Our women's handball team opened the 2026/2027 Champions League season at a legendary venue, but the conditions and atmosphere no longer resembled Buducnost's past successes. This wasn't the fault of the Fradi fans; dozens of them traveled to Podgorica. The locals, however, didn't exactly flock to the Morača Sports Center, despite free admission. It seemed that those rooting for a home victory mostly came from the club's youth academy—though, despite this, a Champions League match would have deserved at least one open concession stand.

We hoped that the difference in the two clubs' ambitions would also be reflected on the court, and fortunately, the clash started accordingly. Less than three minutes had passed and we were already leading 3-0, with Emily Vogel, Katrin Klujber, and Angela Malestein scoring, while Anna Kristensen came up with saves. We went almost seven minutes without conceding a goal, but we couldn't pull further away at that point: the referees ruled that Malestein had stepped out of bounds, and a shot from Klujber missed the post by millimeters. The defense, led by our goalkeeper, was very stable, so our lead became comfortable as the game went on, even though Armelle Attingré also performed well on the other side.

The goalkeeper was already the Montenegrins' best player in the first half, and she stepped it up even more after the break. The second half started with us leading 15-9, but Buducnost cut the deficit in half within six minutes, so we had to shift gears again. The first Fradi goal of the half came after four and a half minutes courtesy of Vilde Ingstad, and following that, we found our rhythm again. We scored three goals in a row, restoring the halftime margin, and later even exceeded the six-goal advantage. Elizabeth Omoregie's strike made it 14-22, securing our largest lead up to that point. Although the hosts had a few flashes in the remaining fifteen-plus minutes, our victory was never in jeopardy.

Our team will surely have tougher matches in this tournament, but a good start was important, just as it will be crucial in the final group stage standings not to drop points against clubs that are weaker on paper. In other words, we can be satisfied with this start, and the continuation will feature even more Fradi fans, as our next CL match will be played at home. On September 12, our opponent at the Érd Aréna will be the Slovenian champion RK Krim OTP Group Mercator, and tickets for the match are already available at meccsjegy.fradi.hu.

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