Biggest EHF European Cup Men round awaits

• Brixen took a commanding 40:33 win over H71, with left back Paulo Vinicius and line player Andrea Basen contributing 10 goals each, before the teams meet again for the decisive leg on Saturday
• CSM Bucuresti and Runar Sandefjord meet in a double-header on Sunday and Monday
• VIF (against Handball Westwien) and RK Sloboda (against Pfadi Winterthur) play host to double-headers in the Faroe Islands and Bosnia and Herzegovina, respectively
• last season's Machineseeker EHF Champions League participants and 2004 winners, Celje enter the competition in their duel against RK Gracanica
• six teams played in the EHF European League last season: RK Alkaloid, AEK Athens, Pfadi Winterthur, MSK Povazska Bystrica, HC Lovcen-Cetinje, and HC Izvidac
• opponents VHC Sviesa and Mistra both featured in the Baltic Handball League, last season. Lithuanian side VHC Sviesa won three of their four duels including two wins in the quarter-finals of the play-offs, and now host Mistra in the European Cup
• ZRHK TENAX Dobele and RK Leotar Trebinje met in round 2 last season, with Leotar winning 54:48 on aggregate. The Bosnian side host the double-header starting on Friday

Runners-up Olympiacos SFP return after drama in last season’s final

With 10 seconds left in the return leg of Olympiacos SFP’s first European final in May, it seemed like a party was about to happen, with the Greek side having turned a four-goal deficit around in front of 7,500 frenetic spectators. Yet, Magnús Óli Magnússon had other plans, sending the final into a penalty shootout, which Valur won 5:4.

At first, this defeat hurt. However, after a few days, Olympiacos looked back proudly on the season of the Greek champions. Savvas Savvas (81 goals) and Ivan Slišković (56 goals) ranked first and fifth in the top-scorer list last season.

If the club were able to reproduce this, it would be possible for the sports director’s goal to become a reality. They start their campaign on Saturday 19 October at 17:00 CEST as they host HC Fivers WAT Margareten.

“My big vision for the next few years is for Olympiacos to have won a European title,” said Grigoris Sanikis after the previous season.

Photos © CSM Bucuresti, Vmar Photography