Magdeburg vs Füchse: Berlin lead early in second half
The moment has arrived — it's time to decide the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 title! First step: The semi-finals, underway right now in LANXESS arena, Cologne.
The all-German derby and rematch of last season's final is now live, with SC Magdeburg meeting Füchse Berlin.
At 18:00 CEST, Aalborg Håndbold and Barça clash in a rematch of the previous year's final to determine the opponents of whichever German club reaches the title match for the second straight time. The final will be played on Sunday at 18:00 CEST.
Minute-by-minute coverage of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 semi-finals. Live now: SC Magdeburg vs Füchse Berlin
14:27
Some pre-match thoughts from our dedicated journalist for the weekend, Kevin Domas:
"The tension is building in LANXESS Arena, both on and off the court. SC Magdeburg and Füchse Berlin know each other really well and have played against each other many times in German competitions but, believe it or not, today will only be the second time they meet in the Champions League. Hard to pick a favourite, to be honest.
"Magdeburg are title holders and have got a ton of experience, but Berlin are nothing short of talent. Last year's final is probably nothing to go by and I expect today's semi-final to be completely different. But asking me to pick a favourite would be way too hard!"
14:18
The first semi-finalists — SC Magdeburg and Füchse Berlin — are on court and proceeding through their warm-up. The starting whistle at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026 is less than an hour away!
12:59
Füchse lock up a 35:27 win over Veszprém Handball Academy and, on what is their debut on the final weekend of the Youth Club Trophy, set up a final versus GOG. Match review to come!
12:50
As the Füchse A side make their way to LANXESS arena, their U18 team appear on the way there to — for Sunday's final that is. They lead Veszprém Handball Academy 32:24 with eight minutes to go in the second EHF Youth Club Trophy Men semi-final.
Assuming their secure the win, it will be the two clubs most meaningful to EHF Excellence Awards 2024/25 MVP Mathias Gidsel in the final — GOG is where he made his professional debut and first appeared in the EHF Champions League, and he has of course donned the jersey of Berlin since his high-profile transfer in 2022.
In Gidsel's debut season in the Champions League, in 2019/20, he netted 25 goals. The following season, in the EHF European League 2020/21 — the year he made his national team debut and rose to prominence — he shot up to 69. It was in 2024/25 that he broke the 100-goal barrier in a European cup competition for the first time, with his 135 goals and top scorer title in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League.
12:51
According to my intel, SC Magdeburg and Füchse Berlin will soon be on their way to LANXESS arena. Arriving just under two hours before throw-off, the teams will gradually make their way to the court where they usually start slow, soaking up the atmosphere as the arena slowly fills, then head back to the dressing room for a chat before the real warm-up begins.
The TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026 is set to break the record for attendance at the EHF FINAL4 Men, with additional seats having been added to the "Cathedral of Handball."
12:43
Jumping ahead to semi-final two, as time will be tight once we get rolling in LANXESS arena — let's take a look at Aalborg Håndbold versus Barça.
It's a case of Aalborg looking for revenge in this encounter, as the Danish side have made it to the EHF Champions League final twice — where they were defeated by Barça in both instances.
Where the German semi-finalists have previously met in European cup competitions only twice, the international history between Barça and Aalborg is much more extensive, dating to 2014. In 14 duels, Barça have won 13. The only victory for Aalborg was in the most recent clash, in the 2024/25 group phase, when Aalborg beat Barça 36:35.
Barça have the top goalkeeper in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 in Emil Nielsen, who has an average save rate of 34.34 per cent through the season and 159 saves. His partner in goal, Viktor Hallgrímsson, sits third in the season for save rate, making them the best duo in the season.
For Aalborg, Nielsen's predecessor in the Denmark goal, Niklas Landin, is the leading keeper for his side and fifth overall in the season, with 127 saves at a rate of 27.37 per cent.
Scoring wise, Barça are led by wing Aleix Gómez, on 103 goals. For Aalborg, back Thomas Arnoldsen is the top scorer with 94 goals. Gómez ranks sixth on the overall scorer list for the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26, while Arnoldsen sits ninth.
12:22
To some key facts surrounding the first semi-final, SC Magdeburg vs Füchse Berlin.
The sides have met only twice in European cup competitions, and both times were finals — both won by Magdeburg. The first was the final of the EHF European League in 2021, which Magdeburg won 28:25. The second was of course last season's Champions League final, where Magdeburg took a 32:26 victory.
The teams are much more familiar foes in a domestic context. There, Magdeburg won both encounters in the Bundesliga 2025/26. With those victories part of their record, SCM became German league champions for the fourth time (2001, 2022, 2024, 2026).
Berlin took their first Bundesliga title ever last season. This year, they celebrated the German Cup, which they won for the second time, following the first in 2014.
I've already talked about Berlin back Mathias Gidsel leading the season's score chart, which naturally makes him Füchse's top scorer this season. Next behind him is fellow Dane Lasse Andersson, with 83 goals. Dejan Milosavljev, one of Berlin's heroes in last year's semi-final in particular, is their leading keeper, with 129 saves in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26.
On SCM's side, Icelandic back Ómar Ingi Magnússon is the top scorer, with 86 goals. Sergey Hernandez is their numer one goalkeeper, with 109 saves.
12:06
Now to the business — let's get into these semi-finals.
First up we have the German derby, the rematch of last season's final, the clash between the newly crowned Bundesliga champions SC Magdeburg and the German Cup winners Füchse Berlin.
Let's start with one man in particular: The EHF Excellence Awards 2024/25 MVP, three-time back-to-back IHF World Player of the Year and MVP of five national team championships since he made his debut in 2021, Mathias Gidsel.
Last year his maiden appearance in Cologne was surrounded by anticipation, and we were served up the drama early as he received a direct red card just nine minutes into the semi-final against HBC Nantes. But Berlin showed they could play a huge game without him, taking a dominant win to reach the final. We'll come back to that later.
Gidsel is poised to take the EHF Champions League top scorer title for the second consecutive time. With a goal count of 144, Gidsel has passed not only his own tally from 2024/25 (135), but his compatriot Mikkel Hansen's record of 141 — which was the highest in one season according to how far back our reliable records go.
The closest player behind Gidsel still in the competition is Barça win Aleix Gómez, who has 103 goals — meaning Gidsel's individual title is pretty much locked up, although nothing is official until the final whistle.
Below, check out the special video story on Berlin and Gidsel (and head over to the Home of Handball YouTube for more!), and read the originating piece in the exclusive EHF Champions League My Game series, which I wrote with Gidsel ahead of last season.
10:39
Good morning and welcome to the first of the two biggest days on the men's club handball calendar — semi-finals day at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026!
Today the two teams that will battle for the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 title will be decided. A reminder of the semi-final schedule:
- 15:00 CEST SC Magdeburg vs Füchse Berlin
- 18:00 CEST Aalborg Håndbold vs Barça
The handball action surrounding the event is already underway, with the GOG U18 side having just beaten Barça 31:25 in the first semi-final of the EHF Youth Club Trophy Men. The second semi-final, Füchse Berlin versus Veszprém Handball Academy, begins at 11:30 CEST.
On the line for the U18 sides are places in the final on Sunday, which will be played in LANXESS arena right before the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 finals. Watch all the Youth Club Trophy action live on EHFTV.
Back to the A teams and some housekeeping before we get properly into the build-up fun: Below, read all the key facts surrounding the semi-finals in our preview; find out where to watch the matches in your country; and review everything the teams got up to on Friday with yesterday's live blog.
