After three straight seasons, Europe’s second-tier men’s club competition has undergone its first significant change. Newly created group matches will be played with 32 teams divided into eight groups of four – and only five of those spots are still up for grabs.
The five qualification ties include some big-name teams, including 2022/23 runners-up Fraikin BM. Granollers, two-time EHF Champions League winners HC Vardar 1961, and German top side Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
The return leg is scheduled for next weekend (2/3 September).
QUALIFICATION LEG 1:
Ystads IF HF (SWE) vs TSV Hannover-Burgdorf (GER)
Saturday 26 August, 16:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
- the Swedish side reached the Last 16 last season; Hannover are entering only their third European season
- only two days before the match in Sweden, the German team will face Erlangen HC at the start of the Bundesliga season; Ystads won the Swedish Cup against IFK Karlskrona
- Swedish legend Kim Andersson enters his 18th season playing in European club competitions, and his ninth with Ystad
- Hannover’s Renars Uscins and Justus Fischer were part of the German national team that won the world under-21 title this summer
- it is the first time these two sides meet in any of the EHF club competitions
RK Trimo Trebnje (SLO) vs ABC de Braga (POR)
Saturday 26 August, 18:00 CEST, live on EHFTV
- Trimo Trebnje failed to progress further than the first qualification round in the last two seasons; Braga last played in Europe in EHF Champions League 2016/17 season
- the Slovenian side is led by the four-time EHF Champions League winner Uroš Zorman
- both sides have almost an entire domestic squad: Trimo Trebnje have three foreigners (Croatians Tin Herceg and Krešimir Krešic and Italian Davide Bulzamini); ABC two Brazilians (Vinícios Carvalho and Leonardo Abrahão)
- Trimo Trebnje and ABC de Braga have never met before
