Three of last season’s four semi-finalists in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League will return to the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4, as SC Magdeburg, Füchse Berlin, FC Barcelona and Aalborg Handbold are still in the hunt for the trophy.

The reigning champions of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, FC Barcelona made it to the EHF FINAL4 for the 14th time in 17 seasons, since the current format of the competition has been introduced, and for the eighth time in a row, after winning both matches against HBC Nantes in the quarter-finals.

Barcelona took the first leg, in Nantes, with a 32:30 win, as right wing Aleix Gomez scored nine goals, with another clear win in the second leg, 31:21, as Gomez really proved to be in a superb run of form, with 10 goals.

The Spanish side will hope to win their 12th title in the competition and their fourth in the last six years, but Barcelona will likely find tough opponents around the board, with two German sides, the last season’s finalists, also making the cut to Cologne.

Reigning champions SC Magdeburg had no issues against Hungarian side OTP Bank – Pick Szeged, with two convincing wins. Gisli Kristjánsson and Albin Lagergren each scored seven goals in the 35:28 away win in the first leg, while the second match provided an attacking clinic from Magdeburg, which took another 45:37 win, in a flurry of fast breaks converted by Daniel Pettersson (seven goals) and Omar Ingi Magnússon (eight goals).

Sporting CP had a monster in right back Francisco Costa, the 2025 IHF Young Male Player of the Year, in their doubleheader against Aalborg Handbold, and the doubleheader was decided by the smallest of margins.

Aiming for their maiden appearance in the EHF FINAL4, Sporting had 25 goals from Costa – 12 in the first leg and 13 in the second leg – plus 13 from his brother, left back Martim Costa, to push the match into the dying seconds.

After a 31:31 draw in the first leg, Aalborg relied on left back Thomas Arnoldsen, who scored 10 goals in the second leg, to win, 37:36, and make it to the EHF FINAL4, as they led by three goals throughout the dying moments on the second leg.

However, the highest drama came between Veszprém HC and Füchse Berlin, with the deciding goal scored by the 2023, 2024 and 2025 IHF Male World Player of the Year, Mathias Gidsel.

In the first leg, Veszprém won, 35:34, but Füchse led throughout the second match until their opponents came back and cut the lead back to a single goal, 31:30, after 60 minutes, with the match going to penalties.

Hugo Descat and Nedim Remili missed two penalties for Veszprém, while Füchse only missed one and Gidsel scored his 11th goal, to gift his team a 4:3 win on penalties and the second consecutive ticket for the EHF FINAL4.

Gidsel also broke the record for the largest number of goals scored in a single season in the EHF Champions League, with 144, having eight goals more than Kiko Costa and 24 more than PSG’s Elohim Prandi.

In three seasons in the EHF Champions League Men, Gidsel has scored 304 goals.

The semi-finals of this season’s Champions League will be decided by a draw on Tuesday, 12 May, at 12:00 CEST, with the matches being played on 13 and 14 June in the LANXESS Arena in Cologne.

Machineseeker EHF Champions League– quarter-finals

OTP Bank – PICK Szeged (HUN) vs SC Magdeburg (GER) 65:80 on aggregate (28:35; 37:45)
Sporting Clube de Portugal  (POR) vs Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) 67:68 on aggregate (31:31; 36:37)
HBC Nantes (FRA) vs FC Barcelona (ESP) 51:63 on aggregate (30:32; 21:31)
One Veszprém HC (HUN) vs Füchse Berlin (GER) 65:66 on aggregate (35:34; 30:31, 3:4 on penalties)

Photo credit: Füchse Berlin