MOTW features recent champions Kielce and Vardar

The Match of the Week in round 8 of the EHF Champions League Men brings together two teams that combined won three of the last four titles in Europe’s top flight.

The game features 2016 champions Lomza Vive Kielce and HC Vardar 1961, winners in 2017 and 2019, who are set to meet on Wednesday at 20:45 CET in the Hala MOSiR in Kielce.

The match will be streamed live on EHFTV, with English commentary from Chris O’Reilly, and the MOTW tag further includes extensive on-court and behind-the-scenes coverage on EHF's social media channels before, during and after the game.

Kielce have perfect home record against Vardar

Halfway through the group phase of the 2020/21 season, Kielce are proud leaders of group A with 11 points, two clear of SG Flensburg-Handewitt, though the German side have a game in hand.

Vardar had a rougher start to their season, collecting three points so far, but that picture is distorted as the Macedonian side had several of their games postponed.

The teams met in Skopje last week, when Kielce ended their five-year wait for an away win over Vardar.

Led by goalkeeper Andreas Wolff’s saves and a 10-goal outing from Alex Dujshebaev, the Polish champions earned a 33:29 win.

At first sight, that might make Kielce slight favourites for the reverse fixture in the Match of the Week, also because they boast a perfect home record in the head-to-head comparison with Vardar, winning all five duels in Poland since the teams first met in the 2014/15 quarter-final.

However, if you are looking for one team that have recently proven you can’t ever count them out, than you would likely turn to Vardar.

On various occasions in the past, the team have defied the odds.

Most notable before the 2018/19 season, when few expected Vardar to be able to repeat their triumphant run to the title from 2017, only for the trophy to end up in Skopje once again in June 2019.