Belgrade hosts Men’s EHF Cup Group Phase draw on Thursday

After three rounds of qualification the inaugural season of the new Men´s EHF Cup has reached the Group Phase, which will be played in four groups with four teams each. The draw of the Group Phase will take place on Thursday, 6 December (13:00 hrs local time) at the Hotel Hyatt Regency in Belgrade, Serbia on the fringes of the Women´s EHF EURO 2012.

In this draw, the country protection rule will be applied: two clubs from the same country may not face each other in the same group. Only three countries have more than one participant - Germany has three, Denmark and Slovenia two teams each.

"We do not expect any fortune at the draw, but it does not really mater. We take anything what comes out of the draw. The matches are still quite far away. EHF Cup is enormously important for us and thanks to our qualification to the Group Phase we can play at least six more matches in this competition. For this objective the concentration and motivation level in the squad was very high," coach of SC Magdeburg Frank Carstens said for the official club website.

The head coach of Team Tvis Holstebro from Denmark Klavs Bruun Jørgensen dreams about Scandinavian group flavoured by some French spice.

"A group with Elverum, Eskilstuna and Nantes would be very attractive and we would go for the first place. On the contrary, we could end up in a group with east European clubs or strong opponents from Germany or Poland. It will be very interesting to see, what the draw will offer to us,“ he said for the club´s website.

The chairman of Orlen Wisła Płock Andrzej Miszczyński was not afraid of difficult opponents in the Group Phase before the draw. "The more decorated rivals we have in our group the more stars will come to our arena, more spectators we will have in the stands, the better atmospere at the matches will be generated and exceptional promotion of this sport art it will be,“ he stated for official website of the Polish league leaders.

The order of the matches is also already predefined for all rounds according to the competition´s regulation.

The first round of the Group Phase will be played on 9/10 February, the sixth and the last on 23/24 March 2013. Two best teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, which is scheduled for 20/21 April (first leg) and 27/28 April (second leg).

The Final Tournament will be played with two semi-finals and third place match and final on 18/19 May. The venue of this event will be annouced at the draw on Thursday in Belgrade.

The newly formed Men’s EHF Cup merged from the former EHF Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup before this season.

Men’s EHF Cup Group Phase – Draw Seeding

Pot 1:
Frisch Auf Göppingen/GER
Elverum Handball Herrer/NOR
Besiktas JK/TUR
TATRAN Prešov/SVK

Pot 2:
Team Tvis Holstebro/DEN
RK Cimos Koper/SLO
HC Motor Zaporozhye/UKR
Stiinta Muncipal Dedeman Bacau/ROU

Pot 3:
Orlen Wisła Płock/POL
Rhein-Neckar Löwen/GER
Eskilstuna Guif/SWE
SC Magdeburg/GER

Pot 4:
Naturhouse La Rioja/ESP
HBC Nantes/FRA
KIF Kolding/DEN
RK Maribor Branik/SLO

Playing Periods - Playing schedule:
Round 1: 09/10.02.2013 - 1 vs. 3 and 2 vs. 4
Round 2: 16/17.02.2013 - 4 vs. 1 and 3 vs. 2
Round 3: 23/24.02.2013 - 2 vs. 1 and 4 vs. 3
Round 4: 09/10.03.2013 - 1 vs. 2 and 3 vs. 4
Round 5: 16/17.03.2013 - 3 vs. 1 and 4 vs. 2
Round 6: 23/24.03.2013 - 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3

Further information
Download the Dates of the home matches of each team in the Group Phase here
Follow the draw live-ticker on eurohandball.com or on Twitter @ehfmedia