11.10.2012, 01:20
Men´s EHF Cup Round 2 preview

34 teams ready to make the second step towards the Group Phase

Men´s EHF Cup Round 2 preview

The Round 2 of the new Men´s EHF Cup will start during upcoming weekend 12-14 October with the fixtures of first leg. In total, 34 teams vie for a spot in the Round 3. The second leg will be played one week later on 20/21 October 2012.

The winners proceed to the final qualification stage before the Group Phase, Round 3, where they will be placed together with the top seeded teams. The fixtures of Round 3 will be drawn on Tuesday 23 October 2012 (14:00 hrs local time) in the EHF headquarters in Vienna.

Fourteen top seeds of the Round 3 were joined by one team from the Round 1 last month. RK Borac m:tel Banja Luka (BIH) qualified directly for the Round 3, because RK Cimos Koper (SLO), who were originally drawn against the winner of this Round 1 match, were invited to take part in the Wild Card Tournament of the VELUX EHF Champions Legue.

Since Koper did not succeed in a battle for a spot in the European top club competition, they were redirected back to the EHF Cup and will meet with HV KRAS/Volendam in Round 2.

Five winners to be known on Sunday

The emerging Danish powerhouse KIF Kolding will have to tackle more difficult task in Round 2 than in the previous round, in which they won 88:32 on aggregate score against English champions from GD London. Kolding will not leave Denmark again and after hosting London at home and in Vamtrup they will play both matches with Montegrin champions HC Lovčen in the suburbs of Copenhagen on Friday (12 October) and Saturday (13 October).

Apart from Kolding vs. Lovčen four more pairs decided to play both matches over the weekend with Russian club Permskie Medvedi  hosting  Wacker Thun from Switzerland, Stiinta Municipal Dedeman meeting Swedish Ystads IF in Bacău, Romania, Ukrainian HC Motor Zaporozhye playing twice Icelandic Haukar Hafnarfjördur at home and Italian champions from Loacker Südtirol Team Bolzano travelling for two matches with Benfica to Lisbon.

The EHF Cup is played in a completely new format with three qualification rounds, a group phase of four groups of four teams, quarter-finals and a Final Tournament with four teams playing semi-finals and finals over two days (18/19 May 2013) - to decide the ultimate winner of the EHF Cup.

The competition, formed from the merging of the former EHF Cup and Cup Winner’s Cup, threw off at the start of the 2012/13 season.

Final Tournament

Meanwhile, the bidding has opened for the Final Tournament of the European Handball Federation’s newly relaunched Men’s EHF Cup.

The EHF, together with its marketing arm, EHF Marketing GmbH, has now released a bidding document and are welcoming bids from clubs, agencies, arenas or any other organisations interested in hosting the Final Tournament.

Read more on the bidding procedure here

Further information
Find all results of the Round 2, first leg of the EHF Cup during the weekend here

TEXT: EHF / br