BVB women aim to build on it in Sola | OneFootball

Initial situation

Thanks to the surprise win against last season’s third-placed team CSM Bucharest, BVB have moved up to fifth place. The still winless teams Sola HK from Norway, OTP Group Buducnost from Montenegro and RK Krim OTP Group Mercator Ljubljana from Slovenia occupy places six to eight. BVB coach Kay Rothenpieler naturally wants to take the boosted confidence from the win over CSM Bucharest with him to Sola as well. “But we mustn’t become overconfident. In the second half against Bucharest, we found good solutions. But we mustn’t forget that we only played well for one half and benefited from the opponent’s technical errors. Our goal has to be to produce that kind of performance in every game. Top teams manage that. And that consistency is exactly what we’re still lacking. That’s what we have to work on,” said Rothenpieler.

Rothenpieler summed up what that means for the game at Sola HK as follows: “Of course we want to build on that against Sola, but it will be a tough task. Sola are a dangerous, well-drilled team.”

The trip to Norway, meanwhile, is not entirely without complications. On Saturday morning, the team will travel by bus to Amsterdam. The direct flight to Stavanger takes less than two hours. After a training session on Saturday in Sola, which is only two kilometres from Stavanger, the match will follow on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Åsenhallen. The multi-purpose arena, which houses the country’s only cycling track, has a capacity of 2,500. The team will not return from Norway until Monday evening, as there is no return flight available on Sunday. “Managing training around trips like these isn’t exactly easy,” said Kay Rothenpieler.

Squad

Unfortunately, hopes of a quick return for Ona Vegué have not been fulfilled. The Spaniard injured her ankle in training and already had to sit out the match against Halle-Neustadt. She was seen in the stands there on crutches. The Spaniard will not travel to Norway and will instead undergo physiotherapy in Dortmund. Also unavailable are Emma Olsson (thigh), Lena Hausherr (knee) and Pam Korsten (knee).

Opponents

The standout player at Sola HK is, of course, Camilla Herrem. The 39-year-old left winger has scored 15 goals so far in the EHF Champions League. Herrem is a three-time world champion and also won two Olympic gold medals with the Norwegian national team, for whom she made a total of 332 appearances before the end of her career in 2024.

“Sola also have good goalkeepers, are very solid in defence and make few technical errors. That’s what sets them apart,” warns Kay Rothenpieler about the Norwegians, who are second in the domestic league behind Storhamar without having dropped a point. Notably, apart from Swiss player Noelle Isabella Osterwalder, Sola HK field only Norwegian players.

Sola are still without a win in the EHF Champions League so far, although they have had a similarly tough schedule to BVB and a goal difference six goals better. They opened with a 25:29 against Brest, followed by a 25:28 in Esbjerg and then a 25:28 against FTC Budapest. Rothenpieler: “Sola stayed in it for a long time until the final phase. That shows the strength of this team. Sola make hardly any technical errors and play out their attacks patiently and consistently.”

Dana Bleckmann remembers: BVB and Sola have faced each other twice so far – both times in the 2024/25 EHF European League season. The first meeting took place in Norway in January 2025. BVB narrowly lost 30:32. Less than two months later, the return match followed at Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle in front of 9,305 fans. BVB won 29:28 and at least enjoyed a conciliatory farewell to the European League. With seven goals, Dana Bleckmann was Borussia’s most successful scorer. “Of course I still have fresh memories of it, very positive memories in fact, even though it’s now almost two years ago. But the atmosphere in the Westfalenhalle was simply outstanding, it was a great match and a great atmosphere,” the Dortmund backcourt player recalled.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.