Thrilling semi-finals pave way to trophy in Hamburg

SEMI-FINALS

MT Melsungen (GER) vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER)
Saturday 24 May, 15:00 CEST, live on EHFTV

• it is the first time Melsungen and Flensburg duel on an international stage; in the current Bundesliga season, both sides won their home matches; from their 40 duels overall, Flensburg have won 32 and Melsungen two
• Melsungen are the only EHF FINALS 2025 participants who came through the qualification round; their best previous result in European cup competitions was making it to the EHF Cup quarter-finals twice in 2015 and 2017
• Melsungen have 11 wins, two draws, and three defeats this EHF European League season; they beat VfL Gummersbach in the play-offs and Irudek Bidasoa Irun in the quarter-finals
• Flensburg arrive unbeaten in Hamburg – after a clean sweep with six wins in the group phase, they tied twice against FENIX Toulouse in the main round; in the quarter-finals, Flensburg beat GOG twice
• after facing Kiel in the main round (one draw, one defeat) and Gummersbach in the play-offs (one win, one defeat), Melsungen are set to meet their third German opponent this season
• Melsungen’s leading scorer is Ian Barrufet, with 77 goals; if he scores three or more goals in Hamburg, he likely becomes the top scorer of the EHF European League season
• August Pedersen is Flensburg’s best scorer, with 53 goals, one more than Lukas Jørgensen
• Flensburg can become the first team in EHF’s second-tier club competition to defend their trophy, after Frisch Auf Göppingen won the EHF Cup in 2016 and 2017
• Swedish playmaker Jim Gottfridsson, who will join OTP Bank - PICK Szeged after the season, is the only current Flensburg player who was part of the team that won the EHF Champions League in 2014
• Flensburg changed their head coach during the season: after going separate ways with Nicolej Krickau in December, they signed Ales Pajovic in January; the Slovenian was also head coach of the Austria men’s national team, but stepped down from that role in May
• seven Flensburg players — Kevin Møller, Emil Jakobsen, Lukas Jørgensen, Simon Pytlick, Mads Mensah, Johan Hansen and Niclas Kirkeløkke — became word champions with Denmark in January; Pytlick will miss the EHF Finals due to injury

THW Kiel (GER) vs Montpellier Handball (FRA)
Saturday 24 May, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV

• 10 wins and two draws are Kiel’s record on the way to Hamburg; they only tied at Melsungen in the main round, and with Limoges Handball in the quarter-finals
• Montpellier lost one match on their way to the EHF Finals — the away match at GOG (33:27) in the main round — and have 11 victories from their 12 matches; in the quarter-finals, they eliminated FC Porto with two close wins
• the teams combined have won six EHF Champions League titles: Kiel won in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2020; Montpellier in 2003 and 2018
• Bence Imre (52 goals) and Danish world champion Emil Madsen (50 goals) are Kiel’s leading scorers in the EHF European League; Sebastian Karlsson is Montpellier’s best scorer with 54 goals
• this is Kiel’s first EHF European League season, but when they won the EHF Cup each time they played in it: in 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2019
• Montpellier were EHF Cup finalists in 2014, but lost against Szeged, and were part of the EHF Finals in 2023, when they lost both matches against German teams (Füchse Berlin and Göppingen)
• THW coach Filip Jicha won the EHF Champions League as player (2010, 2012) and coach (2020), and is the only one who did so at the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne
• Érick Mathé became the successor of legendary coach Patrice Canayer, who led Montpellier for 30 years
• the EHF Finals will be the last highlight in the career of THW line player Patrick Wiencek, who retires as player but remains with Kiel in an off-court function
• in the EHF Champions League, Montpellier and Kiel faced 12 times – nine times, THW were the winners, three times the French side; most recently, they met in the dramatic quarter-finals last season, when Montpellier won the first leg 39:30 but Kiel made up the deficit in the return: 31:21 in the last international match of Patrice Canayer

photos © Sascha Klahn (main), Alina Kaesler, Ingrid Anderson-Jensen, Patricia Glorion