Knockout regulars clash for the first time

Despite sharing a rich history in the VELUX EHF Champions League, SG Flensburg-Handewitt and Telekom Veszprém have never met in the knockout stages of the competition.

Their previous encounters in Europe, three Veszprém wins, two for Flensburg and one draw, and both side’s mixed bag of form this season suggests a fascinating clash when they meet for the first leg in northern Germany on Wednesday.

QUARTER-FINAL, FIRST LEG:
SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) vs Telekom Veszprém (HUN)
Wednesday 24 April, 19:00 hrs local time, live on ehfTV.com

• both clubs won both Last 16 matches, Veszprém against Plock, Flensburg against Brest
• in the last two seasons, Flensburg were eliminated by the eventual VELUX EHF Champions League winners in the quarter-finals: Vardar (2017) and Montpellier (2018)
• Flensburg are through to their 12th quarter-final, while Veszprém are set for their 17th time  among the best eight teams in Europe
• the match on Wednesday will be the last international home match for Swedish legend Tobias Karlsson, who will end his career after this season regardless the outcome of the quarter-finals
• Veszprém are still the only team with four straight participations at Cologne, from 2014 to 2017. Twice, in 2015 and 2016, they made it to the final, but lost to Barcelona and Kielce
• Flensburg had once been part of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 and took the title in 2014 by beating Kiel in the final, led by former coach Ljubomir Vranjes, who also had a spell at Veszprém
• Veszprem’s centre back Kentin Mahe played for Flensburg until 2018 and will be joined this summer by current Flensburg player Rasmus Lauge
• Flensburg features more players from the 2019 World Championship Final than any other club - four victorious Danes and four silver medallists from Norway