First five MOTW ties announced for the 2017/18 season

Match of the Week is the staple in most handball fans' diet and they can already look forward to the first five MOTW ties for the VELUX EHF Champions League 2017/18 season.

The big opener takes place in Mannheim, Germany where reigning Bundesliga champions, Rhein-Neckar Löwen, take on the ASOBAL winners and VELUX EHF FINAL4 participants, FC Barcelona Lassa.

Further matches in Kielce, Poland for Round 2, Flensburg, Germany in Round 3, and Veszprem, Hungary in Round 4 all set up mouth-watering clashes. The first round of matches will culminate in Denmark when the last season’s FINAL4 finalists, Paris Saint-Germain Handball, make their way to Aalborg.

Round 1:
Sunday, 17 September at 19:30 in the SAP Arena (Mannheim, GER)
Rhein-Neckar Löwen vs FC Barcelona Lassa

BITESIZE: You couldn’t ask for a better opener than this. Rhein-Neckar Löwen will be hungry to improve on their Last-16 exit from last season - amid a hugely successful domestic season - while FC Barcelona Lassa will want to replicate last season’s almost perfect group phase campaign. No room for compliancy here.
 
Round 2:
Sunday, 24 September at 18:30 in the MOSIR Hala Legionow (Kielce, POL)
PGE Vive Kielce vs THW Kiel

BITESIZE: The VELUX EHF Champions League 2015/16 champions, PGE Vive Kielce, will need no extra pep-talk when they host German side THW Kiel in this Group B MOTW. The Polish champions were shaken and tossed out of the CL in the Last 16 by Montpellier and now with father and sons Dujshebaev reunited, and with Janz Blac in from Celje, a statement will want to be made. It will be THW’s first away CL tie without injured captain Domagoj Duvnjak (ruled out until November), and it will be interesting to see which player attempts to fill the boots of the Croatian stalwart.

Round 3:
Saturday, 30 September at 17:30 in the FLENS-Arena (Flensburg, GER)
SG Flensburg-Handewitt vs Paris Saint-Germain Handball

BITESIZE: We all remember this match up from last season when these sides met in Group A, after the north German side opened up a three-goal lead in the first half to only let it slip from their hands losing by one after 60 minutes. New head coach of SG, Maik Machulla, will hope to fill the voids left both on and off the court (Eggert, Vranjes, etc.) with his new Scandinavian signings and contain the ever-growing star-studded line-up of PSG; now also including no other than Norwegian hotshot, Sander Sagosen.
 
Round 4:
Sunday 08 October at 17:00 in the Veszprém Aréna, (Veszprem, HUN)
Telekom Veszprém vs THW Kiel

BITESIZE: It was the Hungarian side which had the better of THW Kiel in their group phase match-ups last season (21:19 & 27:25). However, there are whisperings of a THW side which has shaken off the cobwebs from a fairly turbulent season of last, and there are some questions surrounding how quickly new coach Vranjes can integrate his signings and cope without his star and ex-Kieler Aron Palmarsson - all the makings of an interesting clash, in an arena that never fails to disappoint.
 
Round 5:
Sunday 15 October at 16:50 in the Jutlander Bank Arena (Aalborg, DEN)
Aalborg Handbold vs Paris Saint-Germain Handball

BITESIZE: The Danish champions host the French champions in what is a homecoming of their ex-superstar Sander Sagosen. And what better way to greet the star-studded PSG side than to attempt muster up a “David-vs-Goliath-like” upset, right? Aiming for the Last 16, Arnor Atlason & Co. will be relishing the idea of causing an upset on the big stage, that is, Match of the Week.

All times are local.