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It is a new competition and it is a new trophy: The European League Men will have its pinnacle event this weekend at SAP Arena in Mannheim, host to the premiere of the EHF Finals Men.
SC Magdeburg and Orlen Wisla Plock are set to open the event as they contest the first semi-final at 18:00 CEST.
While the Polish side are new to this level of a European competition, Magdeburg - one of the three German contenders in action this weekend - have been there and done that, and even won the EHF Champions League in the past.
The winner will play either hosts Rhein-Neckar Löwen or Füchse Berlin in the final on Sunday.
SEMI-FINAL:
SC Magdeburg (GER) vs Orlen Wisla Plock (POL)
Saturday 22 May at 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
- Magdeburg are the only former EHF Champions League winners at the EHF Finals 2021, and also won the EHF Cup three times - in 1999, 2001 and 2007
- Plock’s best European results were quarter-finals in EHF Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1990s
- Magdeburg won group C with nine wins and one defeat, while Plock topped group A with eight wins and two defeats defeats
- Magdeburg are the only team that won all four matches in the Last 16 (against Pelister) and the quarter-final (Kristianstad) and they are on a 10-game winning streak in the competition
- Plock were close to elimination in the Last 16 against Sporting CP and also needed a comeback in the quarter-final against GOG after losing the first leg
- Magdeburg have on Polish international in their squad, defence ace Piotr Chrapkowski. Many Polish players have worn the Magdeburg jersey, including Karol Bielecki, Grzegorz Tkaczyk and Bogdan Wenta, who also coached the team
- Plock’s most recent European Cup match in Germany was also in the arena of Rhein-Neckar Löwen, in september 2017, when both teams met in the EHF Champions League group phase
- Magdeburg’s last European Cup matches against a Polish team came in qualification for the EHF Cup 2019/20, when they beat Gornik Zabrze
- leading scorers are Ómar Ingi Magnusson for Magdeburg with 81 goals and Michal Daszek for Plock with 62
- Magdeburg have lost three of their last four matches in the German Bundesliga, while Plock have been unbeaten in the Polish league since a 31:19 defeat against Lomza Vive Kielce in December
TEXT: EHF / Björn Pazen
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