Teams know last hurdles on road to EHF European Cup Men final

European Handball Federation

24 February 2026, 11:20

Two days after the completion of the Last 16, the remaining participants in the EHF European Cup Men 2025/26 know their route to the trophy. The eight teams learned their upcoming opponents for the quarter- and potential semi-finals of the competition on Tuesday during a draw ceremony at EHF's European Handball House in Vienna.

Hungarian side MOL Tatabanya KC, who reached the EHF European League Men main round last season, start at home against Nilüfer BSK, the Turkish side that enter their first ever European quarter-final after earning the smallest aggregate win in the Last 16, having beaten SKKP Handball Brno 58:57.

The only team in the quarter-finals that have won a European trophy in the past, 2004 EHF Champions League winners RK Celje Pivovarna Laško, aim for their first semi-final since reaching that stage in the Cup Winners' Cup 2011/12 when they take on Romanian debutants ACS HC Buzau 2012.

Last season's semi-finalists HC Izvidac from Bosnia and Herzegovina hope to return to the last four of the competition but need to get past HCB Karvina, the Czech side that competed in the EHF European League last season and have appeared in four previous quarter-finals in European club competitions before, most recently in the EHF European Cup Men 2022/23.

Also, the two teams that both celebrated massive 15-goal aggregate wins in the Last 16 now meet each other in the quarter-finals: Olympiacos SFP, the 2024 runners-up and 2025 quarter-finalists from Greece, host Macedonian side GRK Ohrid, who are enjoying their best European season in the club's history.

First leg of quarter-finals scheduled for 28/29 March

As for the semi-finals, the aggregate winners of the duels between Celje and Buzau are set to meet either Olympiacos or Ohrid, while the overall winners of the pairing involving Izvidac and Karvina will take on either Tatabanya or Nilüfer.

The first leg of the quarter-finals is scheduled for 28/29 March, followed by the return leg a week later on 4/5 April. The semi-finals take place in late April and early May.