Crazy endings in Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina

• club from the Greek city of Drama had to deliver some drama. Bianco Monte Drama won the first leg against GRK Tikves 31:27, both teams were neck and neck in the return leg until Tikves pulled away by four goals after 46 minutes. In an intense battle Drama drew level in the last minute again (26:26) to advance to round 2 by four goals (53:57)
• RK Porec used their home advantage in the double-header against Spor Toto SK, winning 32:26 and 29:26. This ends the streak of the Turkish side, who always progressed one round further than in the previous season in their last three participations
• despite losing the second leg 30:29 to Black Devils Meran, former Challenge Cup winners Diomidis Argous comfortably reached round 2 after winning the first leg of their double-header in Greece 35:24
• CSM Bucuresti (36:24 against Viljandi HC) and Drammen HK (38:27 against Pallamano Conversano) made round 1 look easy, beating their opponents twice by double-digits
• HC Amber fought hard to end their EHF European Cup journey with a victory in Austria, yet two late goals by the home side resulted in a 22:22 draw against Margareten, Oleksii Novikov had 19 saves in the return leg and 30 saves in both games (most in round 1), Leon Bergmann saved 5 of the 10 penalty-shots he faced in round 1 – most of any goalkeeper, the Austrian side won 57:49 on aggregate
• Raimond Sassari left wing Giovanni Nardin was the top-scorer of round 1 with 25 goals

RK Leotar lost the first leg against Köycegiz BLD SK in Türkiye by four goals. After a close first half (15:14), Leotar started the second half with a 4:0 run raising their hopes of a comeback. Despite leading 31:24 after 50 minutes, a hectic ending developed as the visitors closed the gap with a 3:0 run of their own. Zeljko Sukic hit the decider with 28 seconds to go (33:28) to hand his team a 66:65 win on aggregate. RK Leotar will face ZRHK TENAX Dobele from Latvia in round 2.

After delivering a thrilling 30:29 win in Kosovo last week, KH Kastrioti traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina to meet RK Sloboda for the return leg. The home side had the better start, leading 6:3 after 10 minutes and 13:9 after 22 minutes. However, KH Kastrioti came back before half-time. Thanks to an incredible 6:0 run, the visitors took the lead after 30 minutes (13:15). RK Sloboda opened the second half with a 4:1 run, taking the lead in the process. In a close second half, the home side proved to be slightly better this week. Three consecutive goals gave RK Sloboda a 25:22 lead with 10 minutes to play. KH Kastrioti were not able to close this gap again. The 32:28 home win means a 61:58 on aggregate for RK Sloboda, who will face Pfadi Winterthur in round 2.

Sassari score two goals in the last seconds to beat Dudelange by one goal

Raimond Sassari and HB Dudelange combined for 149 goals over their double-header this weekend. Both matches were played in Sassari, Italy. After 120 minutes, only one goal separated the two sides, with the home side winning 75:74 on aggregate. It is fair to say that the home advantage helped Raimond Sassari in various moments throughout both games. Everything seemed fine for the home side in the second leg, but the fans in Italy saw their team’s five-goal lead after 42 minutes (27:22) being erased after 53 minutes. The visitors from Luxembourg even took the lead and control of their destiny one minute later. A thrilling match was decided by a crazy last minute. Two turnovers from Dudelange resulted in two goals for Sassari, with eight seconds and zero seconds left on the clock. 39:38. Incredible.