Sävehof meet Zaporozhye in Challenge Cup Quarter-final

The hottest contenders on the starting grid IK Sävehof will face a stern test in the Men's Challenge Cup quarter-final as the draw at the EHF Office in Vienna defined all four quarter-finals and also the semi-final pairings.

Swedish team, who played the VELUX EHF Champions League last season, will play against arguably the toughest possible adversaries as they were drawn against Ukraine's ZTR Zaporozhye.

“It was probably the strongest opponent we could get among those teams who were left.

“However, I do not know a lot about them at the moment, so I will have to gather some more information on them, before I can say more about our chances," said Sävehof coach Magnus Johansson.

In other pairings Serbia's Metaloplastika Sabac, the former Champions Cup winners (forerunner of the EHF Champions League), will play against Baltic league runners-up Riihimäki Cocks from Finland, Romania's HC Odorhei will encounter Portugal's Aguas Santas Milaneza, while Poland's Azoty-Pulawy will clash with Belgium's UHC Tongeren.

The first leg matches will be played on 15/16 March, the second leg is scheduled for one week later. The semi-final will start on 19/20 April with first leg matches followed by the second leg one week later.

The 2013 Challenge Cup winners SKA Minsk entered the EHF Cup in this season and have already been eliminated in the second qualification round. Also the European campaign of last season's surprising runners-up Handball Esch ended early as the Luxembourgish side have been first ousted from the VELUX EHF Champions League Qualification and then from the EHF Cup Qualification Round 2 as well.

For club's reactions on the draw and draw pictures visit the EHF Media Portal. If you haven't registered yet, please send an email stating your name and media outlet to media@eurohandball.com.

Men's Challenge Cup Quarter-final pairings:

KS Azoty-Pulawy (POL) vs United HC Tongeren (BEL)

IK Sävehof (SWE) vs ZTR Zaporozhye (UKR)

Cocks (FIN) vs RK Metaloplastika Sabac (SRB)

HC Odorhei (ROU) vs Aguas Santas-Milaneza (POR)

Men's Challenge Cup Semi-final pairings:

Winner of Cocks/Sabac vs winner of Odorhei/Agua Santas

Winner of Sävehof/ZTR vs winner of Pulawy/Tongeren