Aalborg shaken, but secure Cologne ticket

The Danish champions won the duel in aggregate by the closest possible margin of one goal; after the 31:31 draw in Lisbon, they won 37:36 at home. Backed by Francisco ‘Kiko’ Costa, the Portuguese champions were almost equal, but ran out of time to complete a late comeback. As in 2025, when they were eliminated by HBC Nantes, the quarter-finals of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League were the end of their international journey.

The TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 draw will take place on 12 May at 15:00 CEST, live on EHFTV and the Home of Handball YouTube channel.

QUARTER-FINALS, SECOND LEG

MOTW: Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) vs Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) 37:36 (18:17)

H2H: 2-1-1
First leg result: 31:31, Aalborg won 68:67 on aggregate
Top scorers: Thomas Arnoldsen 10 (Aalborg Håndbold), Francisco Costa 13 (Sporting Clube de Portugal)
Player of the Match: Thomas Arnoldsen (Aalborg Håndbold)

• with the Costa brothers scoring eight of the first 11 Sporting goals, the visitors calmed down the arena with several two-goal leads  
• when Francisco Costa had to leave the court for more than 10 minutes with an elbow injury, Aalborg managed to turn the tide, but were never ahead by more than one goal until the break
• the best player of the first half, in which both sides only focused on high speed and attacks, was 39-year-old Aalborg goalkeeper Niklas Landin with 12 saves
• despite Kiko Costa’s goal parade, Aalborg had full control in the second half, constantly leading by two or three goals, with one exception: when Sporting closed up to a single goal (29:28) in the 46th minute, answered by a double strike from the hosts
• despite Aalborg’s 37:34 lead in the 58th minute, Sporting kept pushing and Orri Freyr Þorkelsson scored to narrow the gap to 37:36 20 seconds before the buzzer — but time had run out
• Francisco Costa finished his second ever EHF Champions League season with 136 goals, only eight goals behind current leader Mathias Gidsel (144), who can add more in Cologne

A back court trio and Landin are crucial for the ticket to Cologne

Aalborg Håndbold have made it to Cologne for the third time, joining Füchse Berlin and Barça in the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4.

The Danish champions struggled in the first leg against Sporting and were extremely lucky to take a point from Lisbon. But on home ground, Simon Dahl’s team showed a more mature performance, though they could feel Sporting constantly breathing down their necks.

Again, the back court trio of Thomas Arnoldsen, Mads Hoxer and Juri Knorr were crucial in attack. At the other end of the court, veteran goalkeeper Niklas Landin showed his value for the team. Now, the Danish side hope to continue their Cologne series: every time they played in the LANXESS arena, they made it to the final. But the truth is also: they lost twice to Barça.

Photos © Henrik Hansen, René Schütze