Article by David Istrate – Published on Saturday, 18 April 2026, 08:56 / Updated on Saturday, 18 April 2026 09:00
On Saturday, April 18, Gloria Bistrita, the leader of the Flower League, receives the visit of Brest, the best-ranked team in France, in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League for women's handball. The game will start at 17:00 and can be watched liveTEXT on GSP.ro and live on Digi Sport 1 and Prima Sport 1.
Saturday, April 18, is an important day for Romanian women's handball, which has two teams qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The other 6 teams come from Denmark (two), France (two) and Hungary (two).
Live at 17:00. Gloria Bistrița – Brest, the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Champions League
If CSM Bucharest is a constant presence in this phase of the competition, on the other hand, Gloria Bistrița is the pleasant surprise of the season. In their second appearance in the Champions League, Carlos Viver's side had a good run in the strongest continental competition, finishing group A in 4th place with a record of 8 wins and 6 losses.
The success with Esbjerg, score 38-35, was memorable, in which Gloria surprised one of the groups that qualified year after year in the Final 4 of the Champions League. Throughout the season, Bistrita's “secret” seemed to be the group and not a specific player.
Of course, Renata De Arruda often had excellent performances in goal, and Danila So Delgado took the offense on her own at times and showed the quality that makes many handball experts nominate her among the best handball players in the world.
At the same time, Viver managed to leave his mark on his team, found solutions even in the face of important injuries and, one by one, handball players such as Lorena Ostase, Larissa Nusser, Paula Arcos, Sonia Seraficeanu, Jennifer Gutierrez or Matilda Forsberg took to the stage.
Gloria Bistrița finished group A in 4th place, with 16 points, and, in the round of 16 of the Champions League, played a double-leg with Ikast. In the round, the Transylvanians came back in the second half of the match and prevailed 35-34 away, and in the return, they won without emotions, in front of their own supporters: 37-28.
Renata de Arruda
Brest, the leader of France, is the opponent of Gloria Bistrita in the quarter-finals of the Champions League
The next challenge for Gloria will be Brest, the leader of the French championship and the winner of group B. Raphaelle Tervel's side have started the Champions League season 7-0 and remained in first place, even if later poorer results appeared.
In the “double” with CSM Bucharest, the French won the round with 34-31, but lost the return with a difference of 6 goals: 34-40.
The main markers of Brest are Anna Vyakhireva (93 goals), Clarisse Mairot (54 goals) and Onacia Ondono (53 goals). Pauletta Foppa (49 goals), the pivot of the French national team, also played very well.
Foppa announced, however, a month ago that she would take a break from handball, because she became pregnant. In this context, Brest quickly reoriented and transferred Yvette Broch, the European and world vice-champion with the Dutch national team.
Domestically, Brest was knocked out of the French Cup by arch-rival Metz, but is leading the league with 60 points in 20 matches. In the last 10 games played, Tervel's team has 8 wins and two losses, one with CSM Bucharest, in the Champions League, and one with Metz, in the French Cup.
Larissa Nusser/Photo: Facebook (Handball – Gloria Bistrita)
Larissa Nusser, ahead of Tour leg: “This is what I've been working for all year and finally the time has come”
“Overall, the team's thinking is that we are excited to play this game. Many players in this lineup have never played a match like this before. We are a young group and we are excited to play. We don't know the result, we know that we will meet a very, very good team, but we have also worked great all season and we will try to focus on that and, after the first match, stay in the fight for qualification”, said Paula Arcos, in an exclusive interview for GSP.ro.
“I'm really excited. I think it's going to be one of the most enjoyable games of the season. We've been working for this all year and finally the time has come. So I hope we can show what we can do and have a good performance,” said Larissa Nusser, half an hour after talking with her teammate.
“Our audience was, is and will be very important. At the last home match, the one with Ikast, the hall was full. I don't want to imagine (what will be) at the last home game in the Champions League. We don't know if the arena can be filled even more, but I think that tomorrow (not today) I will find out. Maybe people who don't know handball will come, although I don't think it exists in Bistrita anymore. All I want is that, at the end of the game, everyone present will be proud of usOstase concluded.
The first leg takes place on Saturday 18 April at 17:00 in the expected sold-out TeraPlast Arena, with the return leg on Sunday 26 April at 19:00 in Brest.
