Ilyés Ferenc says women’s Champions League faces serious problems

The women’s handball Champions League no longer matches the sporting standard it reached a decade ago, according to Hungarian Handball Federation president Ferenc Ilyés. He said the competition has suffered from several changes, not only the exclusion of Russian teams.

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The sporting standard of the women’s Champions League is indeed not the same as it was a decade ago.

The women’s Final Four will return to Budapest’s MVM Dome in 2027, although negotiations on extending the arrangement beyond that year have not started. Ilyés said European federation officials were satisfied with the event, but further conditions still needed to be settled. He hoped an agreement could be reached in the autumn.

“The sporting standard of the women’s Champions League is indeed not the same as it was a decade ago,” Ilyés said. He pointed to changing financial conditions among previously successful clubs in Central and Eastern Europe after Russian teams disappeared from the competition. Developments in Scandinavia also altered the landscape. “The Vipers Kristiansand, which had previously won this competition three times, became economically ruined,” he said.

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The Vipers Kristiansand, which had previously won this competition three times, became economically ruined.

Ilyés contrasted the women’s competition with the men’s Champions League, which he called the current peak of world handball in both viewing figures and sporting quality. The men’s Final Four began in Cologne in 2010, while the women adopted the format in 2014. He said Budapest’s event had become a major sporting and public success, helped by the construction of the MVM Dome after the tournament had previously been held at the Papp László Arena.

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The men’s competition is truly the current peak of world handball.

The president also described Veszprém’s recent failures to reach the men’s Final Four as exceptionally unlucky. In 2025, Magdeburg advanced after a 26-26 draw and a 28-27 win. In 2026, Veszprém beat Füchse Berlin 35-34 at home, lost the return leg 31-30 and then lost the deciding penalty shootout. Ilyés said he hoped the same would not happen again in 2027, while identifying Győr in the women’s competition and Veszprém in the men’s competition as Hungarian clubs capable of reaching the final stages.

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It would be good to keep this event in Budapest, but several conditions still have to be met.