Title holders under pressure with semi-finals to be booked

EHF / Courtney Gahan

04 May 2026, 13:00

The line-up for the Winamax EHF Finals 2026 will be confirmed when the second-leg quarter-finals of the EHF European League Men 2025/26 take place on Tuesday.

Three of the four home sides from the first leg travel to their opponents’ home court with an advantage to protect, while one tie will be decided entirely based on the second-leg result following a draw in the first encounter.

Defending title holders SG Flensburg-Handewitt are the only team not to have a lead after playing in their own arena, as Recken - TSV Hannover-Burgdorf kept the back-to-back EHF European League title winners to a 39:39 draw.

The clearest lead in the aggregate encounters belongs to 2024/25 finalists Montpellier Handball, who beat HC Vardar 1961 33:23 in the first leg. MT Melsungen have the next biggest advantage, having beaten FC Porto 28:23.

RK Nexe brought THW Kiel’s winning run through the EHF European League Men 2025/26 season to an end and take a three-goal lead to Germany for the reverse leg.

QUARTER-FINALS, SECOND LEG

Recken - TSV Hannover-Burgdorf (GER) vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER)

Tuesday 5 May, 18:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
First leg result: 39:39

the only second leg that will begin truly from 0:0, following a draw in the opening game on Wednesday night; Hannover had the edge, always scoring first, through the last 18 minutes of the tight contest
wing August Pedersen scored 11 goals from 11 shots for Hannover in the first leg, while Flensburg back Simon Pytlick and wing Emil Jakobsen each netted eight; goalkeeper Joel Birlehm also stood out with 13 saves for Hannover
six goals in the first leg took Flensburg’s 22-year-old centre back Marko Grgić up to joint-second on the season’s scoring chart, on a total of 74; his teammate and captain Johannes Golla is close behind, on 71
Hannover are chasing their first international semi-final ever, in what is their third European cup season and second quarter-final after the EHF Cup 2018/19; Flensburg aim to defend their title for the second year running, after raising the EHF European League trophy in the previous two seasons
in 2025/26, the sides have now met three times, with Flensburg winning both Bundesliga games prior to the first-leg EHF European League quarter-final
Hannover are missing back Marian Michalczik, who is out for the rest of the season following a surgery on a broken foot suffered in training in April

On Tuesday we will play our second match against Flensburg. We know that we must play at the same level that we played there. The key of the match will be our defence and the control of the game in attack. Any detail will be important. Playing at home must give us that extra power that we need after many matches in a row.

Justus Fischer

Line player, Recken - TSV Hannover-Burgdorf

Our plan is simple - we have to put Montpellier under pressure and wait for our moments. When they come, we need to take them and push them out of their comfort zone. Nothing is easy anymore, no team will give up. Even if we lead by 15 goals, Montpellier won’t quit. We have to try to play a perfect match, and both we as a team and the whole arena need to believe for all 60 minutes.

Ivan Cupic

Head coach, RK Vardar 1961

Aside from our many injured key players, I'm really looking forward to seeing Nexe again. I'm incredibly excited to compete against them with our fans behind us. We want to use our emotions in our arena to get our fans involved and create another magical Kiel night. That's our goal.

Filip Jicha

Head coach, THW Kiel

We're going into the game with a five-goal lead. That's a decent cushion, but no guarantee. There are still 60 minutes until we can potentially qualify for the final four. Only those who approach this game with respect, concentration, and intensity have a chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Roberto Garcia Parrondo

Head coach, MT Melsungen