UCAM Cartagena women's team reaches first-ever ETTU Champions League Final Four

UCAM Cartagena completed a historic turnaround in mid‑February 2026, overturning a 0-3 first-leg defeat in France to beat Saint‑Quentin TT 3-1 at home and then win a deciding golden match 2-0 on home soil to reach the ETTU Champions League Women Final Four for the first time in club history. ETTU published the full second-leg scorelines on 14 February 2026 and recorded the golden match result as 2-0.

The second leg at UCAM Cartagena’s home arena produced four tense singles as recorded by ETTU: “Maria XIAO – Linda BERGSTROM 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-9)”, “Tin Tin HO – Polina MIKHAILOVA 2-3 (11-6, 3-11, 11-5, 10-12, 4-6)”, “Fei QI – Camille LUTZ 3-1 (11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10)”, and “Maria XIAO – Polina MIKHAILOVA 3-2 (11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 7-11, 6-4)”. Those results, led by María Xiao’s opening 3-0 and closing 3-2 victories and Fei Qi’s 3-1 win, tied the tie on aggregate and forced the golden match.

UCAM’s own account, published on 19 February 2026, described the second-leg weekend fixture as taking place “Saturday at 5 pm” in a packed arena in Cartagena where the victory “sparked euphoria in Cartagena.” UCAM named Jesús Cantero as coach and framed the achievement as a milestone for the women’s professional outfit representing UCAM Catholic University of Murcia. The club’s statement added: “The European dream is more alive than ever for a team that has already shown it can compete against adversity and that aspires, with ambition and enthusiasm, to win the title.”

ETTU’s reports and UCAM’s narrative differ slightly on one pairing from the second leg: ETTU’s official match lines show Tin Tin Ho losing 2-3 to Polina Mikhailova, while UCAM’s match description refers to Tin‑Tin Ho conceding her point to Camille Lutz. The ETTU line scores above are the official competition record for the second leg; the golden match is recorded by ETTU simply as “UCAM Cartagena T.M – Saint‑Quentin TT 2-0” with no individual match breakdown published in the excerpt.

Qualification sends UCAM Cartagena to the Final Four scheduled for 23 and 24 May 2026 in Poland, where International UCAM says the club will face French side Metz TT. ETTU’s wider coverage noted that KTS ENEA SIARKOPOL Tarnobrzeg completed the women’s Final Four line-up, confirming Cartagena as one of the four continental contenders this spring.

María Xiao, the Olympian who closed the tie, summed up the moment in ETTU’s report: “It was an amazing comeback. We knew we had to produce something special to win today, and fortunately we managed to do exactly that. I’m extremely happy and truly proud of my team.” Cartagena now shifts focus from home celebration to preparations for the Poland Final Four on 23-24 May 2026, carrying a first-ever continental semi-final berth and clear momentum from a mid‑February comeback.