EHF Finals Men 2024
Flensburg end decade-long wait for next European title
SG Flensburg-Handewitt had been waiting 10 years since their EHF Champions League title in 2013/14 to not only top a podium but play for a European cup trophy again.
They ended that wait at the EHF Finals Men 2024 held in Hamburg, defeating domestic rivals Füchse Berlin 36:31 in the trophy game and Dinamo Bucuresti 38:32 in the semi-final.
With the win in the final, Flensburg prevented Berlin from defending the title they had celebrated in 2022/23.
Flensburg won the trophy game after pulling away in the late stages, following a fairly level encounter. Goalkeeper Kevin Møller played a key role in turning the game around for Flensburg after they fell behind in the first half, making eight saves in the opening 30 minutes. Both teams’ attacking performances were mainly spearheaded by Danish players, with Emil Jakobsen adding seven goals to the 11 he had contributed in the semi-final, leading the wing to be named MVP of the event.
Flensburg reached the trophy game thanks to a dominant performance in the semi-final, in which they led Dinamo 18:11 at half-time. Bucharest’s Andrii Akimenko netted seven in the semi-final and added another five in the 3/4 placement match to secure the season’s top scorer award, with a total of 95 goals from the start of the group phase. That was the only silver lining for Dinamo, as they were defeated in the placement match, 31:32, by Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
Füchse’s semi-final victory was the clearest of all results recorded not only at the EHF Finals Men 2024 but in the history of the event, as they defeated Löwen 33:24. The previous biggest win was recorded by SL Benfica when they beat Orlen Wisla Plock 26:19 at the EHF Finals Men 2022. Berlin goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev recorded a save rate of 40 per cent and tallied 13 stops to be one key for Füchse’s decisive semi-final win.
To reach the EHF Finals Men 2024, Flenburg beat IK Sävehof 69:59 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, Füchse defeated HBC Nantes 70:63, Dinamo overthrew Skjern 66:61 and Löwen recorded a 60:58 cumulative result against Sporting CP. While Flensburg earned a direct ticket to the quarter-finals as winners of their main round group, the remaining three semi-finalists all had to come through the play-offs. Reflecting just how tough the competition was from the outset, only Flensburg and Füchse topped their groups in the first stage.
The title was Flensburg’s sixth international in total and fifth different trophy across all European cup competitions.
