Paris (AFP)
The Metz handball players will face the Rostov Russians in the Champions League group stage, while Brest will face Hungarian title holder Györ, triple title holder, after the draw on Wednesday.
Metz will have to take one of the first two places in its group to see the quarterfinals directly, or finish between 3rd and 6th place to qualify for the quarterfinal jump-offs.
The players of Emmanuel Mayonnade will meet Rostov, the new welcoming club of Grâce Zaadi, who has been captain of Metz for long seasons and who will take the direction of Russia this summer.
Brest will have to fight against Györ, triple title holder (2017, 2018 and 2019) who has not lost in C1 since January 2018. Another threat, the Montenegrins of Buducnost.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Federation was forced to cancel the end of the season. Metz and Brest were to participate in a Final 8 (quarter, half and final) in Budapest from September 3 to 6, but the governing bodies finally considered that the conditions would not be met.
The format of the Ladies' Champions League has evolved: the two group phases in force so far with sixteen then twelve teams, are combined in a single group phase bringing together sixteen teams in two groups of eight. The Final 4, which was contested so far in early May, is now scheduled for the last weekend of the month (May 28-29, 2021).
Composition of groups
Group A: Metz (FRA), Rostov (RUS), Kristiansand (NOR), Esbjerg (DEN), Ferencvaros (HUN), Bucharest (ROU), Bietigheim (GER), Ljubljana (SLO)
Group B: Valcea (ROU), Györ (HUN), Buducnost (MNE), Dortmund (GER), CSKA Moscow (RUS), Brest (FRA), Odense (DEN), Koprivnica (CRO)
The first two teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals, the teams ranked from 3rd to 6th place.
© 2020 AFP