Most Last 16 ties still wide open in EHF European Cup Men

Olympiacos SFP and GRK Ohrid claimed commanding nine-goal wins in the first leg, but almost all other ties head into the second leg with the teams separated by just two or three goals.

Action already starts on Friday in Slovenia, where HC Izvidac from Bosnia Herzegovina meet hosts RK Trimo Trebnje at 19:00 CET after winning the first leg 31:28 last Sunday. Izvidac were in control for 60 minutes last week, but could not create a bigger gap, which leaves the door open for the Slovenian side to force a comeback.

• an exciting clash awaits in Norway, as hosts Runar Sandefjord face Hungarian side MOL Tatabanya KC after losing by two goals (35:33) last weekend; in a tale of two halves, Runar enjoyed a 19:15 lead after 30 minutes, but Tatabanya turned the match around, outscoring their opponents 20:14 in the second half; while the Hungarians had a week off in the domestic league, Runar beat Halden 33:30 to secure third place in the Norwegian Eliteserien
• the Czech duo of SKKP Handball Brno and HCB Karvina enter the second leg with small advantages; Brno travel to Türkiye to face Nilüfer BSK this Sunday after winning the first leg 29:26 at home; Karvina face Balatonfüredi KSE in Hungary on Saturday, after taking a two-goal lead (30:28) last Saturday
• RK Celje Pivovarna Laško remain undefeated in European club competitions against Besiktas JK, thanks to their 39:34 first leg win; the side from Türkiye has to stop the goal-scoring trio of Uroš Milićević, Aljuš Anžic, and Mai Marguc on Saturday, after they combined for 23 goals last weekend; Besiktas also committed double the number of technical faults as Celje (14:7) in the first leg
• EHF European Cup finalists from 2024, Olympiacos SFP enjoy a nine-goal advantage over BK-46, as the Greek side travel to Finland this Saturday; left back Savvas Savvas especially impressed in the first leg, being involved in 19 goals (12 goals and 7 assists)
• GRK Ohrid are the other team who won their first leg by nine goals (30:21); on Saturday, HC Dukla Praha waits for the return leg in Czechia; Ohrid beat HC Butel Skopje on Wednesday in the North Macedonian league by 33:28 to climb to second place; Praha enjoyed a week off in the Czech league
• RK Konjuh Zivinice and ACS HC Buzau 2012 delivered a spectacular match with many scoring runs on both sides last weekend; the hosts from Bosnia Herzegovina came out on top and travel to Romania with a narrow two-goal advantage (28:26); the Romanian side underperformed their previous goal tally massively (41.25 goals per match), scoring fewer than 36 goals for the first time in this EHF European Cup campaign

Historic weekend for Bosnia Herzegovina on the cards

Bosnia Herzegovina are represented by two teams in the Last 16. This means history is on the cards this weekend, as the country has never had more than one team reach the quarter-finals of the EHF European Cup or its predecessors in a single season.

Hopes only got higher after last weekend’s results, as both HC Izvidac and RK Konjuh Zivinice were successful in their first legs against RK Trimo Trebnje (31:28) and ACS HC Buzau 2012 (28:26), respectively. 

Photos © GRK Ohrid (main); HC Izvidac (in-text)