EHF Champions League

Breaking records and opening new doors

Chris O'Reilly

20 August 2019, 17:50

Breaking records and opening new doors

Last week in the VELUX EHF Champions League featured most sides in serious pre-season action, with some of this seasons favourites going head to head, while a pair of emerging clubs had reason to celebrate with a new arena and a record broken.

Finnish side Cocks can look forward to their second adventure in the top flight with a new home. Cocks Arena in Riihimäki had its grand opening over the weekend, welcoming IFK Kristianstad for a double-header. Ljubomir Vranjes' side had the upper hand in both games, but that did not dampen the spirits of the hosts on their new court.

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We had an amazing day at the Grand Opening of Cocks Arena More photos will follow, but first ones from the match @ifk1899 The swedes had an upper hand today, let's see how it turns out tomorrow End result 21-27, scorers: Elis Memic 2 @elismemic Teemu Tamminen 4 @temeartem87 Yury Lukyanchuk 5 Bojan Zupanjac 2 @bojanzupanjac Yury Semenov 4 @semik__55 Davor Basaric 3 @davor_basaric Evgeny Semenov 1 @evgeniy.semenov.86 Kristianstad scorers: Hansson 4 Nyfjäll 2 Henningsson 3 Mårtensson 3 Canellas 1 Nilsson 2 Freiman 1 Ehn 1 Einarsson 4 Jurmala 1 Chrintz 5 Photos: @sanna.mmaariaa #handball #handboll #rukomet #balonmano #mizunofinland #macronfinland #forzacocks #newseason #preseason #friendlymatch

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Aug 17, 2019 at 12:22pm PDT

With victories over Barca and most recently PSG, THW Kiel look in top form ahead of their return to Europe's premier club competition. The perfect start to life as head coach for Filip Jicha.

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A tough fight, a fantastic atmosphere and two great teams: This rehearsal at the REWE Cup was a delicious foretaste for this year’s @ehfcl ! Get your ticket now: thw-handball.de/tickets #wirsindkiel #nurmiteuch #weissewand #REWEcup Enjoy the by @saschaklahn

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Aug 15, 2019 at 9:49am PDT

Over the weekend, Elverum launched ticket sales for their Round 3 match against PSG at the 11,500 capacity Håkons Hall in Lillehammer on 28 September. Their dream to break the record attendance for an indoor sport record (11,300) is very much alive as they have already sold 8,800 tickets, breaking their previous record for a match.

Endelig!
I kveld slippes billettene!
Kjenner du noen som er klar for tidenes kamp på norsk jord?#sammenforelverum pic.twitter.com/dEjqXYoQuM
— ElverumHandball (@ElverumHandball) August 18, 2019

Reigning champions HC Vardar continued their pre-season preparaton with a 31:24 win over ambitious side AEK Athens. But it is not all plain sailing for the Skopje club as news emerged of new right back Jose Toledo undergoing knee surgery, which will see him out of action for the next three months.

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Вардар го победи АЕК со 31-24 во пријателски натпревар @scjanesandanski #vardarrules #ЕденЖивотЕднаЉубов

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Aug 20, 2019 at 4:57am PDT

Last season's beaten finalists Veszprém were able to show off some of their impressive new signings as they made a trip to Slovenia to take on old friends Celje.

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Képek a Celje elleni mérkőzésről. Photos of our game against Celje. #RedUnited

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Aug 18, 2019 at 3:57am PDT

The EHF Champions League social media channels are counting down the top transfers of the summer. While all players featured will be a big boost for their clubs, Luka Cindric's move to Barca makes one fan think the next four years could have a very Blaugrana look to them.