On Sunday evening, Jaron Siewert's team showed an outstanding performance from the 20th minute of the final against the Spanish surprise team of BM Granollers, was intermediately ahead by nine goals and finally won 36:31. The day before, the Berliners had won the semifinals against former Champions League winners Montpellier - also after a significant improvement after the change - with 35:29. Granollers had prevented an all-German final by beating FRISCH AUF! Göppingen 31:29 in the semifinal. On Sunday, Göppingen secured the third place with a hard-fought 33:29 win against Montpellier in the placement game.

The Foxes had been warned before the final, after Granollers had kicked out SG Flensburg-Handewitt in the quarter-finals and thus prevented the final tournament hosts from playing at home. Even if the SG was not part of the finals, the Campushalle was almost sold out. Berlin were initially below in the final, but then laid the foundation for the victory with a 6-0 run before the break, then quickly moved up to 20:13 - and from then on had the game under control.

After winning the EHF Cup in 2015 and 2018, it was the third European title for the foxes. "It's great that the trophy is back in Berlin after a five-year break," said German national player Fabian Wiede, who was awarded MVP of the final tournament in Flensburg: "I was surprised by the MVP trophy, but it's much more important to have the success with the team. This European Cup trophy was one of our most important goals for the season and we achieved that.” In the LIQUI MOLY HBL, the Foxes are in third place three games before the end of the season, four points behind THW Kiel and two points behind SC Magdeburg.

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Berlin deservedly crowned their outstanding European League season with the title. They won 15 of 16 games, only losing the quarter-final first leg against Schaffhausen (Switzerland). "This title means an incredible amount to me, the team, the club, the fans, all of Berlin. We had invested so much. As a young coach at the beginning of his career, that's great, after all it was my first trophy with Füchse Berlin after we lost the final against Magdeburg two years ago. I think we all deserve this title, every player played his role in the final tournament."

In the semi-final, the newly crowned Bundesliga record scorer Hans Lindberg was the best scorer for Berlin with eight goals, in the final it was his Danish compatriot Lasse Andersson with seven goals, World Championship MVP Mathias Gidsel showed some magical moments and goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljevic fended off numerous important throws.

After a one-year break – Magdeburg lost the 2022 final in Lisbon to hosts Benfica after extra time – the second most important European cup trophy is back in Germany. Since 2013, the winner of the EHF Cup/European League has been determined in a final tournament, and with the exceptions of 2022 and 2014 (Pick Szeged/Hungary), the winner has always come from the LIQUI MOLY HBL: At the start, the foxes, twice each in Berlin and Göppingen (2016/2017), then Kiel (2019) and finally Magdeburg (2021). Since 2004, 17 of the 19 title holders have come from Germany – a real dominance. And the Füchse triumph in Flensburg also means that LIQUI MOLY HBL has an additional place in the starting grid of the European League in the 2023/24 season. In addition to two Champions League places, four German teams will compete in this competition, the EHF confirmed on Sunday.

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Photo: Anderson-Jensen