EHF European Cup Men returns with Last 16

The Last 16 will start on Saturday, 15 February, as AEK Athens HC and MRK Krka meet at 16:00 CET for their first leg in a double-header in Greece. The return leg will be played on Sunday. Four duels will be decided in double-headers, evenly distributed – two this weekend and two more next week.

• RK Partizan AdmiralBet and Diomidis Argous play a double-header in Serbia on Saturday and Sunday; in their domestic leagues on Wednesday Partizan beat Dinamo Pančevo 32:25 for their 15th win in 15 games, Argous defeated Bianco Monte Drama 1986 33:27
• RK Jeruzalem Ormoz travel to Iceland to meet Haukar on Saturday after winning only one of their last seven matches and losing five; however, Haukar have not enjoyed the best start to the year either, losing two of their first three games in their domestic league, but were victorious on Wednesday
• SSV Brixen line player Endrit Iballi played for Italy at the 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship, and is hoping to bring momentum back to his club for their encounters with Macedonian club HC Alkaloid; 10 players from the Skopje-based side were part of the World Championship squad, coached by Alkaloid’s Kiril Lazarov
• Runar Sandefjord eliminated former EHF Champions League participants RK Celje from the competition in round 3 and now host Besiktas in their first leg on Sunday; a fascinating goalkeeper battle awaits, as both teams’ duos have a save percentage of over 30 per cent
• the match-up between Sabbianco Anorthosis Famagusta and HC Izvidac features high scorers Eleftherios Seirekidis and Diano Neris Cesko; Seirekidis has scored 36 goals in this season’s European Cup and Cesko 39; both back-court players scored 21 times in round 3
• CS Minaur Baia Mare and BK-46, as well as Drammen HK and Olympiacos SFP, will play their double-headers next week in Finland and Greece, respectively

North Macedonia’s most exciting prospect

He is one of the exciting young players trying to gain important international experience in the EHF European Cup and to make a name for himself. Marko Mitev will be only 22 years old at the end of February but has impressed not only his coach, legend Kiril Lazarov, but reportedly also clubs around Europe.

At the World Championship in January, Mitev was an integral part of the Macedonian team that made a big step forward compared to the last tournaments. The centre back from HC Alkaloid scored 22 goals in six matches and added 14 assists for his country.

He could join the list of players like Arpad Sterbik, Dean Bombac, Robert Weber, Peter Johannesson and Manuel Zehnder, who all played in this competition or its predecessor and went on to the continent’s biggest clubs. Remember his name.

Photos © Filip Viranovski