Viborg HK will undoubtedly be entering the upcoming women's Champions League finals against Slovenian Krim Ljubljana with extra self-confidence, as Viborg will be entering the finals as "newly crowned" Danish champions...

PRINT VERSION:

Viborg HK will undoubtedly be entering the upcoming women’s Champions League finals against Slovenian Krim Ljubljana with extra self-confidence, as Viborg will be entering the finals as "newly crowned" Danish champions.

Sunday Viborg took the 10th Danish title in their club history by winning the third and deciding final away against last year´s champions Slagelse DT by 25:23.

Dramatic series
The title was secured after a dramatic series of finals, in which Slagelse won the first match at home 27:24 - only to lose 28:27 away in the second match.

This made a third and deciding match on Slagelse’s home ground necessary - Slagelse had the home advantage, because the team had won the league - and in that match Viborg managed to win 25:23 after having been up 10:8 at half time.

The Viborg win came less than two months after they sent Slagelse out of the Champions League in the 1/4 finals - also through an away win in the deciding match in Slagelse! Back then the score was 30:24 for Viborg.

Happiness in Viborg
The fact that Slagelse’s Romanian back court player Carmen Lungu injured her knee in the first match, and could not play for the rest of the series, meant a lot to the way the final turned out. However, this did not influence the happiness in Viborg.

"It was a tough but fair match today, and I think it was decided by the fact that we had success with our 5-1 defence formation" Viborg coach Tomas Ryde analysed the deciding match.

Viborg pivot and Danish national team player Lene Lund Nielsen put it this way:

"We won the match in the defence, where we only allowed Slagelse to score 8 goals in the first half. I think the difference between us and Slagelse this season is the fact that we have reached the peak of our performance at just the right time, while Slagelse may have peaked too early"

"This is just incredible!" Viborg’s German national team player Grit Jurack commented ecstatically after the match. "This was my fourth attempt to win a national title, and finally I have succeeded!"

The result means that both Viborg and Slagelse have qualified for next season’s Champions League.


Text: Peter Bruun