The club season has flown by, but now it’s May and crunch time for the women’s teams vying to be crowned national champions.
The adage that ‘every game is important’ is obviously true, but as we approach the business end of the national championship play-offs’ – where heroes and villains are made – the stakes are higher than ever before.
With a whirlwind of action taking place in a busy month, make sure you take a note of these dates in your diary.
Hungary
For such a large portion of the season, it looked like Ferencvaros would take a clean sweep in Hungary and secure a first national title. However, after a chastening defeat in the Euro Cup final to UVSE, suddenly the title-race feels alive again.
FTC Telekom finished the regular season unbeaten, which earns them a semi-final date with Eger. On paper, Fradi look like favourites to down Eger, but it’s worth remembering that Eger has already beaten FTC once this season in the Champions League.
Photo: UVSE.
UVSE will still be enjoying a feel-good factor that will no doubt give them reason to be optimistic about defending their title, but they have a really difficult semi-final task in the shape of Dunaujvaros ahead of them. Both teams recorded home victories against each other during the regular season, so a tightly-contested semi-final beckons there.
Semi-finals: 4th May (FTC vs Eger & UVSE vs Dunaujvaros), 6th May (Eger vs FTC), 7th May (Dunaujvaros vs UVSE), 10th May (FTC vs Eger & UVSE vs Dunaujvaros)
Finals: 13th May, 14th May, 20th May
Spain
The regular season is not yet finished in Spain – with the final matchday taking place on 6th May – but we know the four teams that will progress to the play-offs. Europe’s top two clubs, Mataro and Sabadell, will occupy the top two seeds, joined by the extremely impressive Sant Andreu and resurgent Mediterrani.
With the final standings still unknown, there is still the potential for change. But as it stands, the European Champions Sabadell will finish the regular season at the summit, where they will meet 4th ranked Mediterrani in the semi-finals; Mataro will have a tough assignment against the ever-improving Sant Andreu.
Semi-finals: 9th-14th May
Finals: 16th, 19th & 21st May
Greece
For the sake of the spectators, we hope that there will be a competitive final-4 in the Greek women’s league. Based on the evidence of this season, however, it only looks like one team will rule supreme.
Photo: Olympiacos FPS
Olympiacos are aiming for their tenth consecutive title, and it looks unlikely that Glyfada, their semi-final opponents, will be able to halt their momentum. Vouliagmeni and Ethnikos complete the play-off line-up; both teams have hurt each other so far this season, a win in the semi-finals would be an improvement on their league standings from last season.
Semi-finals: 4th May (Olympiacos vs Glyfada & Vouliagmeni vs Ethnikos), 8th May (Glyfada vs Olympiacos & Ethnikos vs Vouliagmeni), 11th May (Olympiacos vs Glyfada & Vouliagmeni vs Ethnikos)
Finals: TBC
Italy
The Italian league was the last of the women’s leagues to commence in late October, but the championship finals are nearly complete.
Photo: Ekipe Orizzonte.
We already know that Roma have made the finals, but who they will face in the championship final rests on one last semi-final duel between Plebiscito Padova and Ekipe Orizzonte. The reigning champions won the first contest, but Plebiscito pulled level, and now take the tie into the third game.
Semi-finals: 3rd May (Plebiscito Padova vs Ekipe Orizzonte
Finals: 6th-17th May
Netherlands
There is a fascinating play-offs in store in the Netherlands, because while GZC Donk were the better team in regular season, it was De Zaan who finished top of the standings. The winner of the championship will almost certainly be one of those sides, De Zaan and Donk need to first overcome UZSC and the Polar Bears respectively.
Photo: Luigi Mariani
Semi-finals: 5th May (De Zaan vs UZSC & GZC Donk vs Polar Bears), 6th May (Polar Bears vs GZC Donk & UZSC vs De Zaan), 7th May (GZC Donk vs Polar Bears & De Zaan vs UZSC)
Finals: 12th-14th May
United States
After a hugely exciting weekend of conference finals, the NCAA finals – the big one – takes place right in the middle of May. The national finals, held in Stockton, California, feature the champions of six difference conferences (MPSF, Big West, CWPA, GCC, MAAC and WWPA).
Photo: Stanford Aquatics.
In the end it was reigning NCAA champions Stanford who retained their title in the MPSF final against USC, but the Trojans will likely get a chance to take revenge at the NCAA finals. UC Irvine retained their Big West title in Santa Barbara, as did Fresno State in the Golden Coast Conference. Princeton takes the place of Michigan as the CWPA’s representatives in the NCAA finals.
Qualifiers: 10th May (LIU vs Biola College)
Quarter-finals: 12th May (Stanford vs qualifier UCLA vs UC Irvine, USC vs Fresno State & Cal vs Princeton)
Semi-final: 13th May (Stanford/Qualifier vs UCLA vs Irvine & USC/Fresno State vs Cal/Princeton)
Final: 14th May
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