In Novi Sad, we will witness the start of what will be remembered as a historic season in the ETTU Champions League Women. The season kicks off with Stage 1 in Serbia, serving as a warm-up for the first-ever edition that will conclude by crowning the champions at the ETTU Champions League Final 4.
The 2025/26 season marks a significant step forward in the evolution of European club competitions, as ETTU introduces the Final 4 format to the Champions League Women for the first time, following the successful implementation of the concept in the Champions League Men two years ago.
Topping Group A are last season’s Europe Cup semi-finalists, Hungarian Budaörsi Sport Club, led by Europe’s no. 88 Dora MADARASZ. Also on duty will be Leila IMRE.
The Hungarians are the top-seeded club in Group A, but French Saint-Denis TT 93 will challenge their position, led by the highest-ranked player on duty in Novi Sad, Prithika PAVADE. Last season’s Europe Cup champions have a few aces up their sleeve: besides Europe’s no. 7 PAVADE, they can count on Hana ARAPOVIC, ranked no. 33 in Europe, and Siqi FAN, ranked no. 33 in the World. PAVADE was part of Team France that won bronze at the World Championships in Busan last year; in 2025 she reached the semi-finals at WTT Contenders in Lagos and Skopje. ARAPOVIC reached the quarter-finals of the WTT Feeder in Otočec.
Also in Group A are Portugal’s CTM Mirandela with Ines MATOS (Europe no. 94), and Mariana SANTA COMBA (Europe no. 195), and Spain’s MIRÓ Ganxets Costa Durada, led by Andrea TODOROVIC, who will play on home soil in Serbia. Andrea is currently ranked no. 56 in Europe, three places above Fiona Elvira RAD, who will also compete in Novi Sad. The line-up is reinforced by Yoo SIWOO, ranked no. 109 in the World Rankings.
Leading Group B is Czech SKST Plus Hodonin. The club from Czechia lost last season’s Europe Cup final against Saint-Denis TT. The leading name in the squad is Karin GROFOVA (Europe no. 185), followed by Marketa SEVCIKOVA and Binyue ZHANG.
Coach of SKST PLUS Hodonín Jaroslav MIKESKA: “The team’s goal is of course to advance to the next stage, but it will not be easy at all. The group is strong and the opponents are of high quality. I consider the Croatian club Dr. Časl, which has a very strong roster, to be the biggest favorite. But of course, it will be important which players come to the tournament. The fight for the second qualifying spot will be even.”
TTC Novi Sad will play on home soil. Aneta MAKSUTI, ranked 70th in Europe, is the top name in the hosts’ line-up. Poland’s PGE Fibrain KU AZS Politechnika Rzeszow have Taipei’s Yi Tian YEH (world no. 61), alongside Europe’s no. 57 Zuzanna WIELGOS, and two Swedish players, Nomin BAASAN and 2013 European champion Fen LI.
A host awaits the start of the Stage one with great anticipation and new players. From this season, STK Novi Sad has been strengthened with Russian national team players. In addition to Aneta MAKSUTI, Reka BEZEG, Sara RADAK, and Maša BOŠKOVSKI, coach Slobodan STOJANOV will also be able to count on Valeria KOTCUR, Valeria SHERBATH, and Arina SLAUTINA.
“We have excellent reinforcements. They are all great players. They arrived just a week before the Champions League and immediately blended into the team. They are cheerful, hardworking, and represent the typical school with an attacking style of play. We will have the sweet trouble of deciding which lineup to field against extremely strong opponents,” said coach STOJANOV.
The winners of the 2018 Champions League, Dr CASL, are the fourth club in Group B, arriving with the experienced Szandra PERGEL, Katerina TOMANOVSKA, Tamolwan KHETKHUAN.
This weekend, during the three-day tournament, clubs seeded from positions 9 to 16 will compete in Stage 1, consisting of two groups of four teams. The group winners and runners-up will join the automatically qualified top eight seeds in Stage 2, which will feature four groups made up of three clubs each. The winners and runners-up from each Stage 2 group will qualify for the quarterfinals, which will be played as home-and-away matches. The winning teams will then proceed to the Final 4.
