Two teams dominated the EHF Championship going into 2019 but there is a long way to go before the outcome of this season’s competition is determined.
After Round Ten the tournament took a two month break and will resume in February, with the final four rounds of matches taking place in Groups A and B, while the top two teams from Groups C and D will compete in the play-off round for a place in the knock-out round.
One of the four play-off teams is Bjerringbro-Silkeborg’s who left it late to confirm their spot. Going into Round Ten, they were not assured of a place, but a narrow 29-28 win over the already-qualified Sporting CP was enough to life them to second in Group C, and delight their home fans.
The other big story out of Groups C and D was the progress of Dinamo Bucuresti. Like Bjerringbro-Silkeborg, they were not sure of a play-off place going into their last game, but a 33-29 win over Wacker Thun was enough to take them through, qualifying for the play-off round for the first time in the club’s history, and doing it in style, by edging out Wisla Plock at the top of Group D.
PSG’s strong performance at the top of Group B has made them the favourites to win the competition, according to the implied probabilities detailed on the bigbetbookmakers.com site, but Barcelona have also been grabbing the headlines with a superb run of nine consecutive wins going into the break. Barca have passed the 40 mark three times this season and have scored 31 more goals than PSG as they have established a five point lead at the top of Group A and if they pick up in this kind of form in February, their record twelve-game winning streak may be beaten this season.
Barcelona’s closest challengers Vardar have enjoyed a rollercoaster ten games, making a strong start before slumping, winning only one out of five. But the Macedonian team scored an important victory in Round Ten, beating PGE Vive Kielce 28-27, and this was enough to move them up to second in the Group A table, though they are unlikely to catch the Catalan pace-setters.
And HC PPD Zagreb also went into the break with some momentum behind them. They went into Round Ten in bottom spot but they provided a fitting send off for head coach Lino Cervar, who left the club at the end of 2018, by beating HC Motor Zaporozhye 27-25. To underline how tightly-matched Group B is, that win was enough to move Zagreb up into fifth position, and with tough away games against PSG and Pick Szeged still to come, it was a timely victory.
Of the other notable teams still in contention, last year’s beaten finalists HBC Nantes trail PSG by 9 points in Group B. The French team are in fourth place, but three of their last four games are against opponents currently in the top three so they have a lot of work to do to secure a Round of 16 spot.
