Kolstad and Aalborg meet in the MOTW; Barça aim to stay undefeated

GROUP A

Paris Saint-Germain Handball (FRA) vs Sporting CP (POR)
Wednesday 30 October, 20:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• last week, after a series of five undefeated matches, Sporting lost 29:33 at Bucharest to be third-ranked at the moment
• Paris and Veszprém grabbed the chance to pass the Portuguese champions in the table: PSG took a spectacular 40:38 goal galore win at Berlin, their fifth in six group matches
• both sides lock horns in an official match for the first time ever
• five players of PSG and Sporting are listed among the 15 top scorers of the competition, topped by Kamil Syprzak (PSG/47); his teammate Elohiom Prandi is on 37 strikes, ahead of the Sporting trio Martim Costa (36), Orri Freyr Þorkelsson (30) and Francisco Costa (29)
• both sides top their domestic league with an unbeaten record: Paris won 34:30 at Istres last weekend, their eighth victory in the same number of matches, while Sporting won 42:23 against Nazare

Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) vs Veszprém HC (HUN)
Wednesday 30 October, 20:45 CEsT, live on EHFTV

• Xavier Sabate can cause a major surprise against his former club Veszprém, as his side Orlen Wisla has lost five out of six matches by now, including last week’s 28:25 at Fredericia
• Veszprém took the lead in group A last week with their fifth win (30:23 at Eurofarm Pelister), also thanks to Sporting’s defeat in Bucharest; the Hungarian record champions are equal leaders with Paris
• since the 39:30 defeat in Lisbon, Veszprém have won the following three matches — and now even added a spectacular transfer to their roster: Aron Pálmarsson will return from his home club Hafnarfjordur in Iceland
• Plock’s only victory by now was a 26:18 against Eurofarm Pelister; still, the Polish champions have the best defence, with only 157 goals conceded
• Nedim Remili (Veszprém) is currently the third-best scorer of the competition with 41 goals; the best Plock shooter is Michal Daszek (29)
• in 12 previous duels, Veszprém were victorious eight times, Plock only twice, and last season the Polish side managed to gain the biggest win ever with a 37:30
• both sides have a clean record in their domestic leagues, with eight wins in the same number of matches for Plock (last weekend 33:22 against Opole) and seven from seven for Veszprém (34:26 against PLER last weekend)

Fredericia Håndbold Klub (DEN) vs HC Eurofarm Pelister (MKD)
Thursday 31 October, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• Fredericia are on cloud nine after their very first win in an international match; the 28:25 last week against Plock was a milestone for the EHF Champions League debutants
• the trio of William Andersson Moberg, Kasper Andersen and Reinier Taboada Dranquet combined for 21 of 28 goals for the Danish runners-up
• Eurofarm Pelister are still the only team without a victory in this group phase — their only point by now was the 24:24 against Sporting in round 4; overall, they have been waiting for a win in the last 24 matches in the EHF Champions League
• after coach Branislav Angelovski stepped down, Zvonko Shundovski is Bitola’s interim coach until Eurofarm Pelister will present an official successor
• with 209 conceded goals, Fredericia have the weakest defence of all 16 clubs, while Eurofarm Pelister have the weakest attack after only scoring 141 goals so far
• Bitola’s team captain Filip Kuzmanovski is the fifth-best scorer of the competition with 38 goals; the best Fredericia shooter is William Andersson Moberg with 26 strikes
• Eurofarm Pelister won their latest match in the Macedonian league 45:23 against Radovis, while Fredericia will host Grindsted on Monday night

Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) vs Füchse Berlin (GER)
Thursday 31 October, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• both sides were part of the EHF Finals 2024 in Hamburg; Füchse finished second, Dinamo fourth — after they had locked horns in the main round, with Berlin winning both matches; the overall balance is three wins from four matches for the German runners-up
• Bucharest ended Sporting’s series of success last week and are fourth-ranked on eight points: two points and one position ahead of Füchse, who unluckily lost 40:38 against Paris
• Dinamo took six of their eight points on home ground, while Füchse only lost one of their three away matches
• Berlin’s IHF World Player Mathias Gidsel was back on track last week after missing the match at Sporting and scored ten goals against PSG to be the fourth-best scorer of the competition with 39 strikes; Dinamo’s best striker is the Icelandic new arrival Haukur Thrastarson with 26 goals
• both sides won their domestic matches last weekend: Berlin took a 38:24 against Bietigheim, Dinamo beat Fagaras 40:29

GROUP B

OTP Bank - PICK Szeged (HUN) vs Industria Kielce (POL)
Wednesday 30 October, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• both team are level in fourth place with six points
• in round 6, Szeged were defeated on home court by Kolstad (29:27), despite Imanol Garciandia and Mario Sostaric scoring nine each
• Kielce also suffered a home defeat last week, against Aalborg (35:28), with Jorge Maqueda and Arkadiusz Moryto netting five times each for the Polish side
• Szeged’s Mario Sostaric is currently the competition’s second-best scorer, with 42 goals, 16 more than Kielce’s Arkadiusz Moryto
• the two teams played 14 times against each other in European competitions: Kielce won 10 of them, Szeged took three and one ended in a draw
• Szeged bounced back in the Hungarian league by beating Györ (38:29), while Kielce won in Wroclaw (35:18) on Sunday

MOTW: Kolstad Handbold (NOR) vs Aalborg Handbold (DEN)
Wednesday 30 October, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• while Aalborg are currently third in the group with seven points, Kolstad are three positions behind, with four points
• in round 6, Aalborg were able to count on a stellar performance by Thomas Arnoldsen (nine goals) to take the points in Kielce (35:28)
• Torbjørn Bergerud shone in Kolstad’s win in Szeged (29:27), his 14 saves helping the Norwegian side take its second victory of the season
• two Aalborg Norwegian national players will be making their comeback to Norway on Wednesday: Kristian Bjørnsen and Sebastian Barthold
• the two sides already faced each other in the group phase last season, with Aalborg winning both confrontations
• last Sunday, Kolstad won against Follo (33:26), while Aalborg drew against Skjern in the Danish league on Saturday (29:29)

SC Magdeburg (GER) vs HC Zagreb (CRO)
Wednesday 30 October, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• both teams are currently at the bottom of the standings, Magdeburg being seventh with three points and Zagreb eighth with one point less
• last week, Magdeburg suffered their third straight defeat in the EHF Champions League in Barcelona (32:26)
• Zagreb are currently on a four-defeat streak, including the last one against Nantes (32:29)
• both teams have taken the exact same amount of goals over the first six rounds, 180, but SCM have scored so far eight more goals than Zagreb (175 against 167)
• Magdeburg and Zagreb have only played twice against each other in European competitions, with SCM winning both confrontations
• Magdeburg took the points last Sunday in the Bundesliga in Stuttgart (36:25), Zagreb remain undefeated in the Croatian league after their win in Osijek (31:22)

HBC Nantes (FRA) vs Barça (ESP)
Thursday 31 October, 20:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• after six rounds, Nantes are second in the group with eight points, while Barça are the only team in the competition with a maximum of twelve points
• last week, Nantes beat Zagreb (32:29), with Julien Bos scoring seven goals and delivering a great performance
• Barça won their sixth game in as many rounds last week against SC Magdeburg (32:26), with Aleix Gómez scoring eight
• Nantes only won one of the nine games the two teams played against each other, back in 2017 (29:25)
• last weekend, Nantes beat Creteil (38:31), while Barça defeated Gualadajara (49:33)

Photos © Henrik Hansen (main), Heiko Voigt / Foto Lächler & Marc Graupera (in-text)