Zagreb and CATS Almeria back on top at ebt Finals 2025

The bronze medals went to Aarhus Beach in the men’s tournament and BHC Zagreb in the women’s.

Sunday’s schedule saw both the finals and semi-finals played, after the quarter-finals wrapped up the third day of action on Saturday. Positions five to 14 were also settled on Sunday, with the teams knocked out in the quarter-finals contesting a series of cross matches and placement games for the lower positions.

At the conclusion of the ebt Finals 2025, the All-star Teams of the tournament were announced, with the MVPs named as Almeria's Asuncion Batista Portero for the women's competition and Zagreb's Ivan Juric for the men. 

Women’s competition

• the ebt Finals 2025 trophy was Almeria's second in the competition, after they celebrated the title in 2021, following their Champions Cup win in 2019; they reached the ebt semi-finals in both 2023 and 2022, finishing as runners-up in 2023
• Niterói made it one better than their result in 2024, when they took third place, and now have a collection of two medals won at international tournaments 
• the final was decided in an exciting shootout, after Almeria dominated the first set then Niterói took a narrow win in the second
• while Almeria enjoyed a straight-sets win in their semi-final against Slovakian team Kanonierky, Niterói needed a shootout to overthrow Zagreb in a very tight game
• Zagreb made it a double appearance on the podium for their club, as they clinched the bronze medal with a 2:1 win over Kanonierky in the 3/4 placement match
• CAIPIranhas Bartenbach locked up fifth place as they beat Champions Cup title holders The Danish Beachhandball Dream 2:1 in that play-off
• Westsite Amsterdam secured seventh place after beating 2024 runners-up AD IASPORTS 2:0 in the 7/8 match
• The Danish Beachhandball Dream and Bartenbach both qualified for the 5/6 play-off with 2:1 victories in the first round of cross matches, beating IASPORTS and Amsterdam, respectively
• Multichem Szentendrei NKE defeated Blue Team to claim ninth place, 2024 title winners Fundación Fomento y Deporte CBMP Ciudad de Málaga beat BHT Byczki Kowalewo Pomorski to finish 11th, and Handball Erice won against London GD to secure 13th
• Bartenbach’s Pauline Borrmann was the clear top scorer of the women’s competition, with 165 points, ahead of Kanonierky’s Dominika Kodajová on 132 and Niterói’s Juliana Lima on 118

Men’s competition

• with a 2:0 win in the final, Zagreb ended an eight-year wait to return to the top of the ebt podium, after taking the title in 2017, 2015 and 2014; they reached the final in 2023, 2021 and 2018 but lost on those three occasions
• Zagreb have also celebrated the Champions Cup trophy before, in 2018; they were Champions Cup runners-up in 2014 while their rivals in the final, Tigres, were second in that competition in 2023 — the Portuguese team’s only other international medal alongside last year’s ebt title
• Danish side Aarhus took what was their first medal in any international competition with a 2:0 victory over 12 Monkeys Köln BHC in the 3/4 placement match
• Tigres returned to the final after winning the semi-final against Köln 2:1; Zagreb enjoyed a 2:0 victory over Aarhus in that stage
• GRD Leça - Spar clinched fifth with a win over SC Squadra Buda in that play-off, and last year’s bronze medallists Niterói Rugby FC beat Fundación Fomento Deporte CBMP Ciudad de Málaga in the 7/8 placement game
• Squadra Buda and GRD Leça reached the 5/6 match with wins over Niterói (2:0) and Ciudad de Málaga (2:1) in the first round of cross games
• positions nine to 14 were settled in the following order: Beach Handball Tilburg, BHT GRU JUKO Piotrków Trybunalski, Blue Team, C4H10 Melluzhi Jurmala, Czech Lions, Karpatskí Rytieri
• Köln’s Lennart Wörmann was the top scorer of the men’s competition, contributing 157 points ahead of Aarhus’ Jakob Merrild on 144 and Ciudad de Málaga’s Pablo Martin Ruiz on 131

Photos: Joe Pappalardo