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The EHF European League Men quarter-finals are set to begin on Tuesday with the first leg encounters, with eight teams aiming to reach the EHF Finals on 22 and 23 May.
Two-time EHF Cup winners Füchse Berlin will try to take the advantage on their trip to former 2013/14 EHF Cup finalists and Champions League 2017/18 winners Montpellier. The second duel between past European cup winners pits Chekhovskie Medvedi against Rhein-Neckar Löwen, with the ‘Bears’ hoping to take revenge for the three defeats in their most recent matches versus the ‘Lions’.
Thanks to their bigger international experience, SC Magdeburg are in the role of favourites against Kristianstad — but the German side will not take the clash lightly, as they already lost on Swedish ground this season.
The last quarter-final, between GOG and Plock, seems the most open, as both teams make their first appearance at this level of competition in many years.
QUARTER-FINALS
Chekhovskie Medvedi (RUS) vs Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER)
Tuesday 13 April, 18:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
- Löwen and Chekhov have clashed four times before, all in the EHF Champions League — Chekhov won the first match, in 2009; Löwen the next three. RNL have always scored at least 31 goals against the Russian side
- Chekhov’s last match against a German team was the 26:32 loss at home against Löwen in February 2015
- Löwen coach Martin Schwalb has already eliminated Medvedi in crucial knockout matches: In 2011, HSV Hamburg (coached by Schwalb) won the Champions League quarter-finals against Chekhov 75:61 on aggregate (38:24; 37:37)
- the last two times Medvedi qualified for a knockout stage of an EHF competition, they were eliminated by a German club: 2011 by Hamburg and 2013 by THW Kiel (Last 16 of the Champions League)
- both sides have won one European trophy: Medvedi took the Cup Winners’ Cup title in 2005/06; Löwen were the first ever winners of the newly merged EHF Cup in 2013
- Medvedi have an overall European League season balance of eight victories, one draw and three defeats, while Löwen have 10 victories, two draws and two defeats (starting in the qualification). Löwen were group D winners; Medvedi finished third in group A
- both sides took a draw and a victory in their Last 16 tie — Chekhov against Nimes (30:25; 24:24); Löwen against Nexe (27:25; 27:27)
- Chekhov’s top scorers Sergei Kosorotov and Alexander Kotov combine for 110 goals this season, with 56 and 54, respectively
- Löwen’s top scorer and team captain Uwe Gensheimer (45 goals) is ruled out for the next six weeks after a meniscus surgery. Goalkeeper Mikael Appelgren has been out since the start of the season after a shoulder surgery
IFK Kristianstad (SWE) vs SC Magdeburg (GER)
Tuesday 13 April, 18:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
- it is the first ever official match between the sides
- Kristianstad (34:27 and 34:31 against Leon) and Magdeburg (32:24 and 35:24 against Eurofarm Pelister) won both legs of their Last 16 encounters
- Magdeburg’s only defeat in this European League season happened in Sweden — a 29:30 result at Alingsas. SCM won their 11 matches since (including the Last 16) and finished first in group C
- Kristianstad finished third in group B and were defeated twice by a German team — Füchse Berlin
- Magdeburg’s right wing Daniel Petterson and goalkeeper coach Tomas Svensson will touch home ground in Sweden. On the other hand, IFK players Emil Frend-Öfors, Anton Halén and Fredrik Petersen previously played for German clubs
- in their ninth season in an EHF club competition, IFK have qualified for a quarter-final for the first time. The last and only time the Swedish side reached a knockout stage, they were eliminated by a German team — SG Flensburg-Handewitt in the EHF Champions League 2017/18 Last 16
- SC Magdeburg are the only participants in this competition who have won the EHF Champions League (2002) and the EHF Cup (1999, 2001 and 2007)
- IFK’s top scorer is Adam Nyfäll with 67 goals, while Omar Ingi Magnusson scored 60 times for Magdeburg
- Magdeburg’s Icelandic centre back Gisli Kristjannson is out after a shoulder surgery — the third within two years — and will not play this season anymore, like left wing Matthias Musche (torn ACL)
- in the Bundesliga, Magdeburg’s incredible run of 22 unbeaten matches in a row came to an end against Flensburg last week. Now SCM are fourth ranked in the domestic competition, eight points below Flensburg
- Kristianstad, who fired their previous coach Ljubomir Vranjes in December, lost their last league match 22:25 against Skövde and rank six, also eight points below the top side, Sävehof
GOG (DEN) vs Orlen Wisla Plock (POL)
Tuesday 13 April, 18:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
- the teams met in the Champions League 2019/20, with both winning their home leg. GOG took the points 28:27 at home before Plock won 27:24 in Poland
- the Danish side have played four times against other Polish teams in the EHF Cup, taking a clean record of four wins
- Plock finished first in group A with 16 points while GOG collected 12 to finish third in group D
- GOG’s Emil Jakobsen is currently the European League top scorer, with 99 goals, while Plock’s top scorer, Michal Daszek, has netted 51 times
- GOG are currently top of the Danish league while Plock are second in the Polish Superliga, behind Kielce
- this is the fourth time GOG have reached the quarter-finals of the second-tier European cup competition. The three previous times were in the EHF Cup in 2000, 2002 and 2006
- the last Danish club to reach this stage in the second-tier competition was Team Tvis Holstebro, who played the EHF Cup Finals in 2019
Montpellier Handball (FRA) vs Füchse Berlin (GER)
Tuesday 13 April, 20:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
- the teams have never played against each other in European competitions
- Montpellier won the EHF Champions League twice, in 2003 and 2018, while Berlin won the EHF cup twice, in 2015 and 2018
- this season, Berlin finished first in group B and Montpellier ranked third in group C.
- in terms of encounters in 2020/21 against other clubs from their quarter-final rivals’ countries, Berlin drew once and took the points in Nîmes during the group phase while Montpellier lost at home to Magdeburg (30:32)
- Montpellier’s top scorer, Hugo Descat, has netted 64 times while Hans Lindberg scored 43 in the European League this season for Berlin
- this season is the third time Montpellier have reached the quarter-finals in the second-tier European competition — the first was in 1997 and the second in 2014, when they qualified for the final tournament and lost to Pick Szeged (28:29) in the final
- in the meantime, Montpellier won the Champions League twice, in 2003 and 2018 — their last major title. MHB remain the most titled club in France, with 14 national leagues and 13 national cups won
- Berlin have reached the semi-finals of the former format of this competition, the EHF Cup, five times
TEXT: Björn Pazen / Kevin Domas
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