Metz TT reach another Champions League final, fall to Tarnobrzeg
Metz TT reached their third Champions League final with a 3-1 semifinal win, but Tarnobrzeg’s big-match edge left them runner-up again.
Metz TT left Poland with pride and another painful near miss, falling to KTS Enea Siarkopol Tarnobrzeg in the final of the first-ever ETTU Champions League Women Final 4. The French club did not simply arrive as a surprise contender; this was their third Champions League Women final, after runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2025, and it reinforced their place among Europe’s elite even as the trophy stayed out of reach.
The gap in the final was not about talent so much as decisive moments. Metz opened with promise as Hana GODA made a strong start against Ying HAN, and Adina DIACONU pushed Zhuojia HE before Tarnobrzeg’s experience took hold. The Polish side looked calmer when the match tightened, and that difference mattered most in the biggest points, where Metz needed one more breakthrough to turn another deep run into a title.
That frustration made the semifinal victory over UCAM Cartagena T.M. even more striking. Metz survived one of the weekend’s most emotional ties and won 3-1, with GODA setting the tone against Daniela ORTEGA, Maria XIAO leveling for Cartagena, DIACONU outlasting Tin Tin HO in a tense five-game battle, and GODA finishing the job with a straight-games win over XIAO. It was a complete performance, one that showed Metz can control matches early, absorb pressure, and still deliver when everything narrows to a final table exchange.
That resilience is why Metz’s latest campaign feels like more than another runner-up finish. The club remains built around a deep core of Charlotte LUTZ, GODA, DIACONU, Sarah De NUTTE, Mariia TAILAKOVA and Charlene LESTIENNE, with enough quality to keep returning to the last stage of Europe’s top competition. Their French league title and another continental final confirmed the scale of the project.
The question now is whether Metz are still climbing or have settled into an uncomfortable pattern of almost. Tarnobrzeg exposed the last step they must take: not reaching the final, but owning it when the pressure is highest.
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