National champions men: part 1 - north-west Europe

The domestic leagues are coming to an end and we now know the majority of the teams who will take part in the 2014/15 VELUX EHF Champions League. In five parts, ehfCL.com will shine the spotlight on each of the teams who qualified for the next edition of Europe's top flight and their race for the ticket in their respective national competitions. The first part is dedicated to teams from north-west Europe - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.

Denmark – KIF Kolding København

The finals of the Danish championship were a repeat of 2013, but with the opposite outcome.

Last season, Aalborg Handball won both legs of the final against KIF Kolding København clearly, this time it was the other way round.

Both teams were missing several players due to injury, but KIF were best at coping with the injury problems and made things more or less clear in the first match, as they won 23:18 at Gigantium in Aalborg.

Even though the second leg in the Trefor Arena of Kolding became a considerably more equal affair, KIF won that match as well 19:17, which meant that KIF could celebrate their 13th Danish championship through a 42:35 win on aggregate.

Sweden – Alingsås HK

While quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Swedish championship play-offs are played as best of five, the final is decided in only one match.

This year the final was played in the Malmö Arena between Alingsås HK and EHF Cup quarter-finalists Lugi HF.

Lugi were leading most of the time, and were even three goals up at 22:19 with ten minutes left, but through five unanswered goals at the end, Alingsås managed to take the title for the second time in the club’s history, after their first triumph in 2009.

Norway – Haslum HK

Even though the Norwegian season ends with a play-off, the winner of the league is the official national champion. This year Haslum HK took the title for the third time within the last four years, and also for the third time in history.

In the deciding match in the last round, Haslum defeated last year´s champions Elverum HH as clearly as 36:27. After that triumph, it was really no big deal for them to see Elverum go on to win the play-offs.

Germany – THW Kiel

Kiel took their 19th Bundesliga title after one of the most thrilling and nail-biting final rounds in years.

Before the last match day, Rhein-Neckar Löwen and Kiel were equal on points, as the two contenders had been for several rounds.

In case of a win for both teams, the title was to be decided through goal difference, and in this aspect, the Lions were seven goals better than the Zebras after 33 of the 34 rounds.

However, Rhein-Neckar Löwen’s 40:35 away win against VfL Gummersbach was not enough to maintain the lead against Kiel until the end.

Through a 37:23 win against Füchse Berlin at home in the Sparkassen Arena, Kiel finished two goals better than their rivals and the record champions could celebrate yet another title.

Netherlands – Eurotech/Bevo HC

After three thrilling games in the final against OCI/LIONS, Eurotech/Bevo HC celebrated their first Dutch championship.

In the Netherlands, the championship finals are played best of three, and this year all three matches were decided by a margin of only one goal and in all three matches the away team was triumphant.

Bevo won the first match 22:21, then it was the LIONS´ turn to win by one, 27:26, and finally, Bevo took the last and deciding win away in Sittard. Having been up by five goals during the match, Bevo won 29:28 and became Dutch champions for the first time.

Belgium - Initia Hasselt

For the second year in a row, the two-legged final for the Belgian championship was a meeting between Achilles Bocholt and Initia Hasselt. And once again, Hasselt took the title.

Bocholt had the home advantage in the first match, but that did not stop Hasselt from dominating the match and going four goals up several times before winning 26:23 at the end.

The second match, with Hasselt on home court, was dominated by Bocholt for parts of the game, and the visitors were even leading 18:14, before Hasselt came back and secured the title through a narrow 26:25 win.