German trio and Dinamo in Hamburg trophy showdown

EHF / Björn Pazen

22 May 2024, 11:00

While SG Flensburg-Handewitt did not qualify when they hosted 12 months ago, this time around, the EHF Finals Men will take place on completely neutral ground as Barclays Arena, Hamburg - one of the Men’s EHF EURO 2024 venues - will host the finals of the European League Men this weekend. The three German sides Füchse Berlin (defending champions), Rhein-Neckar Löwen (EHF Cup winners in 2013), SG Flensburg-Handewitt (EHF Champions League winners in 2014) and EHF Finals debutant Dinamo Bucuresti will fight for the trophy.

EHF FINALS MEN 2024, SEMI-FINALS

SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) vs Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU)

Saturday 25 May, 15:00 CEST, live on EHFTV

The only time both sides faced each other before was in the 2021/22 group phase of the EHF Champions League – Flensburg won both matches (28:20 and 37:30).
Flensburg are the only main round group winners which made it to Hamburg – and had all but booked their ticket after the first quarter-final leg by winning 41:30 at IK Sävehof. Bucuresti are the only EHF Finals participant which won all four knock-out matches – all of them against Danish teams. First, the Romanian champions beat Bjerringbro-Silkeborg in the play-offs (37:34 and 27:24), followed by two quarter-final wins against Skjern (28:27 and 38:34).
On average, Flensburg have scored 37.33 goals in every EHF European League match. Five times in 12 matches they scored 40 or more goals, topped by the 45:26 against Bjerringbro in the main round. But Bucuresti can also count on their attack; Dinamo scored the highest number of goals in a single 2023/24 European League match, when beating Izvidac 52:24.
Flensburg are the only club in EHF history which has won four different European cup competitions – the City Cup in 1999, the Cup winners Cup in 2001 and 2012, the EHF Cup in 1997 and the EHF Champions League in 2014. They now aim for a fifth different trophy.
Last season, when Flensburg hosted the EHF finals, they missed the final tournament after a 27:35 home defeat against Granollers, now they have their debut in this competition format at this level. On the other side, it is the first semi-final in the second-tier EHF club competition for 20 years for Dinamo; in 2004, they lost the two-legged semi-finals of the old EHF Cup format against Altea from Spain. After Constanta in 2014, Dinamo are the second Romanian team to reach the EHF Finals.
Dinamo’s Ukrainian Andrii Akimenko is currently the second highest scorer in the EHF European League with 83 goals.
With 153 saves (24 of them in the quarter-finals), Bucharest’s Vladimir Cupara is at number one in the goalkeeper rankings.
In domestic competitions, Dinamo defended their title in the Romanian league and became Romanian cup winners last weekend, beating Constanta 23:19 in the final. Flensburg lost their last Bundesliga match at Eisenach 27:28 and missed the chance to qualify for the next EHF Champions League season, remaining in third place.
Dinamo’s coach Xavi Pascual knows Flensburg well, as he lost the 2014 semi-final of the EHF FINAL4 as Barcelona coach after a penalty shoot-out.

Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER) vs. Füchse Berlin (GER)

Saturday 25 May, 15:00 CEST, live on EHFTV

This semi-final match-up was also staged at the EHF Finals 2021, when Berlin beat the hosts in Mannheim 35:32, but lost the final against Magdeburg. Including domestic competitions, Berlin won the last seven matches against Löwen.
In the quarter-finals, Berlin tied at home against Nantes (33:33), but then became the first team to win there (37:30), while Löwen beat Füchse's main round conqueror Sporting CP on aggregate in the quarter-finals (32:29, 28:29).
Berlin’s overall EHF European League season balance is 12 victories in 14 matches. As Löwen began in qualification, they have already played 16 matches, winning 13 of them.
Füchse Berlin will play in their eighth EHF finals tournament since 2014, winning trophies in 2015, 2018 (EHF Cup) and 2023 (EHF European League). They also played in the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne in 2012. Löwen took the trophy at the first ever EHF Finals in 2013 at Nantes (winning the final against the hosts), followed by a third place finish at the 2021 EHF Finals at their home area.
Niklas Kirkeløkke (80 goals since the start of the group phase, including 14 in the quarter-finals) is the current top scorer of the EHF European League season, while IHF Player of the Year Mathias Gidsel is currently Berlin’s EHF European League top scorer with 69 goals.
Fabian Wiede (MVP of the EHF Finals 2023) and Paul Drux have been part of all Füchse's titles, including the two trophies at the IHF Super Globe 2015 and 2016. Their teammate Hans Lindberg has won the EHF Champions League (with Hamburg), the EHF Cup and the EHF European League (both with Berlin), was an EHF Champions League and EHF Cup top scorer – and will leave Berlin after this season to return to Denmark.
Goalkeeper David Späth was Löwen’s hero in the quarter-finals, saving a total of 31 shots against Sporting – and the U21 world champion has the highest saving percentage of all European League goalkeeper (37.39 per cent).
In the German Bundesliga, Berlin have secured at least second place (currently below SC Magdeburg) after beating Hannover-Burgdorf 28:25 last weekend; Löwen lost 26:31 at Gummersbach and currently rank eleventh.