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03.05.2024  LIQUI MOLY HBL

Magical nights and historic success: Five German teams in EHF final tournaments

This has never happened before in the history of the European Cup and since the introduction of the final tournaments in the Champions League (2010) and European League (2013): Five German teams have qualified for the semi-finals in Hamburg (EHF European League 25/26 May) and Cologne (EHF Champions League 8/9 June) - from the original six teams from the LIQUI MOLY HBL that started, only one was eliminated before the final tournaments: the Recken from Hannover in the play-offs of the European League. The strongest league in the world has again lived up to its reputation.

And no matter how big the tasks in the reverse fixtures were, all HBL representatives prevailed in the quarter-finals. The most magical nights were those in the Champions League in Magdeburg and Kiel. First, SCM beat Kielce in a penalty shootout, then THW caused a sensation and turned a 30:39 deficit from the first leg in Montpellier into a 31:21 victory. For the first time since 2014, two HBL clubs have qualified for the FINAL4 of the Champions League. At that time, there was even the last all-German final - Flensburg beat THW. In total, four different German teams have won the trophy in Cologne: Kiel (2010, 2012, 2020), Hamburg (2013), Flensburg (2014) and Magdeburg (2023).

Ten years later, history could repeat if THW and SCM do not lock horns in the semifinals. The draw event is on Tuesday, May 7, in Budapest, together with the semifinals of the Women's Champions League. The other semifinalists are Aalborg Handbold from Denmark (winner against Veszprem) and FC Barcelona (winner against PSG).

Who else but goalkeeper Sergey Hernandez, who has been outstanding since the REWE Final4, provided SCM with a ticket to the final tournament in the LANXESS arena. The Spaniard fended off 15 shots in regular time against Kielce, followed by three saves in the penalty shootout, including the decisive shot by Dylan Nahi. Omar Ingi Magnusson made the Cologne dream perfect with the goal for the 4:3 in the penalty shootout.

After the 26:27 defeat in the first leg in Kielce, the score was 23:22 in Magdeburg after 60 minutes - because the away goals rule was abolished three years ago, there was an immediate penalty shootout. And that's where Hernandez exceeded his own expectations again. "When you think you've already experienced everything in handball, then comes such an incredible game. The key to success was that we always believed in ourselves," said coach Bennet Wiegert, whose team is now aiming for the "five-trophy season" after winning the Super Cup, the IHF Super Globe title and the German Cup, and as the current leader of the LIQUI MOLY HBL table.

The THW miracle against Montpellier also focused on a goalkeeper: Tomas Mrkva's saves in the final phase (the Czech saved twelve shots in total) were a decisive factor for Kiel making it to the LANXESS arena for the ninth time since 2010 - and after the early exit from the cup and the championship race in the league, they are still playing for a title. By halftime, Kiel had already made up five goals against Montpellier (17:12), then there was a bit of a glitch, but in the last 15 minutes the Zebras really turned things up: With a 7:1 run after the 24:20, the dream became reality. Eric Johansson (8), Harald Reinkind (7) and Nikola Bilyk (6) scored 21 of Kiel's 31 goals.

"The fairy tale had a happy ending. We had a season with so many ups and downs, now we have achieved our big goal Cologne, unbelievable," said right wing Niclas Ekberg, for whom the miracle of Kiel was his last international game in the Wunderino Arena. In the summer he will return to his Swedish homeland.

The third magical night was in Nantes - where no visiting team had taken points for over a year. On Tuesday, Füchse Berlin celebrated there: after the flattering 33:33 in the quarter-final first leg of the European League at home against HBC Nantes, Jaron Siewert's team put on a real fireworks display. For the eighth time after 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023, Füchse qualified for an EL final tournament with a confident 37:30 in the Lions' Den. They had won the EHF Cup in 2015 and 2018 and the European League last year. The eight-time scorer Max Darj was outstanding, but for Siewert, "the defence was decisive. If you only concede 22 goals in 45 minutes against a goal machine like Nantes, that is outstanding.”

For the third time after winning the EHF Cup in 2013 (just in Nantes) and finishing third in 2021 at the final tournament in their home SAP Arena, Rhein-Neckar Löwen have also qualified for the final tournament. After the 32:29 first leg win, the Löwen could afford a 28:29 defeat at Sporting Lisbon. In between, however, the four-goal cushion had been used up several times, like at 23:27. As in the first leg, goalkeeper David Späth was the match winner; in Lisbon the goalkeeper saved 15 shots. "It wasn't our best game, and that's why we're overjoyed to be in Hamburg," said Löwen coach Sebastian Hinze.

The third German representative in the Barclays Arena is SG Flensburg-Handewitt, who had already decided the duel against Recken conquerors IK Sävehof from Sweden with a 41:30 first leg win in Gothenburg. In the second leg, the third-placed team in the HBL suffered their first home defeat of the current European League season with a 28:29 - but in contrast to last year, when they were eliminated at home in the quarter-finals against Granollers from Spain as hosts of the final tournament, this didn't hurt. The fourth team in Hamburg is the Romanian champions Dinamo Bucharest, who won twice against Skjern from Denmark.

For the fourth time after 2017, 2018 (Göppingen, Füchse and Magdeburg respectively) and 2021 (Magdeburg, Füchse, Rhein-Neckar Löwen), three German teams have qualified for the final tournament. Four times since 2013 there have been two German representatives, three times one each. Since 2004 -  for 20 years - there have only been two winners in the second tier European cup competition below the Champions League (first EHF Cup, now European League) which did not come from the LIQUI MOLY HBL: Pick Szeged from Hungary in 2014 and Benfica Lisbon from Portugal in 2022.

Otherwise there have only been German winners - and purely mathematically, the chances in Hamburg that this series will continue are 75 percent. The record winners in the EHF Cup/European League are Kiel, Göppingen and Magdeburg with four titles each. Berlin could catch up, while Flensburg could win a trophy in the fifth different European cup competition after the Champions League, EHF Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup and City Cup.

Photo: Klahn

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