CSM Bucuresti set for another title bid

CSM Bucuresti took the EHF Champions League Women by storm in 2016, winning the title in their first participation in Europe's premier competition. Since then, they have been unable to replicate that performance, despite reaching the EHF FINAL4 Women twice in subsequent seasons.

With Cristina Neagu's window of opportunity to claim a second Champions League trophy closing, the Romanian powerhouse have brought some much-needed experience into the squad.

Main facts:

• CSM will participate in the Champions League for the eighth consecutive season, but they have not qualified for the EHF FINAL4 Women since 2017/18
• 10 players have left, while six have been ushered in, with the highest-profile signings being goalkeeper Laura Glauser, centre back Grace Zaadi Deuna and line player Crina Pintea
• players from seven different countries complete the roster for CSM – with seven Romanian players, four French players, three from Norway, two from Montenegro and one each from Russia, Slovenia and Sweden
• Romanian left back Cristina Neagu, who is in third place on the all-time Champions League top scorer list, needs only 90 goals to hit the 1,000-goal milestone
• CSM finished second last season in the domestic league, topped by local rivals Rapid Bucuresti, and this will be the first Champions League season featuring two teams from the Romanian capital

Most important question: Are CSM ready to compete for an EHF FINAL4 spot?

Since marking their debut season in the EHF Champions League Women by winning the trophy in 2016, CSM have been strong contenders each season. There have been mistakes, with coaching changes disrupting the rhythm in the past, as every meaningful loss prompted a replacement on the bench. That changed when Adrian Vasile took over in 2019, but with players coming and going at an alarming rate in the past, the roster still had little time to gel.

This time around, CSM outdid themselves in the summer transfer market, with the addition of Grace Zaadi Deuna being a great coup. The French centre back is one of the most experienced playmakers in the competition, can feature prominently in defence and will definitely help CSM's attack, which has suffered for long stints in previous seasons.

Yet losing Jelena Grubisic and Carmen Martin is surely a blow for the Romanian side, as the two players were the last ones standing from their title-winning campaign in the 2015/16 season. Yvette Broch and Barbara Lazovic also moved to pastures new, as well as goalkeeper Tess Wester, which means Vasile has had another rebuilding job on his hands during the off-season.

Whether the team will gel or not is still to be seen, but CSM will probably start as an underdog in tough matches in group A. In fact, they lost a competition-high four matches by a single goal last season, with all of those losses coming in the dying seconds. Whether it was bad luck or not, the trend is surely worrying for everybody involved, as it nearly cost Vasile his job this summer.

Under the spotlight: Cristina Neagu

Neagu turns 34 years old in August and with a lengthy injury history, the window of opportunity for her to win the EHF Champions League Women for the second time is slowly closing. Having received serious reinforcement in the back line, with Grace Zaadi Deuna and Kalidiatou Niakate joining CSM, Neagu will now eye a return to the EHF FINAL4 for the first time since the 2017/18 season.

Neagu has topped the 100-goal mark in a single season three times in the past five seasons, so her numbers have not dwindled, but injuries – two torn ACL and a shoulder injury in the past decade - have surely taken a toll on Neagu, who will, once again, be the focal point of CSM's attack this season.

The Romanian star is a perfectionist and when choosing to extend her contract for two more seasons with CSM, she surely had performance in mind, especially as this is her hometown team. As she aims to finish her career on a high, Neagu has continued to be the team's top scorer in the domestic league and the EHF Champions League.

Did you know?

The old-school “Polivalenta” arena in Bucharest is one of only two venues in the Romanian capital that can host games in Europe's premier competition. The venue will be shared by the two Romanian teams participating this season – CSM and Rapid – which will mark the first time two teams from Bucharest are playing in the EHF Champions League Women in the same season.

What the numbers say

90 – the number of goals Cristina Neagu must score to hit the 1,000-goal milestone in the EHF Champions League Women. Anita Görbicz is the only player to have scored goals in four digits in the Europe's premier competition, and Neagu and Krim right wing Jovanka Radicevic are also striving to hit that number.

With 910 goals in the EHF Champions League Women, Neagu is the third top scorer in history, behind Görbicz, who scored 1,016 goals, and Radicevic, who has 978 goals. Neagu, last season's top scorer with 110 goals, is one of three players to have won that individual title three times.

Arrivals and departures

Arrivals: Laura Glauser (Györi Audi ETO KC), Crina Pintea (Györi Audi ETO KC), Marina Sudakova (CSKA), Evelina Eriksson (Vipers Kristiansand), Grace Zaadi Deuna (Metz Handball), Kalidiatou Niakate (Brest Bretagne Handball)

Departures: Yvette Broch (Györi Audi ETO KC), Carmen Martin (IK Sävehof), Barbara Lazovic (Krim Mercator Ljubljana) Diana Finaru (CSM Slatina), Denisa Valcan (SCM Craiova), Clara Preda (H.C. Dunarea Braila), Tess Wester (unknown), Martine Smeets (retired), Eduarda Amorim (retired), Jelena Grubisic (retired)

Past achievements

EHF Champions League:
Participations (including 2022/23 season): 8
Winners (1): 2015/2016
Semi-finals (2): 2016/17, 2017/18
Quarter-finals (4): 2018/19, 2019/20*, 2020/21, 2021/22

Other:
Romanian league: 5 titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021)
Romanian Cup: 5 titles (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022)
Romanian Super Cup: 4 titles (2016, 2017, 2019, 2022)

*The quarter-finals were not played due to the Covid-19 pandemic