The Velux EHF Final 4 for the Champions League will take place for the ninth time in Cologne’s Lanxess Arena on 26 and 27 May 2018. 19,403 spectators attend the most important event of the year for club handball per day in the hall. Here you will find all the information you need: qualified teams, TV broadcasts, toss times, tickets and record winners.
In principle, the best four teams out of a total of 28 participants qualify for the Final Four at the tournament organised by the European Handball Federation. The decision as to which four clubs will be in Cologne will be made on 28 and 29 April 2018, the dates on which the second legs of the quarter-finals will take place.
With Paris, Nantes and Montpellier, who have eliminated FC Barcelona in the round of 16, three teams from France are still in the race. Flensburg and Kiel have high hopes of participating in the Final Four.
Kielce (Poland), Skopje (Macedonia) and Skjern Handbold (Denmark) are also surprisingly represented by one club each. Skjern knocked Hungary’s top club Veszprem out of the competition in the round of the last 16.
date
time
home
Away
result
Qualified
Wed, 18.04.
7
SG Flensburg-Handewitt
Montpellier HB
28:28
So., 29.04.
–:–
Sat, 21.04.
18.30 o’clock
Vive Kielce
Paris Saint-Germain
28:34
Sat, 28.04.
17.30 o’clock
So., 22.04.
17
THW Kiel
Vardar Skopje
28:29
Sun, 29.04
Sun., 22.04
HBC Nantes
Skjern Handbold
33:27
16.50 o’clock
The final four of the top handball class is not on free TV. The pay TV channel Sky will show the semi-finals, the match for third place and the final live and exclusively. All games can also be seen on Sky Go in the livestream.
If you don’t have the opportunity to watch the games at Sky, you don’t necessarily have to miss out on the Final Four. SPOX offers a live ticker for the semi-finals and the final.
After the quarter-finals, the teams that will face each other in the semi-finals will be drawn. The semifinals start on Saturday (26 May) at 3.15 pm and 6 pm. The match for 3rd place and the final will start on Sunday (27 May) at 3.15 pm and 6 pm.
Tickets can be purchased on the official homepage of the Velux EHF Final 4. The cheapest ticket costs 75 euros for the entire weekend. For the highest category, fans have to dig deep into their pockets and spend 345 euros. A maximum of four tickets can be ordered per person. You can find out how to get VIP tickets here.
premium
345 euros
Category 1
295 euros
Category 2
215 euros
Category 3
155 euros
Category 4
75 euros
The mode of the Handball Champions League has been permanently changed in the past, even the current form with a completely inflated group phase has met with rejection by many fans and clubs. That’s why it won’t be really exciting in the premier class of handball until the round of sixteen, when there will be fights for advancement in the first and second leg.
Until 2009, the semi-finals and the final were also played in the first and second leg. Since the 2009/2010 season, the semi-finals and the final have been played in the knockout stages of the Final Four in Cologne.
pitch
society
caption
year
final participations
1
FC Barcelona
9
1991, 1996 to 2000, 2005, 2011, 2015
13
2
VfL Gummersbach
5
1968, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1983
6
3
2007, 2010, 2012
7
4
BM Ciudad Real
2006, 2008, 2009
SC Magdeburg
1978, 1981, 2002
SKA Minsk
1987, 1989, 1990