The high-octane final provided a fitting end to the EHF European League Women 2024/25 season, as the two teams battling it out for the trophy put a match on display that kept fans in the arena and around the globe on the edge of their seats for 60 minutes.
Ikast were after their eighth European trophy, and looked on course to repeat their EHF European League triumph from 2023, but saw a substantial early lead disappear after the break.
THC’s Austrian left back Johanna Reichert added 13 goals in the final, and 29 during the weekend, to raise her season tally to 110 goals from the start of the group phase. Reichert was also named the MVP of the EHF Finals Women 2025.
FINAL
Ikast Håndbold (DEN) vs Thüringer HC (GER) 32:34 (16:15)
- it took Johanna Reichert less than six minutes to score the three goals she needed to get to the unprecedented 100-goal mark for the season
- Ikast opened their first two-goal lead when right wing Line Hougaard netted for 9:7 in the high-scoring opening phase
- the Danish defence stood like a wall and Ikast created plenty of chances via fast breaks, but were sloppy in their finishing
- Ikast failed to increase the difference to more than two goals until the 22nd minute, when Emma Lindqvist made it 13:10
- four goals was the biggest difference in the opening half (15:11), but Ikast ultimately had to settle for a narrow lead
- in her last international match, goalkeeper Dinah Eckerle was instrumental for THC with several stunning saves and ditto passes
- Ikast lost line player Maria Lykkegaard due to a direct red card four minutes into the second half after her hand hit Natsuki Aizawa in the face, which gave THC the chance to come closer and even draw level again at 22:22
- with 17 minutes left on the clock, THC went back in the lead for the first time since the 1:0 when Reichert netted for 25:24; from then on, THC took control in an energetic team effort to get past the strong Ikast side
- the final seemed decided when THC went ahead 33:28, but Ikast came back to within one again with a series of four unanswered goals
- another fabulous save from Eckerle denied Ikast their final chance to keep their title hopes alive, as THC closed out a 34:32 win
- it was only the second win for THC in six duels with Ikast, and the first in more than 11 years
THC end 16-year international title drought
When Thüringer HC made their European debut in the Challenge Cup 2008/09 and reached the final right away — but lost to Handball Cercle Nimes from France — many expected a new German top team had entered the international handball scene. That expectation was correct, as THC already appeared in the EHF Champions League three years later.
THC racked up seven domestic titles in the strong Bundesliga and won the national DHB cup three times, but failed to reach the highest step of a European podium — until Sunday. Two years after they came close but lost to Ikast Håndbald at the EHF Finals Women 2023, they turned the tables on their Danish opponents and came back from a four-goal deficit in the first half to win the final 34:32.
With another stunning performance from goalkeeper Dinah Eckerle in her last international outing, and phenomenal top scorer and deserved MVP Johanna Reichert netting 13 goals against Ikast and 29 in total this weekend, there was just no way past THC on the way to the EHF European League Women 2024/25 trophy this season. Even for a squad with EHF Champions League quality like Ikast have.
