Füchse and Flensburg combined have won eight European club trophies, they both came through Saturday’s semi-finals with flying colours, but only one of them will lift the trophy at Barclays Arena on Sunday night.
The final features two of the youngest coaches in European club competitions this season – Füchse’s Jaron Siewert is 30 years old, Flensburg’s Nicolej Krickau 37 – and Danish stars like Füchse’s Mathias Gidsel – the IHF World Player of the Year and formerly playing under Krickau at GOG – and Flensburg’s Simon Pytlick, Emil Jakobsen, and Lukas Jørgensen.
The third-place match between Dinamo and Löwen includes the two leading scorers in the competition: Andrii Akimenko with 90 goals and Niclas Kirkeløkke with 81 (counted from the start of the group phase).
FINAL
SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) vs Füchse Berlin (GER)
Sunday 26 May, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
- it is the fifth all-German final since the second-tier competition ends with a final tournament (2013) – and Füchse have been part of all five, but lost three of the previous four
- overall since the start of European club competitions in 1993, this is the ninth all-German final at this level; the trophy went to a team from Germany 18 times in the last 20 seasons played
- Berlin can become the first team to win the EHF European League two years in a row, and the first since Frisch Auf Göppingen in 2017 to successfully defend the title at this level
- Flensburg and Füchse have not met before in an international match; in the domestic league, Füchse won the home match 32:31 and they tied 31:31 in Flensburg this season; Flensburg won their duel in the third-place match of the German cup competition
- Berlin defeated Löwen 33:24 in the semi-finals – the biggest win in the history of the EHF Finals (since 2020/21) – and Flensburg downed Dinamo 38:32
- Danish players were decisive for both teams in the semi-finals: Emil Jakobsen scored 11 goals, Johan Hansen nine, and Simon Pytlick six for Flensburg; Mathias Gidsel and Lasse Andersson both netted seven times for Füchse
- also, the goalkeepers were a key factor in the semi-finals: Füchse’s Dejan Milosavljev had 13 saves, Flensburg’s Kevin Møller 11
- Hans Lindberg plays his last international match for Füchse before the 42-year-old right wing returns to his native Denmark; he previously won the EHF Champions League (with HSV), the EHF Cup and EHF European League (with Füchse)
- Flensburg, already the only club that has won four different EHF club competitions in the past, can win their fifth different trophy
