. However, last weekend in France, Gloria came a cropper, 40-26, against Metz, the champions of the last edition. This has been the highest score difference in the present edition of the Champions League. On Sunday, Gloria will be up at home against the Danish side, Odense, an extremely important match for the team’s morale after the game in France.
In the men’s competitions, Dinamo Bucharest is part of Group E together with Barcelona, the French from Montpellier and the Danish side Aarhus.
Last week in Bucharest Romania’s champions conceded a 27-23 defeat to Montpellier. The Romanians will be up against Aarhus in an away match on Thursday. The first two sides in each of the six groups will advance to the League’s main stage, whereas the sides in the third and fourth places will be competing in the play-offs of Europe’s second competition, EHF European League.
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