National champions men: part 2 - south-west Europe

The domestic leagues have come 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 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 second part is dedicated to teams from south-west Europe - France, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

France - US Dunkerque

After finishing second last season, Dunkerque managed to grab its first French champion title in 2014. Beating PSG and Montpellier twice, their league triumph suffered no discussion and comes two years after their win in the national cup.

This title is a just reward for a squad that has been together a few seasons now, but struggled in the VELUX EHF Champions League last season. Coach Patrick Cazal has claimed that he aims to come back stronger next season in the competition and improve upon their three-point haul.

Thanks to a thrilling final round of games, PSG finished second and Montpellier third. The EHF Cup finalists were in a set to end up right behind Dunkerque, but lost their last decisive match in Chambéry (30:33) while PSG coasted past Cesson-Rennes (34:27) and into second place.

Spain - FC Barcelona

No team has ever won a Spanish league as clearly as FC Barcelona this season. With their superstar team, the Blaugranas won every single game quite clearly and were already crowned champions six games before the end. With the league’s best defence and attack, Barcelona let nothing slip, winning their games by an average of twelve goals.

After their third place last season, Naturhouse La Rioja this time finished second, still thirteen points behind the champions and will also take part in the VELUX EHF Champions League next season. 

Italy - Junior Fasano

After losing in the semi-final last season against Bozen, Junior Fasano took their revenge and beat the same opponent in the final this season, gaining the first title of its history. The club from the south-east of the country only won thanks to scoring more away goals after a draw on aggregate.

Fasano lost 24:25 at home in the first leg of the final, putting themselves in a very bad position, but, in their trademark fashion, they turned the situation around and won 27:26 in Bozen, securing the title to make it a double after their earlier cup triumph.

Fasano did not make things easy for themselves on their run to the title. For example, they lost by eight goals in the first leg of the semi-final against Carpi, before winning by ten at home in the return leg.

Portugal - FC Porto

FC Porto kept the national title in their grasp, but with only a one-point advantage over Lisbon it was a close call. In fact, you could almost say that Lisbon shot themselves in the foot when, two days from the end of the league, they managed to let a two-goal lead slip in the dying seconds against Porto and drew the game 28:28.

Porto saw an open road to the title in front of him and thanks to a 25:19 win at home against Benfica took title number 19 in the club's history, which is a national record.