Three Norwegian sides hope to get closer to quarter-finals
Teams representing 11 nations will play in the Last 16 of the EHF European Cup Men, and Norway is the only country with three sides still fighting for the trophy.
Defending champions Nærbø IL are among them, as well as Runar Sandefjord Elite and ØIF Arendal, and all of them hope to get positive results in their first-leg encounters this weekend.
- Nærbø, who beat Slovenj Gradec (SLO) and BK-46 (FIN) in the previous rounds, will travel to Slovakia to face MSK Povazska Bystrica on Saturday
- on the same day, Arendal are set to play at Vojvodina in Serbia, while Sandefjord will play their first-leg match at home against their Slovenian rivals RD Riko Ribnica
- Sabbianco Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus and Slovenia's RK Gorenje Velenje, who both reached the EHF European Cup semi-final in 2021, will face off in Nicosia
- Swedish side Alingsås HK, who played in the semi-final in 2022, will face AS SGS Ramhat Hashron away in Israel
- after seven games on Saturday, Italy's Sidea Group Junior Fasano will host MRK Sesvete of Croatia in the only match scheduled for Sunday
Czech Republic to host two matches
Two Czech sides have reached the quarter-final, and both of them will play their first-leg encounters on home court.
At 14:00 CET on Saturday, HC Dukla Praha will take on their Swiss opponents Wacker Thun in Prague, and four hours later, HCB Karvina are scheduled to meet Serbia's HC Dinamo Pancevo.
Dukla Praha played both round 3 matches at home, losing the first leg 33:34 to IBV Vestmannaeyjar before coming back strongly the following day to win 32:25 and clinch a 65:59 aggregate victory. Karvina won 22:18 at home against RK Gracanica, and extended their lead away the following week.
