EHF FINAL4 Women 2025
Györ crowned champions in Budapest for the seventh time
The EHF Champions League Women 2024/25 season came to an end in Budapest as May turned to June, with a seventh trophy for defending champions Györi Audi ETO KC.
Györ took the title once again by defeating EHF FINAL4 Women debutants Odense Håndbold 29:27 in what turned out to be an exciting and close match. While Györ had a strong start, Odense fought back from a seven-goal deficit by bringing in legendary goalkeeper Katrine Lunde. However, they could not do enough to deliver the veteran Norwegian an eighth Champions League title.
Both Györ and Odense reached Budapest through group B of the competition, alongside fellow final weekend participants Team Esbjerg. Odense finished third in the group behind Györ and Esbjerg, before defeating Storhamar Handball Elite in the play-offs and edging out FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria by a single goal in the second leg of the quarter-finals, after a home draw in the first leg.
Meanwhile, Györ beat 2024 runners-up HB Ludwigsburg and Esbjerg defeated CSM Bucuresti in their quarter-finals; group A winners Metz Handball won the French derby against Brest Bretagne Handball for their ticket to Budapest.
In the semi-finals, Lunde was critical for Odense’s comeback against Metz, helping her team to close up an early deficit and force the match into overtime, where they secured their 31:29 victory. That broke Metz’s 15-match winning streak and gave Odense their first-ever tilt at the trophy. Meanwhile Esbjerg and Györ were close throughout their semi-final, but Györ held on for a 29:28 win.
In the third-place match, Esbjerg ended on a high with their second successive bronze medal against Metz, winning 30:27. It was the first time that a father and his daughter had met on opposite sides of a match in Budapest: Esbjerg head coach Tomas Axnér leading his team to victory against Metz and their left back Tyra Axnér.
Györ line player Kari Brattset Dale was named MVP of the EHF FINAL4, scoring six goals in the final and being key to the winners’ defence too. Meanwhile, Esbjerg’s Henny Reistad delivered yet another world-class campaign in the 2024/25 season, netting 154 goals and breaking her own record of 142 goals from the 2022/23 season to earn the top scorer crown once again. The Norwegian star has also scored 93 total goals at the EHF FINAL4 and is the all-time top scorer of the event in Budapest (since 2014).
Overall, the EHF FINAL4 Women 2025 proved once again the popularity of the women’s game, attracting almost 19,500 spectators for the final and broadcasting across the Continent to millions more fans.
spectators in the MVM Dome
broadcasters (worldwide coverage on EHFTV)
digital reach around the event
