GOG and Veszprém reach final of EHF Youth Club Trophy

While GOG had no problems leaving Eurofarm Pelister behind in the first semi-final, played in Dormagen and attended by Honorary EHF President Jean Brihault, Barça and Veszprém Handball Academy needed 70 minute in the heat until the Hungarian side were confirmed as finalists.

SEMI-FINALS
HC Eurofarm Pelister (MKD) vs GOG (DEN) 21:36 (12:17)

GOG definitely deserved to reach the final of the EHF Youth Club Trophy. Despite incredible support from more than 200 Macedonian fans in Dormagen on Saturday morning, Eurofarm Pelister were not able to stop the Danish side.

When GOG started their high-speed attacks, Eurofarm Pelister were simply too slow in reverse gear. Backed by the saves of goalkeeper Alexander Krustenstjerna-Hafström and a strong middle block, GOG ran waves of counterattacks to pull ahead 14:8 in minute 22. Only in positional attack did GOG have some problems breaking through the defence. If not for the seven saves of Eurofarm Pelister’s goalkeeper Melin Fehmi, the distance at the break would have been greater. On the other hand, Emil Darling Sørensen already had six of his eight goals on his tally at half-time.

Even a direct red card against their defence boss Jacob Dalager (after a foul against Alem Hadzic in minute 33) did not stop GOG. In contrast, being shorthanded, they recorded a 3:0 run for 21:13. And as Eurofarm Pelister scored only once in the first 10 minutes after the break, GOG easily extended the margin to a double figure for the first time at 23:13. Pelister’s resistance was broken — and GOG simply did not stop scoring.

“We knew that if we play well, we can beat them even with this big margin, as we were much faster,” said top scorer Sørensen, who is now looking forward to another outstanding experience. “It will be extremely great to play in LANXESS arena for the trophy on Sunday.”

And it is not only the huge arena and the potential title, but one special point: “Knowing that later on, Mathias Gidsel will play on the same court is an extreme motivation. He comes from our club and he is such a great inspiration for all us.”

Barça (ESP) vs Veszprém Handball Academy (HUN) 42:43 (35:35)(21:20)

It could have been the final, as the two highly individually skilled teams of Barça and Veszprém entertained and excited the fans in Dormagen with men’s, not youth, handball. The first 20 minutes were pure speed, with both teams fully focusing only on attack. After six minutes of ultra-fast pace, the score was 6:6, and then the goal hunt continued.

While Barça used the depth of their squad, with eight different scorers at the break, Veszprém’s strongest weapon in the initial stage was right back János Dániel Barna, who netted seven goals in the first 20 minutes. And it took the Hungarian academy only three minutes to turn a 12:15 deficit into a 17:16 advantage. Both goalkeepers also imprinted the first half: Albert Quesada (Barça) and László Várady-Szabó (Veszprém) were equal on seven saves at the break, at which point the two big fan factions had already seen 41 goals.

Both sides on court were in goal mode after the break, keeping the pace high. But when the time ticked down, this equal thriller became more and more of an intense positional attack battle. Intermediately, Veszprém had the momentum on their side, pulling ahead to 31:27 in minute 49, as Barça made too many mistakes in attack, but the advantage melted and Barça levelled the result again at 33:33 with less than four minutes left, thanks to four Quesada saves and three counterattack goals from Adrian Sola Basterra.

100 seconds before the end, Veszprém’s Benjamin Glenn Edwards received a direct red card, but his short-handed side managed to make it to overtime, and even had the last chance to take a regular-time win, but Zalán Juhász-Tóth could not convert a direct free throw. 

After the first five minutes of overtime, Barça had a 39:38 advantage. The final minutes of the second half started with a score of 41:41. Finally, Juhász-Tóth decided the thriller by netting his 10^th goal for 43:42 four seconds before the end.

The Veszprém boys managed to do something in Dormagen that their men’s team have never done in Cologne: Beat Barça.

“This match was simply amazing. We are so happy, but still we have a final ahead,” said Edwards. “As a kid you watch all the matches from Cologne, and now we made our dream come true to play in this arena.”

Schedule for the final day:

• 9:00 CEST: 3/4 placement match (Dormagen): Eurofarm Pelister (MKD) vs Barça (ESP)
• 11:30 CEST: Final (Cologne): GOG (DEN) vs Veszprém Handball Academy (HUN)

Tickets for the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2025 are not valid for this match. Spectators have to leave the arena after the final of the EHF Youth Club Trophy.

Photos: kolektiff images/Axel Heimken