Big clubs knocking on group phase door

Several heavyweight clubs will be entering the fray this week – including former EHF Champions League titleholders Montpellier HB, SG Flensburg-Handewitt, and Bidasoa Irun, who will take on IK Sävehof, MMTS Kwidzyn, and Kolstad Handball, respectively.

Other powerhouses will also try to make headway in a tricky round of qualification, with selected matches being streamed live on EHFTV.

• two other German teams will meet each other in qualification round 2: Frisch Auf Göppingen and TBV Lemgo Lippe, with only one side qualifying for the group phase
• Montpellier’s opponents, Sävehof, scored the largest number of goals in qualification round 1: 79, when they beat Potaissa Turda 79:51 on aggregate
• last year’s EHF Finals Men contenders RK Nexe will try to secure a group phase berth when they face Polish team KS Azoty-Pulawy SA
• another national derby takes place in Portugal, as Belenenses and Aguas Santas Milaneza are set to meet each other; Belenenses defeated Portuguese champions FC Porto in their domestic league earlier this season
• Hungarian side FTC secured the second-largest aggregate win in qualification round 1 – 74:49 against CS Minaur Baia Mare – and will return to Romania to meet another history-laden team, CSA Steaua București
• Kolstad hope to get past Bidasoa Irun to qualify for the group phase of a European club competition for the first time, after beating Drammen HK twice in the opening round

Former winners and other powerhouses fight for a place in the group phase

The decisive round prior to the group phase promised to an exciting one, with three teams from Germany and Portugal and two teams from Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Denmark and France taking the court Tuesday.

The all-German tie between Göppingen and Lemgo features two teams that have won the trophy in Europe’s second-tier competition six times between them. Flensburg are the other side in this final qualification round that has previously won the competition.

From the eight quarter-finalists last season, only one is featuring in qualification round 2: Nexe. Four other teams are now playing in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2022/23 (Orlen Wisla Plock, GOG, SC Magdeburg, and HBC Nantes); SL Benfica and Kadetten Schaffhausen have been directly seeded through to the group phase.

EHF European League Men 2022/23 qualification round 2, leg 1:
all matches on Tuesday 27 September

18:45 CEST: IK Sävehof (SWE) vs Montpellier HB (FRA)
18:45 CEST: CSA Steaua Bucuresti (ROU) vs FTC (HUN), live on EHFTV
18:45 CEST: IFK Kristianstad (SWE) vs Skanderborg-Aarhus (DEN)
18:45 CEST: Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER) vs TBV Lemgo Lippe (GER)
18:45 CEST: Alpla HC Hard (AUT) vs HC Butel Skopje (MKD)
18:45 CEST: KS Azoty-Pulawy SA (POL) vs RK Nexe (CRO)
18:45 CEST: MMTS Kwidzyn (POL) vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER)
18:45 CEST: Chambery Savoie Mont Blanc Handball (FRA) vs Fejer B.A.L.-Veszprem (HUN)

20:45 CEST: Belenenses (POR) vs Aguas Santas Milaneza (POR)
20:45 CEST: TM Benidorm (ESP) vs GC Amicitia Zurich (SUI)
20:45 CEST: Sporting CP (POR) vs Bjerringbro-Silkeborg (DEN), live on EHFTV
20:45 CEST: Bidasoa Irun (ESP) vs Kolstad Handball (NOR), live on EHFTV