Holstebro and Göppingen open EHF Cup Group Phase on ehfTV.com

Team Tvis Holstebro and Frisch Auf Göppingen will have the honour of opening the group phase of the Men’s EHF Cup this season.

On Wednesday night the Danish and the German side are meeting in Group C, and the following evening, Group D will launch with the match between Chambery Savoie Handball and Ystads IF.

Both matches, plus other selected games can be watched live on ehftv.com

The rest of the teams will wait until the weekend to start their group phase campaign.

GROUP A

Fraikin BM. Granollers (ESP) vs Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU)
Sunday 14 February 12:30 local time, live on ehfTV.com

Granollers have won the EHF Cup twice, but their latest triumph goes as far back as 1996, and last season they did not make it out of the group phase.

This season, the Catalan club has the quarter-final as their main objective, and the chase for this goal starts Sunday at noon with a home game against Dinamo Bucuresti, who are debutants in the EHF Cup Group Phase.

Dinamo latest European adventure goes back to the 2007/08 season, when the Romanian team reached the third round of the EHF Cup.

Their finest memory comes from 1965, however, as they won the European Champions Cup.

However, it is a big question how much this can help the team from the Romanian capital 51 years on, in an away tie against Granollers.

SC Magdeburg (GER) vs Aalborg Handball (DEN)
Sunday 14 February 17:00 local time

Magdeburg is the only team in the EHF Cup Group Phase this season, which has ever won the EHF Champions League.

This happened in the 2001/02 season, the year after the German side won the EHF Cup for the second time out of three, the first being in the 1998/99 season and the third in 2006/07.

Magdeburg will start their group phase campaign at home against Aalborg who were in the Last 16 of the VELUX EHF Champions League in the past two years.

One Aalborg player, who knows Magdeburg well, is the Swedish goalkeeper Andreas Palicka, who met Magdeburg several times when playing for THW Kiel.

“It is probably one of the toughest opponents we could get in the entire group phase, and especially on home court, they are obvious favourites,” Palicka admits.

Aalborg are handicapped by missing playmaker Sander Sagosen.
The 20-year-old Norwegian international broke his right hand during the EHF EURO 2016 in Poland and is going to be sidelined for another three weeks.

GROUP B

Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN) vs Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER)
Wednesday 10 February 20:45 local time, live on ehfTV.com (Geoblocking may apply)

Just like in Group A, there is a Danish-German duel to open this group too, and Holstebro and Göppingen even get the honour of being the first two teams to play in the group phase this season.

The match will be a rematch of the third place placement game at the EHF Cup Finals 2012/13.

On that occasion, in Nantes, Holstebro won 28:27 and secured the third place.

However, current Holstebro coach, former Finnish international Patrick Westerholm doubts if his team can copy that achievement.

“Göppingen have a lot of great players, and also strong players on the bench, so they can make substitutions without weakening their team, so I expect a very difficult match.

“However, if we want to go on from the group – and we do – the home matches are essential, so of course we go for a win,” Westerholm tells eurohandball.com.

OCI-LIONS (NED) vs HBC Nantes (FRA)
Saturday 13 February 19:30 local time

OCI-LIONS are the first Dutch team to qualify for the EHF Cup Group Phase in the four years, during which the tournament has been played in its current format.

The LIONS were even in the qualification tournament for the VELUX EHF Champions League Group Phase, but after coming up short there, the Dutch champions made it to the EHF Cup Group Phase instead.

The team under the only female coach in the European men’s competitions, Monique Tijsterman, will have French opposition in their first group phase match.

The visitors in the Fitland XL of Sittard Saturday will be Nantes, who are hosting the Finals just as they did in the first edition of the current EHF Cup, in the 2012/13 season.

On that occasion, Nantes finished second, and they will obviously be eager to be part of the action at their own venue once again.

GROUP C

SKA Minsk (BLR) vs Pfadi Winterthur (SUI)
Saturday 13 February 19:00 local time

SKA Minsk who have had the same coach, Spartak Mironovich, for 40 years are ready for the first group phase campaign in the EHF Cup.

The Belarusian side, which won the European Champions Cup in 1987, 1989 and 1990 as well as the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983 and 1988, are opening their group phase campaign by receiving a team who also have a lot of European experience.

Pfadi Winterthur’s finest achievements so far have been reaching the quarter-final of the EHF Champions League in the 1996/97 season and again the following year.

The past four years, Winterthur have played in the EHF Cup, but so far they have never been able to make it past the group phase.

This year might be the year for the current number two in the Swiss league, and they could very well take the first win in Minsk Saturday evening.

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg (DEN) vs Saint-Raphael Var Handball (FRA)
Sunday 14 February 18:00 local time, live on ehfTV.com

After a two-year of absence, Bjerringbro-Silkeborg are back in Europe.

After reaching the Last 16 of the VELUX EHF Champions League in the 2012/13 season, the Danish side are now in for their first EHF Cup Group Phase.

The year before reaching the Last 16 of the Champions League, Bjerringbro-Silkeborg were in the group phase of the competition, while their opponents Sunday evening do not have the same Champions League record to boast of.

In fact, Saint-Raphael have only been in touch with the Champions League once – when they made it to the qualifiers in the 2012/13 season.

Still, Bjerringbro-Silkeborg coach Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen has the greatest respect for his team’s first opponent.

“They have a lot of experience from playing together for many years, and I see them as favourites to win our group.

“Still, I have had plenty of time to study Saint-Raphael, and I definitely see some opportunities for us, and we are obviously keen on getting a good start to the group phase with a home win,” Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen tells eurohandball.com.

GROUP D

Chambery Savoie Handball (FRA) vs Ystads IF (SWE)
Thursday 11 February, 20:30 local time, live on ehfTV.com (no geo-restrictions for Sweden)

It was Chambery, who sent reigning EHF Cup winners Füchse Berlin out of the EHF Cup this season.

The French side defeated Füchse by four goals on aggregate in qualification Round 3.

This achievement as well as their previous Champions League experience have made Chambery one of the favourites in the eyes of many people, and they are probably also favourites in their opening match Thursday night against Ystad.

However, Chambery will have to watch out for the visitors’ 19-year-old left back Lukas Nilsson who scored 28 goals in Ystad’s two away matches in the qualification tournament - 15 against Permskie Medvedi and 13 against Grundfos Tatabanya.

Helvetia Anaitasuna (ESP) vs CSM Bucuresti (ROU)
Saturday 13 February, 20:00 local time

It will be a meeting between two European debutants that concludes the first match day in Group D.

However, Pamplona, the home town of Helvetia Anaitasuna is far from being a debutant in European handball.

People will still remember the legendary Portland San Antonio’s performances in the Champions League.

The man on the visitors’ bench is far from being debutant in Europe either.

CSM coach Zvonko Sundovski has plenty of European experience from his years as coach with another Romanian side, HCM Constanta.

Sundovski has great confidence in his current team, European debutants or not.

“I think that Bucuresti and Chambery Savoie Handball will qualify from the group stage,” said Sundovski.