Kosorotov secures Plock’s first position

GROUP A: 

Füchse Berlin (GER) vs. POL Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) 29:30 (15:16)  

• in the first half, the lead changed four times, and the biggest gap was two goals twice, both times in favour of Plock 
• nothing changed after the break: after the 21:21, Berlin were never ahead, but always were one goal down, then equalised - except for the 25:27, when they scored twice to level the result 
• the last minute was a pure thrill: 40 seconds before the end, Hans Lindberg scored Berlin’s next equalizer for the 29:29, three seconds before the end, Mark Sergej Kosorotov brought Plock ahead for the 17th time in the match 
• after a Füchse team time-out, Dane Lasse Andersson missed the last chance of the hosts with the final buzzer - and Plock had secured the group victory 
• after a two-match absence due to a Covid infection, Füchse coach Jaron Siewert was back on the bench for the crucial duel; previously, he was replaced by manager Bob Hanning, as the assistant coach Maximilian Rinderle was also infected 

Berlin miss seventh group victory 

Since the group phase in the second-tier competition in EHF Men’s club competitions was implemented in the 2012/13 season, Füchse Berlin had always become winners of their respective groups when they were part of the EHF Cup or European League - until tonight. In the 2012/13 season, they failed to qualify for international competition, in the 2015/16 season, they failed, as defending champions, in the last qualification round against French side Chambery. In all six remaining seasons since 2013/14, they finished on top of their group - and even more, in all those seasons, they made it to the final tournament of the competitions, winning the EHF Cup in 2015 and 2018. Even in the season 2019/20, they were on top of their group before the competition was cancelled due to Covid.