In the showpiece event of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League season, the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4, the semi-finals will see SC Magdeburg take on Aalborg Håndbold, while Barça face THW Kiel in a meeting of two of the competition's giants.
SC Magdeburg are out to retain the trophy having beaten Industria Kielce in both last year's final and this season's quarter-finals with a narrow 53:52 aggregate win.
To win it again, they will have to get past Aalborg Håndbold, who are aiming to go one better than 2021 when they finished runners-up to Barça. Their triumph over Telekom Veszprém HC in the quarter-finals gives them another opportunity to be the first Danish men's team to become European champions and send Mikkel Hansen off into the handball sunset with the EHF Champions League title.
In the other semi-final, record champions Barça, who are looking for their third title in four seasons and their 11th overall after beating Paris Saint-Germain in both legs of their quarter-final clash, will meet THW Kiel.
Kiel are searching for their first title since 2020. They overturned a nine-goal first leg loss to Montpellier to win their quarter-final by one goal on aggregate.
The German sides being kept apart leaves the possibility of the first all-German final since 2014, when THW Kiel were defeated by SG Flensburg-Handewitt.
After the semi-finals, the champions will be crowned in the final the following day (9 June), after the bronze medal position is decided in the third-place match.
In the EHF FINAL4 Women 2024, Team Esbjerg were drawn to face Györi Audi ETO KC in semi-final 1, in a meeting of last year's third-place match.
Team Esbjerg got the job done in the previous round against last year's finalists FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria to reach Budapest for the third consecutive year. They have played four and lost four at the MVM Dome, will this year prove different for the Danish side?
Györi Audi ETO KC, on the other hand, know all about success in Budapest. They are on the hunt for their sixth title and have maintained their record of only missing one EHF FINAL4. This season, Györ put an end to Vipers Kristiansand's three-year hold of the trophy by knocking them out at the quarter-final stage.
The second semi-final sees two teams on the hunt for their maiden EHF Champions League Women title, Metz Handball and SG BBM Bietigheim.
A two-goal aggregate win over Odense Håndbold was enough for SG BBM Bietigheim to not only reach their first EHF FINAL4, but to become the first German side to reach the EHF Champions League Women semi-finals since Walle Bremen in 1995.
Metz Handball won both quarter-final legs over CSM Bucuresti to reach the EHF FINAL4 for the third time. This year they will hope its third-time lucky in terms of breaking their semi-final duck.
As with the men's event, the third-place match, followed by the final, will be played the following day - Sunday 2 June.
The order in which the teams were drawn does not automatically determine the playing schedule for the semi-finals in either the men's or women's competition. The schedule and throw-off times will be confirmed in due course.
All matches at both EHF FINAL4 events will be shown live on EHFTV with English commentary provided.
EHF FINAL4 Women 2024
SEMI-FINALS
MVM Dome, Budapest, 1 June, throw-off times TBC
Semi-final 1: Team Esbjerg (DEN) vs Györi Audi ETO KC (HUN)
Semi-final 2: Metz Handball (FRA) vs SG BBM Bietigheim (GER)
TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2024
SEMI-FINALS
LANXESS arena, Cologne, 8 June, throw-off times TBC
Semi-final 1: SC Magdeburg (GER) vs Aalborg Håndbold (DEN)
Semi-final 2: Barça (ESP) vs THW Kiel (GER)
To watch the draw in full, click the video below or head to the Home of Handball YouTube channel.
Photos © Aniko Kovacs
