EHF European Cup

Dunkerque and Diomidis complete the finals

Björn Pazen

29 April 2012, 22:47

Dunkerque and Diomidis complete the finals

Men’s European Cup competitions, semi final, second leg:

EHF Cup:

US Dunkerque HD Grand Littoral (FRA) vs. SC Magdeburg (GER) 18:22 (9:10)
First leg: 30:25 (13:9)

Ten years after winning the EHF Champions League, SC Magdeburg missed another sensation in the European Cup competitions: Despite winning the second leg at Dunkerque the Germans were eliminated in the semi final after the clear 25:30 home defeat.

Magdeburg was in lead all the match, but only once with the distance of five goals they needed to proceed to the finals - in minute 50 when the score was 19:14. In the final stage the French team improved, but still had to shiver to the last minutes, before their first ever appearance in an EHF European Cup competition was safe and well.

Dunkerque will face defending champions Frisch Auf Göppingen in the finals, which had won the all-German duel with Rhein Neckar Löwen in aggregate.

EHF Challenge Cup

AC Diomidis Argous (GRE) vs. Maccabi "Tyrec" Tel Aviv (ISR) 21:21 (8:12)

First leg: 29:26 (11:11)

Thanks to their away victory in the first leg, AC Diomidis Argous have reached the final of the EHF Challenge Cup for the first time in club history. The Israeli team played much stronger than on home ground, and had turned the page at the break with a four goal lead. But as the Greek team improved after the break, the draw was well-deserved.

The final opponent of the Greek team will be Wacker Thun from Switzerland (EHF Challenge Cup winner of 2005), which had eliminated Sporting CL Lisbon in the semis.

EHF Cup Winner’s Cup:

Caja3 BM Aragon (ESP) vs. SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) 34:32 (16:13)
First leg: 30:39 (13:19)

VfL Gummersbach (GER) vs. HC Pivovarna Celje Lasko (SLO) 32:25 (16:9)
First leg: 27:34 (13:21)

SG Flensburg-Handewitt and defending champions VfL Gummersbach compete in the all-German finals.

The draw event for the finals will take place in Cologne on Wednesday, starting at 11:00 hrs local time. A live ticker will be available at eurohandball.com.