Granollers meet hosts, while Chambery take on Göppingen

The 2016 EHF Cup Finals hosts HBC Nantes will meet Fraikin BM Granollers in the semi-final, while the second French team at the final tournament (14/15 May 2016) Chambery Savoie Handball face Frisch Auf Göppingen after the draw in Nantes has determined both pairings.

The playing have been set already before the draw for 14:45 and 17:30 hrs local time, but the playing order will only be confirmed following negotiations with TV partners.

On the fringes of the draw event in the Salle Sportive Metropolitaine de La Trocardiere the new winners’ trophy has been also unveiled.

”The first edition ever was held in Nantes four years ago and it was such a great success that the EHF did not hesitate to give it back to Nantes,” Jean Brihault, the EHF President commented.

“All the teams are very hard to play against and it’s the Finals, so it’s all the same. I would prefer to play against Granollers a little though, because I know many Spanish players. In the end we just want to win,” the top scorer of the current EHF Cup campaign and of the last EHF EURO 2016 in Poland Valero Rivera said after the draw.

”I don’t think it is that much of an advantage that I know the team, it is an advantage to play at home in Nantes,” he added.
While Nantes and Göppingen will make a comeback to the EHF Cup Finals, while Granollers and Chambery.

“All games will be wide open. We want to win this cup, but we are not favourites. It is the wish of all four teams to win this title and we have respect for all of them,” Alexander Kolb from Frisch Auf Göppingen, who won the last edition of the old EHF Cup in 2012 and also a year before.