Barça chase fourth club world title

Title holders Barça Lassa and both reigning champions of the two major EHF club competitions fight for the IHF Super Globe trophy in Doha, starting on Tuesday (16 October).

The Spanish outfit will be accompanied by VELUX EHF Champions League winners Montpellier HB and Men’s EHF Cup winners Füchse Berlin for the unofficial club world championship from the IHF. For the ninth straight year the event takes place in the Duhail Sports Hall, home of the Qatar Handball Association.

Opponents from other continents in quarter-final

The three European teams will face opponents from other continents in the quarter-final.

Barça lock horns with Asian Champions League winners and Super Globe debutants Al Najma from Bahrain. Montpellier take on African club champions L’Association Sportive Hammamet from Tunisia. And Füchse duel with Pan-American champions Taubate from Brazil. In the fourth quarter-final, hosts Al-Sadd from Qatar will play Oceanian champions Sydney University.

The Super Globe has been won by a club from Europe - from Spain or Germany, actually - each year since the event is staged annually in Doha.

Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid lifted the trophy in 2010 and 2012, while Barça became the record winners in 2017 with their third title, after earlier triumphs in 2013 and 2014. The other winners were German teams, with Kiel coming out on top in 2011 and Füchse landing back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016.

Welcome distraction for Montpellier

Montpellier are debutants in this competition. The French side has been hit hard by a series of injuries (Diego Simonet, Michael Guigou, Jonas Truchanovicius), but the Super Globe might come as a welcome distraction from their five-match losing streak at the start of the new VELUX EHF Champions League season.

However, Barça are on a high after earning four straight wins in Europe’s top flight. And Füchse have not yet started their European campaign: the team from Berlin will learn their opponent during the draw in Vienna for the Men’s EHF Cup Qualification Round 3 on Tuesday.

One of the other teams at the Super Globe also has a bit of European flair as Sydney is being coached by 1984 Olympic silver medallist Michael Roth, who formerly led MT Melsungen. The German coach was hired by the Oceanian champions for this event.

Livestreams of the matches can be found on the IHF website.

The schedule of the IHF Super Globe 2018: (all times CET)

Tuesday 16 October:

- Quarter-final:
12:00 hrs: Barça Lassa (ESP) vs Al-Najma (BHR)
14:00 hrs: Montpellier HB (FRA) vs Hammamet (TUN)
16:00 hrs: Taubate (BRA) vs Füchse Berlin (GER)
18:00 hrs: Al-Saad (QAT) vs Sydney (AUS)

Wednesday 17 October:

- Placement round 5-8:
12:00/14:00 hrs: Loser Barça Lassa/Al-Najma vs loser Montpellier HB/Hammamet
12:00/14:00 hrs: Loser Taubate/Füchse Berlin vs loser Al-Sadd/Sydney

- Semi-finals:
16:00/18:00 hrs: Winner Barça Lassa/Al-Najma vs winner Montpellier HB/Hammamet
16:00/18:00 hrs: Winner Taubate/Füchse Berlin vs winner Al-Sadd/Sydney
(playing times to be confirmed, depending on Al-Sadd’s result in quarter-final)

Friday 19 October:

12:00 hrs: Placement match 7/8
14:00 hrs: Placement match 5/6
16:00 hrs: Bronze medal match
18:00 hrs: Final
20.15 hrs: winners’ ceremony