The only team from the German sextet that already stumbled on the way to the final tournaments in Cologne and Hamburg are the Recken. TSV Hannover-Burgdorf lost the second leg of the European League play-offs to Swedish representative IK Sävehof on Tuesday evening with 25:34; the advance from the 34:30 first leg win was not enough. The warriors had already lost all four games in the main round.

In contrast, Rhein-Neckar Löwen and defending champions Füchse Berlin confidently made it into the round of the last eight - each with two play-off victories. The Lions celebrated their fifth consecutive international win in a row on Tuesday with a 31:29 against the Croatian side RK Nexe and had already won the reverse fixture 24:19. Including qualification, the Lion team has celebrated twelve wins in the European League so far, with only two defeats.

Füchse Berlin were similarly successful, winning both play-off matches against Kadetten Schaffhausen from Switzerland: the 32:28 in the first leg away was followed by 34:28 at home on Tuesday evening. The Foxes were the only team to win all six group games, but then suffered two defeats against Sporting Lisbon in the main round and, like the lions and warriors, missed a direct spot in the quarter-finals. From a German perspective, only SG Flensburg-Handewitt had secured this direct qualification, having won nine of their ten European League games to date.

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The SG will now face Recken conqueror Sävehof in the quarter-finals on 23 and 30 April and will have the home advantage in the decisive second leg. Real challenges are ahead of the foxes and lions, who initially compete at home: Rhein-Neckar Löwen face Sporting Lisbon with the famous Costa brothers, Füchse Berlin lock horns with the French top team HBC Nantes, against whom Berlin had already failed in the European League play-offs two years ago. The fourth quarterfinal pairing is composed by Skjern from Denmark and the Romanian champions Dinamo Bucharest. The final tournament in Hamburg's Barclays Arena will take place on the 25/26 May.

In addition to three German teams in the European League quarter-finals, LIQUI MOLY HBL is also represented by two quarter-finalists in the EHF Champions League: SC Magdeburg and THW Kiel. For the first time, two German sides qualified directly for the round of the last eight as group winners. Magdeburg had an incredible series of 12 wins in the group stage after the two opening defeats against Veszprem and Barcelona, Kiel had ten wins with two draws and two defeats.

In the play-offs without German participation, it looks like clear matters for Kielce and Andy Wolff (against GOG/Denmark), Paris Saint-Germain (against Plock from Poland) and Veszprem (in the Hungarian duel with Szeged) after the first leg matches. If Kielce prevail, they will face defending champions Magdeburg end of April/beginning of May. Kiel's opponent will be determined in the only close play-off between Zagreb and Montpellier, the first leg ended 27:27. In addition to Kiel and Magdeburg, Barcelona and Aalborg qualified directly for the quarter-finals.

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If you look at the international league comparison, there are at most three French teams still in the running in the European League and Champions League, two from Denmark - and only one from all other countries.

Photo: Imago | Contrast