This Monday, the Executive Committee of the Women’s Handball League unveiled the official schedule for the second phase of the Ligue Butagaz Énergie (LBE). While the competition format and the dates for the play-offs and play-downs were already known, the order of the matches is now established and has been approved by the Competition Organization Commission.
As a reminder, the teams from Besançon, Bourg-de-Péage, Brest, Chambray, Metz, Nantes, Paris, and Nice have qualified for the play-offs. Dijon, Fleury, Mérignac, Plan de Cuques, Saint-Amand, Toulon Saint-Cyr will participate in the play-downs.
Play-offs for the Title
The eight top-ranked teams after the 13th day, listed currently as Metz HB, Brest, Nantes, Paris 92, ES Besançon, OGC Nice Côte-d’Azur Handball, Chambray, Bourg-de-Péage, will participate in the play-offs and carry forward the points accumulated throughout the entire first phase. All teams will play a total of nine matches:
- February 27 to May 12:
7 matches (first phase return) on February 27/28, March 6/7, March 13/14, March 27/28 or April 3/4, March 27/28, April 3/4, April 28, May 1/2, and May 8/9. - May 19 and 23: finals will be played home and away between 1st vs 2nd, 3rd vs 4th, 5th vs 6th, and 7th vs 8th
The ranking will be established at the end of the finals. The team winning the final between 1st and 2nd after the home and away matches will officially be declared the 2021 champion of France.
Play-downs for Relegation
The other six teams ranked from 9th to 14th after the 13th day, specifically, in order of current ranking Fleury, Toulon Saint-Cyr, JDA Dijon, Saint-Amand, Mérignac, and Plan-de-Cuques, will go on to play the play-downs and also carry forward the points accrued throughout the first phase. The second phase will consist of 15 matches. Five return matches from the first phase and ten rounds of home and away matches. These latter matches will take place from February 27 to May 30, 2021.
After all these matches are concluded, the team ranked last will officially be relegated to the Women’s Division 2 for the 2021-2022 season.
The Case of OGC Nice Côte-d’Azur Handball
On the side of OGC Nice with Marjan Kolev, the continuation of their journey is now known. After their quarter-final of the National Women’s French Cup away against Mérignac (February 24), the Nice players led by their captain, Ehsan Abdelmalek, will start with a very tough match-up. Here is the schedule for the Gym:
Nice will have to bring out their best play from the first days against a strong Metz team, leaders of the LBE standings and still in the running for the EHF women’s champions league with its Brest runner-up. Brest will also be the second opponent in the play-offs for the Gym.
- February 27/28: Nice vs Metz
- March 6/7: Brest vs Nice
- March 13/14: Chambray vs Nice
- April 3/4: Nice vs Paris 92
- April 28: Nice vs Nantes
- May 1/2: Besançon vs Nice
- May 8/9: Nice vs Bourg-de-Péage
The home and away finals will be played respectively on May 19 and 22/23, 2021.
