Paderborner SC won their first ever ESF European Club Championships women’s title while Roehampton Club defended their men’s crown in a tight final at Heroes Squash Club in Graz, Austria.
Although German giants Paderborner SC have won the European Club men’s title a record 12 times, they had never previously lifted the women’s trophy, last reaching the final in 2017.
That all changed in Graz as they stormed through their group with three wins, beat Edinburgh Sports Club in the semi-finals, then overturned an early deficit against defending champions Roehampton Club in Saturday’s final.
Although Roehampton Club took an early lead through Isabel McCullough’s 11-8, 3-11, 13-11, 11-8 victory over 19-year-old Maya Weishar, the German club turned the tables in the next two rubbers.
View this post on Instagram
World no.72 Saskia Beinhard won a tight battle with England’s Kace Bartley on the glass court 11-7, 9-11, 13-11 12-10 to set up a decider. That pitted Paderborner’s young Dutchwoman Renske Huntelaar against Ayumi Watanabe of Japan.
It was Huntelaar who took it quite comfortably 11-6, 11-9, 11-4 to wrap up the title — much to the delight of new Paderborner club president Matthias Wolf, who recently replaced Andreas Preising in the role.
Wolf said: “Our women’s team have played in this competition for 11 years without winning it. For me, its a dream come true and also for the team as well. The girls are very, very happy. This makes us very proud as a club.”
Paderborner no.1 Beinhard said: “To become the German club champions was a really big deal for us, so to be European club champions for the first time is so, so important for us as a women’s team.
“Franziska [Hennes], our team captain, has been playing with us for 11 years and this is her first European Club Championship title. Its just huge. I can’t believe I’ve been part of this!”
The men’s final between last year’s champions Roehampton Club of London and Sportwerk Hamburg, who were seeking their first ever European title, was a best-of-four affair.
First on the glass court, former world no.17 Adrian Waller’s movement seemed inhibited from around halfway through the match as he went down 6-11, 11-6, 4-11, 7-11 to Sportwerk’s Spaniard Ivan Perez in the top-string duel.
Meanwhile, over on Court One, Charlie Lee beat Valentin Rapp 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 to level the match.
Roehampton Club’s Sam Osborne-Wylde was next on the glass court and he dispatched Sportwerk’s Czech player Marek Pancek 11-5, 11-5, 11-4, but over on Court One, Julius Benthin overcame Englishman Ben Coates 11-4, 11-8, 8-11 11-6.
View this post on Instagram
That meant the final finished level at 2-2 but with Roehampton Club claiming one game in each of their defeats, they won 8-6 on games countback to claim their second European title in a row.
Osborne-Wylde reflected: “Special mention goes to Charlie who isn’t playing as much squash these days and was able to win 3-0. Winning 3-0 is testament to his character.
“In these best-of-four matches, individual games are very important so that gave us a big boost. It’s a pleasure playing with these boys. They’re the type of people you want to play finals with. Roehampton is a brilliant club to be part of.”
Paul Lindsay, Racquets Manager at Roehampton Club, said: “To back up our first win in this tournament last year is an amazing effort from all the guys.
“We’ve got a big Whatsapp group going with all our club members on it and they’ve all been watching the stream and sending us messages. You get lost in a bubble while you’re here, so it’s great to know that people have been watching us on their phones all week instead of working!”
Squash Union Weiner Neudorf Modling of host nation Austria won the men’s bronze medals with a 4-0 whitewash of Leamington from England. Edinburgh Sports Club won the women’s bronze medals after turning around an early deficit to beat Viktoria Brno of Czecha 2-1.
Check out all the results from the 2025 ESF European Club Championships
Watch the 2025 ESF European Club Championships back on European Squash TV
