Sports weekend

The latest from handball and ice hockey

Florin Orban and Eugen Nasta, 22.03.2024, 09:59

Romanian men’s national handball team has been distributed in Group 8 as part of the preliminaries of the 2026 European Men’s Handball Championship. According to this past Thursday’s draw in Copenhagen, Romania is pitted against Portugal, Poland and Israel. Of the participating 32 teams distributed in 8 groups, 20 will advance to the next stage of the competition, that is the first two positions in each group, plus the 3rd best-placed four teams. The matches are scheduled over November 2024 and May 2025. The final tournament will be jointly hosted by Denmark, Sweden and Norway, whose teams have qualified by default. They will be joined by holders France.

In the Champions League in women’s handball, this coming Sunday CSM Bucharest takes on Slovenian opponents Krim Ljubljana. The match counts as the second leg of the playoffs ahead of the quarterfinal qualifiers. Holders CSM this past Sunday defeated Krim, 30-24, away. Also, CSM are the favorites to advancing to the League’s next stage. If they oust Krim, in the quarterfinals CSM are pitted against French team Metz Handball.

In the European League, the two Romanian teams playing in the quarterfinals rank as favorites ahead of the second leg. On Saturday, Gloria Bistriţa play a home game against Hungary’s Mosonmagyaróvár. Gloria won the first game, 32-30, away from home. On Sunday in Buzau, Dunărea Brăila goes against Croatia’s Podravka Koprivnica. We recall Dunarea Braila won the first leg, 32-26, away.

The first semifinal fixtures are scheduled this coming weekend, counting towards the Erste Liga regional ice-hockey competition. At home, Corona Braşov face the 2023 edition’s champion team, ACSH Gheorgheni. Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc play the finalist of the 2023 edition, Ferencváros Budapest, away. The matches are scheduled on Friday and Saturday. The semifinals are played according to the best-of-seven system.