The Dragonnes conquered Budapest: Metz ended Győr's reign and gave France its first ever Champions League
I don't think I've ever watched a handball team celebrate the way Metz celebrated tonight in Budapest. Players on the floor crying. Coaches hugging strangers. Johanna Bundsen — the goalkeeper who'd just saved them in the final seconds — standing in the middle of the court with her arms spread wide, looking up at 20,000 people in the MVM Dome like she couldn't quite believe where she was or what she'd done. The woman had 17 saves in the semi-final and then did it again today when it mattered most. She scored two goals from an empty net on Saturday. TWO. A goalkeeper. Scoring goals. And saving everything. What planet is this woman from?
Metz 31-29 Győr. The first Women's EHF Champions League title in French handball history. Let me say that again because the weight of it deserves repetition: no French club — men's or women's — had EVER won the Champions League. Not Metz with all their domestic dominance. Not Brest, who reached the final in 2021 and lost. Nobody. Until tonight.
And they did it by beating the most dominant club in the history of the competition. In Hungary. In front of a crowd that was overwhelmingly cheering for the other side. Against a team going for their THIRD straight title and eighth overall. Metz walked into Győr's backyard and took the crown off their head. The sheer audacity of it.
Saturday: the semi-finals that set the stage
Let me rewind to yesterday because both semi-finals deserve their own moment.
The first game was Metz against CSM Bucuresti at 15:00. Metz had been to the Final Four four times before this weekend. Four times. And four times they'd lost in the semi-finals. It had become a running joke in European handball — Metz are good enough to get to Budapest but not good enough to get past Saturday. The glass ceiling, they called it. The curse. Whatever you want to call it, it was real and it was heavy.
Not anymore. Metz absolutely demolished CSM 32-27 and honestly it wasn't even that close. The scoreline flatters the Romanian side. Sarah Bouktit was perfect — eight goals from eight attempts, including five from five penalties. Eight from eight. In a Champions League semi-final. At the Final Four. Against a team coached by Bojana Popovic, who won this competition SIX times as a player. Bouktit didn't miss once. Not once. And this was her last weekend in a Metz shirt before she joins... Győr. Yes. She was about to play a final against her future club. You can't script this stuff.
Bundsen in goal was phenomenal. 17 saves at 40%. She organized the defense, she came up huge on breakaways, she even scored two goals from the empty net when CSM pulled their keeper. A goalkeeper scoring goals in a Champions League semi-final. I keep saying it because it keeps being absurd.
The second semi-final was supposed to be the all-French final dream. Brest Bretagne vs Győr, with a potential Metz-Brest final on Sunday that would have been historic for French handball. Two French clubs in the same Champions League final? It had never happened. The dream was right there.
Győr killed it. But only just.
The Hungarians trailed for most of the game and Brest led deep into the last quarter. Brest were minutes away from the final. MINUTES. And then Győr happened. Dione Housheer — the Dutch left back who's been arguably the best player in the world this season — scored nine goals and single-handedly dragged Győr back into it. Nine goals. From a left back. In a semi-final. The woman is a machine.
Győr won 31-30 in the last minute. Brest were devastated. The all-French final died. But what we got instead — Metz vs Győr, the first-time finalists vs the two-time defending champions, France vs Hungary in Budapest — was arguably even better from a narrative standpoint.
Sunday: the placement match nobody talks about
Quick mention: CSM Bucuresti beat Brest in the third-place match earlier today. I don't have the exact details but Brest will go home knowing they pushed Győr to the absolute limit in the semi and had them beaten until the last five minutes. Sometimes third place tastes like vinegar. For Brest, today was one of those days.
The final: Metz 31-29 Győr
OK. The big one.
Győr started like they always start in finals — fast, physical, aggressive. Bruna de Paula, the Brazilian left back who used to play for Metz (because of course she did, this weekend was full of these storylines), was central to everything good Győr did in the opening ten minutes. They built an 8-5 lead and the MVM Dome — basically a home crowd for the Hungarian side — was rocking. The noise was incredible. Drums, chants, flags everywhere. It felt like a home game for Győr and for those first ten minutes, it looked like one too.
But Metz are not the team they were two years ago. Or even last year. Emmanuel Mayonnade has built something special in Lorraine — a squad with depth, resilience and an identity that goes beyond any individual player. When Győr came out swinging, Metz didn't flinch. They absorbed the early pressure, tightened their defense, and slowly started clawing back.
The key was Bundsen. Again. Every time Győr looked like they were about to pull away, the Swedish goalkeeper produced a save. A one-on-one stop from Housheer. A reaction save from a pivot shot. A seven-metre throw that she read like a book. She was the wall between Győr and a third consecutive title, and she refused to crack.
By half-time the gap had narrowed. The second half was where Metz truly took over. Tyra Axnér was brilliant on the left back position. The defensive rotations were flawless. And the counter-attacks — those devastating Metz counter-attacks that have been their trademark all season — started finding their mark.
Metz took the lead midway through the second half and never gave it back. Győr kept coming, kept pushing, kept trying to find that extra gear that had saved them against Brest yesterday. But it wasn't there. The legs were heavy from the semi-final. The saves weren't falling for their goalkeeper. And Metz just kept scoring.
The final minutes were pure tension. Győr closed the gap to two. Then one possession could have made it one. But Bundsen made one final save — a monstrous stop in the dying seconds that will be replayed for years — and Lylou Borg scored on the fast break to seal it. 31-29. Final buzzer.
Metz are champions of Europe.
What this means
Where do I even start?
For Metz, this is the culmination of a decade-long project. They've been the dominant force in French women's handball for years — 27 league titles, 13 Coupe de France trophies, four consecutive domestic cups coming into this weekend. But Europe was always the missing piece. Five Final Fours. Four semi-final eliminations. One bronze medal as consolation. The narrative was always "Metz are great domestically but can't get it done in Europe." Tonight they didn't just get it done. They beat the best team on the continent in a final.
For Győr, this is the end of an era. Or at least a pause. Two consecutive titles, seven overall, three straight finals — that's a dynasty by any definition. But they couldn't make it three in a row. Housheer, who was brilliant all weekend, will be back. Bruna de Paula will be back. They'll reload and they'll be favorites again next year. But tonight belongs to someone else.
For French handball, this is seismic. Two clubs in the Final Four — a first. One club winning the title — also a first. And this comes just three weeks after JDA Dijon won the EHF European League. Two European trophies for French women's handball in the same season. The country that invented the sport (well, kind of, it's complicated) is finally producing clubs that can compete at the very top.
For the neutral? This was just an incredible weekend of handball. The MVM Dome was packed for both days. The atmosphere was electric. The quality of play across all four games was outstanding. Nine goals from Housheer in the semi. Eight from eight by Bouktit. Bundsen doing things in goal that shouldn't be physically possible. Brest losing by one in the last minute and then picking themselves up to play again 18 hours later. CSM's youngsters winning the Youth Club Trophy in overtime. Even the placement match had drama.
This is what the Final Four format does when it works. Four teams, two days, one venue, everything on the line. It's the best weekend in club handball and this year might have been the best edition yet.
Metz are the queens of Europe. The Dragonnes breathed fire in Budapest and burned down everyone in their path. And somewhere in the MVM Dome tonight, Johanna Bundsen is probably still standing with her arms spread wide, looking up at the roof, wondering if any of this is real.
It is. All of it. And French handball will never be the same.