Two big names, one spot

Two big names of international handball fight for one spot in the Group Phase of the VELUX EHF Champions League: Metalurg Skopje missed the direct qualification by losing the crucial final match of the Macedonian league against their city rivals Vardar, Szeged were below their arch rival MKB-MVM Veszprém in the Hungarian league for the 13th time after losing the final series 0:2.

The winner of those wild card play-off matches (first leg in Skopje, second leg in Szeged) will qualify for Group B of the VELUX EHF Champions League and will face Barcelona, Paris, Vardar Skopje, Thun and the winner of Qualification Tournament 2 (Minsk, Prešov, Besiktas, Athens). The loser will continue in the third qualification round of the EHF Cup.

As Metalurg are used to play VELUX EHF Champions League Qualification (like in the previous three seasons), Szeged have to go through this stage for the first time – as Hungary lost a second direct place for the Group Stage in the EHF ranking list to Denmark.

Same destiny last season

Pick were part of the EHF Champions League eleven times by now, in the previous season they made it to the Last 16, but failed against Vive Targi Kielce.

One round later - in the quarter-finals the third team of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 eliminated also Metalurg, who reached the biggest success ever for a Macedonian men’s team being among the best eight teams of this competition.

While Metalurg still rely on Croatian legend Lino Červar as their coach, Szeged did the same like Veszprém one year earlier and replaced a domestic coach with a Spanish successor.

Juan Carlos Pastor, who led Spain to their first ever world championship title in 2005, is the new coach in the “sausage city”. And two Spanish players joined Pastor: Niko Mindega from La Rioja and Roberto Garcia Parrondo from Atlético Madrid. But the most important newcomer is a Hungarian: Ferenc Ilyés, who had played in Płock (Poland) and Germany before.

Young blood in Metalurg

On Metalurg side, Červar is rejuvenating his squad: A huge number of Metalurg’s youth team members will be integrated, while seven players left the former Macedonian champions. But to give the team more experience Metalurg also signed two international players: Russian Pavel Atman and Croat Nikola Kedžo.

Atman arrives from Chekhovski Medvedi, a team he had just joined from Dinamo Minsk, but with the Russian champions facing financial problems and withdrawing from European competition, the back court player signed a two-year deal with the Macedonians. Kedžo comes from Hungarian side Csurgó.

HC Metalurg (MKD) vs. Pick Szeged (HUN)
First leg: 28. August, 19:00 hrs. local time in Skopje, live on ehfTV.com
Second leg: 1. September, 19:00 hrs. local time in Szeged, live on ehfTV.com