FC Barcelona have returned to the final of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship after a two-year hiatus, with a dominating 26:21 win over Al-Ahly in the second semi-final.

The Spanish side, the most decorated team in the history of the competition, will face Veszprém HC in the last act on Thursday.

SEMI-FINAL
FC Barcelona (ESP) vs Al-Ahly (EGY) 26:21 (14:8)

Barcelona’s dash to beat Zamalek SC by 22 goals or more in the last match preliminary round paid dividends, after the Spanish side drew the long straw in the semi-finals pairings, facing Al-Ahly for a place in the final at the 2025 IHF Men’s Club World Championship.

The Spanish side used a run-and-gun, all-in approach in that match to improve their goal difference and leapfrog SC Magdeburg, avoiding an European opponent in the semi-finals, but Al-Ahly had previously won against the Spanish powerhouse in the bronze medal match in 2024, therefore this semi-final was never going to be a walk in the park for Barcelona.

But unlike their usual fast-paced style, Barcelona deployed an efficient defence, which saw Al-Ahly fail to score for big chunks of the first half, with a five minutes and 49 seconds stint, followed by a 10 minutes and 13 seconds one.

That enabled Barcelona to run riot in attack, helping the Spanish side use a 3:0 run, backed up by another 4:0 run to open a six-goal lead at the break, 14:8, with French backs Dika Mem and Timothey N'Guessan combining for nine of the team’s 14 goals, outscoring Al-Ahly.

And that gap was created despite goalkeeper Mohamed Ibrahim, who finished the first half with eight saves for Al-Ahly and a 40% saving efficiency, carefully preventing a bigger gap for Barcelona, which thoroughly dominated against the Egyptian side.

For starters, Al-Ahly’s attack failed to bring the goods, missing too many shots and making too many easy mistakes, with seven turnovers in the first half, and 14 shots missed, as backs Stanislav Kasparek and Mohamed Hesham each missed three shots.

With a strong Barcelona in attack, which managed to carefully rotate the players in order to offer them more rest, the Spanish champions improved their lead in the second half to seven goals, 21:14, after 46 minutes, Al-Ahly still failing to properly find good avenues for scoring, with an attacking efficiency of under 50%.

Despite trying their mightiest to mount a comeback, Ahly were victims of their own mistakes in attack, as they could only cut the gap to five goals, 25:20, with three minutes left, but it was too little, too late, as Barcelona sealed a 26:21 win after a match they never felt uncomfortable in.

FC Barcelona have now qualified for the final of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship for the eighth time in 11 appearances, winning five of the seven finals played so far.

There, they will face Veszprém HC, in a rematch of last edition’s semi-final, when the Hungarian side beat Barcelona, 39:34, in overtime. 

Al-Ahly are due to face SC Magdeburg on Thursday in the bronze medal match, aiming to keep their place on the podium from the previous edition.

Player of the Match: Timothey N'Guessan (FC Barcelona)