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After Rincon Fertilidad Malaga won the EHF European Cup Women, narrowly beating RK Lokomotiva Zagreb over the two legs in the final, the time has now come to determine a winner in the men’s tournament.
The EHF European Cup Men final will be a duel between north and south Europe, as the Greek side AEK Athens HC are set to face Sweden’s Ystads IF. Both legs of the encounter will be played this weekend in Greece, with the first leg taking place on Friday and the second on Sunday.
AEK Athens HC (GRE) vs Ystads IF (SWE)
Friday 28 May, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
Ystads IF (SWE) vs AEK Athens HC (GRE)
Sunday 30 May, 20:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
- AEK have reached their second European final after losing to Romania’s AHC Potaissa Turda in the ultimate match of the Challenge Cup 2017/18
- Athens have the chance to become the second Greek team to win a European club competition after AC Diomidis Argous triumphed in the Challenge Cup in 2011/12
- on their way to the final, the Greek team eliminated KH Prishtina, CSM Bucuresti, HC Neva SPb and RK Gorenje Velenje, winning six of their eight matches
- in the semi-final against Velenje, AEK won at home 31:29, but were trailing 27:20 midway through the second half in Slovenia; however, they ultimately drew level at 31:31 and made it through
- Ystad, who are playing their first European season since 2015/16, have never participated in any international final
- the Swedish team have won seven of their eight encounters in the competition so far, losing only to Sabbianco Anorthosis Famagusta in the first-leg semi-final (26:24)
- a 26:22 home revenge in the return leg of the semi-final saw Ystad progress to the final
- while AEK rely on players from seven different nationalities, Ystad’s squad is almost entirely Swedish, with Norwegian left back Lasse Balstad and Danish line player Knud Larsen the two exceptions
TEXT: EHF / Sergey Nikolaev
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