# Rostov-Don

Rostov-Don (Russian: Ростов-Дон) is a professional female handball team from Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Established in 1965, the club was called Rostselmash until 2002. Rostov-Don is competing in the Russian Super League. They have won the league seven times, in 1994, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022.
Internationally, the club have won the Women's EHF Cup in 2016–17, and was runner-up of the 2014–15 edition after losing the finals against the Danish team TTH Holstebro. In the 2017–18 EHF Champions League, the club reached the Final 4 tournament for the first time in the club's history, where they finished fourth. The following year, they reached the Final 4 once again. This time they made it to the final, losing to Győri Audi ETO.

## Team
### Current squad

    Squad for the 2023–24 season

### Staff members

Staff for the 2023–24 season
* Head coach: Irina Dibirova
* Trainer: Dmitry Kovalev
* Fitness coach: Danijel Jurišić
* Goalkeeper coach: Victor Shponko
* Physiotherapist: Aleksandar Matić
* Team leader: Artur Sazonov
* Team doctor: Rami Fayssal Sleiman
* Masseur: Sergei Yagelovich
* Administrator: Maxim Shchennikov

### Individual award winners in EHF Champions League

| Season | Player | Award |
| 2017–18 | Yulia Managarova | All-star team (right wing) |
| 2017–18 | Siraba Dembélé | All-star team (left wing) |
| 2018–19 | Anna Vyakhireva | All-star team (right back) |
| 2019–20 | Anna Vyakhireva | All-star team (right back) |

## Honours
### Russia

* Russian Super League
** Winners: 1994, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022
** Runners-up: 1993, 1995, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2021, 2023, 2024
** Third place: 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2014
* Russian Cup
** Winners: 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
** Runners-up: 2010, 2011, 2022, 2024
* Russian Supercup
** Winners: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
** Runners-up: 2022

### Soviet Union

* Soviet Handball Championship
** Winners: 1990, 1991
** Runners-up: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1989
** Third place: 1976, 1988
* Soviet Union National Cup
** Winners: 1980, 1982

### European competitions

* EHF Champions League
** Runners-up: 2018–19
** Fourth place: 2017–18
* Women's EHF Cup
** Winners: 2016–17
** Runners-up: 2014–15
* EHF Cup Winners' Cup
** Winners: 1990

### Other tournaments

* Baia Mare Champions Trophy
** Fourth place: 2014
* Bucharest Trophy
** Fourth place: 2014, 2015

## European record

All results (home and away) list Rostov-Don's goal tally first.
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
| 2017–18 | Champions League | Group stage (Group B) | Győri ETO KC | 23–22 | 23–25 | 2nd |
| 2017–18 | Champions League | Group stage (Group B) | FC Midtjylland | 27–20 | 21–24 | 2nd |
| 2017–18 | Champions League | Group stage (Group B) | Brest Bretagne | 26–24 | 29–23 | 2nd |
| 2017–18 | Champions League | Main round (Group 1) | Nykøbing Falster | 32–22 | 29–25 | 2nd |
| 2017–18 | Champions League | Main round (Group 1) | RK Krim | 29–22 | 35–26 | 2nd |
| 2017–18 | Champions League | Main round (Group 1) | CSM București | 25–24 | 22–22 | 2nd |
| 2017–18 | Champions League | Quarterfinals | FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria | 32–22 | 31–29 | 63–51 |
| 2017–18 | Champions League | Semifinals | HC Vardar | 19–25 |
| 2017–18 | Champions League | Third place | CSM București | 30–31 |
| 2018–19 | Champions League | Group stage (Group B) | København Håndbold | 30–25 | 27–21 | 1st |
| 2018–19 | Champions League | Group stage (Group B) | IK Sävehof | 30–21 | 32–26 | 1st |
| 2018–19 | Champions League | Group stage (Group B) | Brest Bretagne | 30–24 | 29–29 | 1st |
| 2018–19 | Champions League | Main round (Group 1) | Metz Handball | 18–26 | 25–29 | 2nd |
| 2018–19 | Champions League | Main round (Group 1) | ŽRK Budućnost | 24–22 | 23–20 | 2nd |
| 2018–19 | Champions League | Main round (Group 1) | Odense Håndbold | 25–19 | 30–26 | 2nd |
| 2018–19 | Champions League | Quarterfinals | FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria | 33–22 | 29–26 | 62–48 |
| 2018–19 | Champions League | Semifinals | Metz Handball | 27–25 |
| 2018–19 | Champions League | Final | Győri ETO KC | 24–25 |
| 2019–20 | Champions League | Group stage (Group B) | Team Esbjerg | 34–26 | 26–31 | 1st |
| 2019–20 | Champions League | Group stage (Group B) | MKS Lublin | 31–21 | 30–20 | 1st |
| 2019–20 | Champions League | Group stage (Group B) | CSM București | 23–22 | 23–23 | 1st |
| 2019–20 | Champions League | Main round (Group 1) | Metz Handball | 24–29 | 20–23 | 3rd |
| 2019–20 | Champions League | Main round (Group 1) | Vipers Kristiansand | 33–26 | 32–29 | 3rd |
| 2019–20 | Champions League | Main round (Group 1) | FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria | 29–26 | 35–31 | 3rd |
| 2019–20 | Champions League | Quarterfinals | Brest Bretagne Handball | Cancelled |
| 2020–21 | Champions League | Group stage (Group A) | Metz Handball | 30–26 | 26–27 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | Champions League | Group stage (Group A) | Vipers Kristiansand | 10–0 | 24–23 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | Champions League | Group stage (Group A) | Team Esbjerg | 28–24 | 25–24 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | Champions League | Group stage (Group A) | FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria | 26–24 | 26–25 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | Champions League | Group stage (Group A) | CSM București | 0–10 | 27–22 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | Champions League | Group stage (Group A) | SG BBM Bietigheim | 27–21 | 32–31 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | Champions League | Group stage (Group A) | RK Krim | 23–23 | 27–28 | 1st |
| 2020–21 | Champions League | Round of 16 | Podravka Vegeta | 42–24 | 29–20 | 71–44 |
| 2020–21 | Champions League | Quarterfinals | Vipers Kristiansand | 23–23 | 27–34 | 50–57 |
* 1 2 The matches could not be played and were assessed by the EHF.
* 1 2 Both matches were played in Rostov-on-Don, with "home" and "away" being used for administrative purposes.

## Head coach history

* Sergey Belitsky (2002–2006)
* Olga Karpenko (2006–2007)
* Mikhail Aksenov (2007–2009)
* Sergey Belitsky (2009–2014)
* Jan Leslie (2014–2016)
* Frédéric Bougeant (2016–2018)
* Ambros Martin (2018–2020)
* Per Johansson (2020–2022)
* Tomáš Hlavatý (2022) (interim)
* Eduard Koksharov (2022–2023)
* Alexander Burmistrov (2023) (interim)
* Irina Dibirova (2023–present)