Greater audience for top European powerhouses

Greater audience for top European powerhouses

With the most recent change of the playing venue the total capacity of four halls hosting the Women´s EHF Champions League has reached 20,000. Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea decided to replace their Traian Sport Hall by Sala Polivalenta in Bucharest adding two thousand more seats to the capacity of their own hall. The date and the time of the throw-off remained unchanged - Saturday 6 April at 18:00 hrs local time.

The previous move of the last season´s runners up from Györi Audi ETO KC from their home at Magvassy Mihály hall to Veszprém Aréna has also hugely increased the chance of many handball fans to get a ticket for what surely will become a thrilling clash of two European powerhouses.

In the temporary "new home" additional two thousands places can be sold. Györ already played in Veszprém last season both in the semi-final against Oltchim and in the final against Budućnost.

"We decided to play in Veszprém Aréna because we wanted to arrange really fine conditions for the semi-final. We wish to fit to the high level of the Champions League and also it is very important that double amount of fans can watch the match from the stands," said Ernő Kelecsényi, the Györ´s president.

"We are thankful to the city of Veszprém and the colleagues of Veszprém Aréna. As excellent partnerr they made our job easier," he added.

The 2011 winners of the EHF Champions League from Larvik will play the other semi-final against RK Krim Mercator in Larvik Arena (4000 seats) and Ljubljana-based team which already have two winning trophies in their cabinet (2001 and 2003) will host the rematch in Stožice arena with the capacity of 6000 spectators.

Going for better conditions to the Romanian capital is nothing new for Oltchim in their European campaigns. Three years ago they played the second leg of the final in Sala Polivalenta as Denmark´s Viborg lift the trophy on that court. The same hall played also host to matches of HCM Constanta in the VELUX EHF Champions League Group Phase this season.

"We had a lot of requests for tickets and the hall in Vâlcea is too small to hold so many spectators. We will win more financially and there will be a great atmosphere," Petre Berbercaru, Oltchim's president explained.

As all previous matches in the Women´s EHF Champions League this season all four semi-finals duels will be available live and free of charge on ehfTV.com.

Further information
Find the overview of all semi-finals fixtures here