Györ aim to break Vipers hoodoo with ticket for EHF FINAL4

Their last last title came five years ago – since then, the 2019/20 season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the next three seasons were won by Vipers Kristiansand – therefore, the title is paramount now for Györ, a club which expects success, which is 60 minutes away from another EHF FINAL4 ticket.

The Match of the Week in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the EHF Champions League Women has a certain EHF FINAL4 aroma to it, as Györ lost twice against Vipers in the business end of the competition in the previous two seasons. In 2021/22, it was a 31:33 loss in the final, before Vipers eliminated Györ with a 37:35 win last season.

Now, the reigning champions are sitting on the cusp of being eliminated by their rivals, after the first leg saw Györ clearly dominate the match, taking full advantage of Vipers’ mistakes and sealing a 30:23 win.

“It was a great win for us, after a great match, because we knew Vipers are a very good and a very strong team. Of course, we had our own ups and downs throughout the season, a very good start, followed by some matches where we were not up to par, but, in the end, we managed to seal that seven-goal win,” says Györ’s line player, Kari Brattset Dale.

Dale, who is now 33 years old, played for Vipers between 2016 and 2018, before signing for Györ and securing her only EHF Champions League Women trophy, in the 2018/19 season. Now, she is one of the longest-tenured players in the Hungarian team’s squad and is looking forward to a fiery end of the season.

“We have had our ups and downs, like we said. We did not start well in the Hungarian league, but, on the other hand, we had 11 wins in a row to start the Champions League, but after we locked in the first place, we had once again some wobbles. It is important that we are here and that we can qualify for the FINAL4,” says Dale.

No team has more wins in history, 217, or more titles, five, than Györ in the elite European competition, therefore the pedigree and the history forces the Hungarian side to strive to keep the flame going, especially as the EHF FINAL4 is in Budapest, where thousands of their fans flock each year in the traditional green shirts to cheer for their favourite players.

This season also feels like a changing of the guard for Györ, with key players like Stine Bredal Oftedal, Yvette Broch, Ana Gros and Silje Solberg leaving the team, therefore the team aims to deliver as good a finish as possible, for those stars to leave on a high.

“This is a special season for all of us, we know that there will be a lot of players leaving, others coming in, but the main thing is to be focused, qualify for the EHF FINAL4 and if we are there, give everything we got, because we owe it to the club and to our fans to secure the title,” adds the 33-year-old line player.

Györ have also changed their coach this season, a testament to a season which was turbulent, but Per Johansson has slotted in nicely, with the win against Vipers offering the Swedish coach - who has been already with CSM Bucuresti in the EHF FINAL4 - a nice platform to help the Hungarian side reach its full potential.

With so many experienced players in the squad and that 11-match winning streak in the start of the season, Györ will undoubtedly be the favourites at the EHF FINAL4, but history says that everything can happen in a high-profile environment, with no room for mistake.

But until that moment, Györ need to produce another performance in this Match of the Week against Vipers, a team which they have stumbled against over the last years.

“It is a Norwegian team, it is my former team, so I guess every match like this is special. But now I am at Györ, and I want to win every match, including this one,” concludes Dale.

Photos © Terje Refsnes, Aniko Kovacs