The handball women from Borussia Dortmund were eliminated from the Champions League in the second round.
After First leg defeat last week In Hamm, BVB coach Henk Groener’s team was only able to record a draw in the second leg of the playoff against Hungarian club Ferencvaros TC. In Erd, a suburb of Budapest, the final score on Saturday was 27:27 (12:12).
The Bundesliga leaders from Dortmund therefore missed the quarter-finals Handball-Champions League. The competition will therefore continue without German participation. The FTC will face seeded team Metz HB in the quarterfinals.
Borussia Dortmund faced a big challenge after the 25:31 defeat in the first leg of the playoffs: The Black and Yellows had to aim for a win with a difference of more than six goals in the game against the favorites FTC in order to still make it into the quarter-finals as hoped for.
Dortmund’s Alina Grijseels in action (archive photo)
The opening phase of the second leg was promising for the guests, who were missing backcourt player Alieke van Maurik and goalkeeper Sarah Wachter with injuries. On their first possession of the ball, BVB immediately made a statement: Kaja Kamp Nielsen hit the net with her back to the goal – with her left hand, her “wrong” hand (1st minute). A little later, Alina Grijseels failed with a seven-meter shot from the strong FTC goalkeeper Laura Glauser (4th).
But the guests didn’t let that deter them. They showed a concentrated, fighting performance and mostly held a narrow lead in the early stages.
Double parade by the BVB goalkeeper
Like Glauser, BVB goalkeeper Melinda Szikora was also good in the game: In the eighth minute, Szikora, who used to play for Ferencvaros for a long time, made a double save: first she defused a throw from Julia Hársfalvi and then another shot from FTC top performer Petra Simon.
However, BVB was unable to completely eliminate the Ferencvaros offensive. In the 23rd minute, the hosts took the lead for the first time in front of 1,700 fans when Vilde Ingstad scored to make it 9:8 for the FTC.
A balanced duel developed, with a score of 12:12 going into the half-time break. With the last action of the first half, FTC player Katrin Klujber threw a seven-meter shot onto the post.
Good BVB start to the second half
The Westphalians were wide awake at the beginning of the second half and got off to a dream start: Emma Olsson scored two quick goals (31st), Grijseels increased the guests’ lead to three goals (33rd).
Red card against Olsson
A little later, however, Dortmund suffered a setback: the Slovakian referees punished a relatively minor foul by BVB defense chief Olsson with a time penalty and a red card (34th).
The Hungarians gradually came back and kept the game balanced. The hosts took the lead again in the 46th minute.
In this phase, the guests lacked consistency on offense. Time was now running out for Dortmund and BVB’s hopes of progressing dwindled.
In the end, Dortmund could no longer seriously threaten the Hungarians, even if BVB took the lead again in the final phase. On the other hand, FTC player Simon missed a seven-meter penalty with her last action, so the game ended in a draw.
The top scorer was Simon with nine goals, and Grijseels scored eight goals for BVB.
Dortmund in the Bundesliga against Oldenburg
The BVB women now continue with a Bundesliga game: The Dortmund women will host VfL Oldenburg on Wednesday (April 1st, 2026), with the game starting at 7:30 p.m.
The BVB handball players have already won one title in the current season: On March 15th, they ended their almost 30-year drought and triumphed in the DHB Cup for the second time.
Our sources:
- Handball CL game Ferencvarosi TC against Borussia Dortmund on March 28th, 2026 (live broadcast on Dyn)
Broadcast: WDR.de, “BVB is eliminated from the Handball Champions League”, March 28, 20266:02 p.m
