Exciting EHF European Cup Men quarter-finals await

This weekend’s action starts on Saturday at 18:00 CET, as AEK Athens HC and RK Partizan AdmiralBet meet in Greece, while Haukar and HC Izvidac play their first leg in Iceland.

Two more matches take place on Sunday at 17:00 CET, when CS Minaur Baia Mare face HC Alkaloid in Romania and Olympiacos SFP take on Runar Sandefjord in Greece.

• AEK Athens HC have won 28 consecutive competitive matches; their last defeat came in the previous season, in the title-decider against Olympiacos SFP in June 2024; RK Partizan have narrowly lost the first leg and won the second leg by 10 goals in the Last 16 of the EHF European Cup
• top scorer of the competition is Diano Cesko of HC Izvidac, who will face Haukar in the quarter-finals; the 20-year-old left back has netted 52 goals, with only four of them coming from the penalty line; Haukar comfortably beat their previous opponents by double-digits on aggregate; they have to play against last season’s winners Valur next week in the domestic league in between their EHF European Cup ties
• HC Alkaloid have impressed in previous rounds with their offensive output, but they need to replicate their performance against their toughest opponents yet; Kiril Lazarov’s side face last season’s semi-finalists CS Minaur Baia Mare; Romanian left back Tudor Botea is the sixth-best scorer in the competition with 41 goals and can climb to second place if he scores eight goals or more, with four of the top five scorers not being active in the competition anymore
• Runar Sandefjord face another tough task, this time against last season’s runners-up Olympiacos SFP, after taking on former EHF Champions League sides Besiktas and RK Celje in the previous rounds; they lost their last match in the domestic league by nine goals against Fjellhammer, who are among the three teams at the bottom of the standings; Olympiacos SFP have won two of their last three matches comfortably, but suffered a defeat against domestic rivals AEK Athens HC three weeks ago

Greek top duo awaits tough tasks

Greece is the only country to be represented by more than one team in the EHF European Cup Men quarter-finals this season. Greece’s top duo AEK Athens HC and Olympiacos SFP are dominating in the domestic league, with the former taking 20 wins from 20 games and Olympiacos suffering only two defeats, both against AEK Athens HC.

In the previous season, both teams were in different European competitions — while Olympiacos went to the EHF European Cup final, AEK Athens had to end their international journey after the EHF European League group matches.

Will both prevail in the quarter-finals?

Photos © Haukar (main), Filip Viranovski (in-text)