Eve of throw-off; final preparations for semi-finalists

• coverage of the day before throw-off at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026 — the final weekend of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26
• Saturday's semi-finals:
  
  • 15:00 CEST SC Magdeburg vs Füchse Berlin
  • 18:00 CEST Aalborg Håndbold vs Barça
• Sunday's schedule:
  • 15:00 CEST 3/4 placement match
  • 18:00 CEST final
• find all information about the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26, including results throughout the season, individual statistics and news, here
• Courtney Gahan reporting live from Cologne; photos by kolektiff images

Friday 12 June

16:44

The day before the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 semi-finals is not all interviews and opening parties — of course, the programme of the day mostly comprises the last match preparations and training sessions. 

Below, see some photos of today's training sessions. 

16:37

Hot off the press, a feature story with Aalborg wing Kristian Björnsen, who is set to retire at the end of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026. 

Björnsen rose to prominence internationally as a key player on the breakthrough Norway national team that reached the side's first semi-final ever at the EHF EURO 2016, then played two straight World Championship finals in 2017 and 2019, before taking the bronze medal at the EHF EURO 2020. 

Both of those World Championship finals ended in defeats for Norway, leaving them with silver medals. 

In 2024, Björnsen was part of the Aalborg side that reached the EHF Champions League final, where they were narrowly defeated by Barça. 

The right wing has come close to three major titles, but never taken one. Now he wants to go out with a bang and raise his first trophy.

Read the feature below! 

14:52

That's a wrap on the media calls. From Aalborg, Simon Dahl is set to lead the side in his first EHF FINAL4 as head coach, after his previous participation as assistant in 2024. 

Regarding that new venture as head coach in Cologne, Dahl says, "It’s going to be a lot of fun. I try to take things the positive way and not think too much about the pressure. Many coaches would like to be in my seat, so I will enjoy this weekend as much as I can. I feel like we have proven all season long that we deserved to be there. We are now motivated to do even more."

Speaking about that 2024 final, Aalborg back Mads Hoxer says, "I hope we learnt something from it, really. It was not a nice experience, even though we played the final. We said back then that we would come back, and now is our chance. But before thinking about anything else, I want us to focus on the game tomorrow and how we can beat Barça."

14:14

We've heard from Berlin and now it is the last of the semi-finalist's turns in the spotlight: Aalborg Håndbold. 

René Antonsen, Niklas Landin, Sander Sagosen, Juri Knorr and Mads Hoxer are participating in the interviews alongside their coach Simona Dahl.

14:10

"Honestly, I don’t think about it at all. The only thing that I am thinking about right now is how to get past SC Magdeburg tomorrow," says Berlin coach Nicolej Krickau when asked about the chance to win the title.

"It’s going to be really difficult. We lost our last two games against them but I really hope we can achieve something great. We have it in us, but we will have to play at our best if we want to win tomorrow."

Krickau became head coach of Füchse quite unexpectedly and suddenly at the start of the season, replacing Jaron Siewert. Regarding what changes he brought to the team, he says:

"I tried to focus on the individual changes and how I could adapt everyone to the new system. But, in the meantime, there was not much time to change a lot of things, so it was all about details, really. I tried to find the balance between what I wanted to implement but also not changing everything during the season. I feel like we kind of achieved it."

Check out an interview with Krickau from earlier in the season below. 

13:35

2024/25 finalists Füchse Berlin are now on the other side of the microphone, with Max Darj, Mathias Gidsel, Nils Lichtlein, Hákun West Av Teigum and Aitor Ariño participating in the media call along with coach Nicolej Krickau.

13:33

The fact of how difficult it is to reach the EHF FINAL4 is a key theme of Barça's interviews. As captain Ludovic Fabregas says, "I don’t think people realise how tough it is to make it here — to win the games to qualify. Just because we do it every year does not mean that it’s easy. There are clubs like Paris, Kielce, Nantes or Veszprém who do not qualify, so that tells you how focused you have to be throughout the season to qualify."

Concerning the semi-final against Aalborg, Fabregas says, "They are a very specific team, in the way that they have three players on the back court who are able to shoot and score from a distance. We are more used to a centre back trying [to get] the others into position, but a player like Thomas Arnoldsen can also shoot from a distance. This is definitely something that we are taking into consideration before the semi-final."

13:08

Next up in the media calls is Barça, who are represented by Dika Mem, Ludovic Fabregas, Emil Nielsen, Blaz Janc and Dani Fernández, alongside coach Carlos Ortega. 

Find all quotes gathered by the EHF team, continually updated as the media calls progress, here. 

13:00

We have heard from Magdeburg, who emphasise that the recent trophy wins do nothing to diminish their motivation — as back Felix Claar says, "Once you have won the competition once, you want to win it again and again. And it’s hard, because you have to work to stay at the top. But we are still hungry for a title. We want to remain at the top."

As to the semi-final against Füchse Berlin, Claar says, "I only expect a tough game, a very physical one, perhaps with a lot of goals. Of course, the key will be to contain Mathias Gidsel, but it’s not only about him. This team has a lot of talent all around, and if we want to win, we will have to be at our best. There is no Gidsel plan — we are only focusing on ourselves."

On the fact that SCM beat Füchse twice this season, in the Bundesliga, Gísli Kristjánsson says: "I don’t think any of us think about those two games, and I am sure that the Berlin players have moved on as well. Our two teams know each other very well. We play against each other every season in the German Bundesliga, and every game is a new one. Tomorrow will be no different." 

12:32

The media calls are beginning, with an official opening from EHF President Michael Wiederer and then SC Magdeburg first up for interviews. In attendance alongside coach Bennet Wiegert are Magnus Saugstrup, Felix Claar, Lukas Mertens, Sergey Hernandez and two-time EHF FINAL4 MVP Gísli Kristjánsson.

Kristjánsson is only the second player to have been named MVP of the event twice. The other was also an Icelandic centre back: Aron Palmarsson, playing for THW Kiel in 2014 then Veszprém in 2016. 

12:26

To a look at the defending title holders, SC Magdeburg. This weekend, Magdeburg aim to take their fourth Champions League trophy, following the two in recent years — 2025 and 2023 — and the first in 2002. 

In a special story featuring the coach that led SCM to that first trophy, current Germany national coach Alfred Gislason, journalist Björn Pazen looks back on the early years of the Champions League, when Magdeburg ended a period of absolute dominance from Spanish clubs. 

In that Magdeburg squad that raised the trophy in 2002 was the side's curent coach, Bennet Wiegert. 

"Back then, I couldn’t realise that Benno would become such a successful coach. But his character was already exceptional," says Gislason of Wiegert. 

Check out the feature with Gislason below!

12:07

"None of the players or the people at the club take it for granted. We know how hard it is to be there" — Barça right back Dika Mem is emphatic that, although Barça have played 13 of the 17 EHF FINAL4 events held since the foramt was instated in 2010, every occasion they make it to the German city is special. 

2026 marks Barça's eighth straight trip to Cologne. For Mem, it is the ninth EHF FINAL4, at which he hopes to take his fourth trophy. 

"People might think it’s easy because Barça qualify almost every year. But it is not. Qualifying for the EHF FINAL4 is a huge task, as you play all season long against the best teams in the world."

Read the feature with Mem below.

11:43

Danish back Lasse Andersson has been one of the leading stars and most crucial players for Füchse Berlin in their highly successful last few years. Since Andersson joined the side in 2020, they have:

2023

• won the EHF European League

2025

• won the Bundesliga for the first time
• returned to the Champions League semi-finals for only their second appearance after 2012 
• reached their maiden EHF Champions League final

2026

• ended a 12-year wait to raise the German Cup

Andersson has been on a particularly stellar track since 2023, becoming one of Füchse's most important scorers. In 2024/25 especially he was crucial, scoring 115 towards Berlin's historic campaign and finishing as third top scorer of the EHF Champions League overall.

This year, he not only brings 83 goals to Cologne, but is fresh off being named MVP of the German Cup final four.

For Andersson, this TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026 will be his last hurrah with Füchse, before he moves back to Denmark to join HØJ Elite over the summer. Read the feature with Andersson below!

10:56

Over to Aalborg now, where I spoke to Sander Sagosen about their “Road to Cologne,” his hopes for this TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4, and above all, his deep connection to the club. Sagosen moved to Aalborg early in his career, aged 18, and it is there that he developed into the megastar he would become. 

“You reach for your dreams, and you work towards your goals, and you achieve and you achieve and it's the first time,” said Sagosen. 

“Despite that it’s every time special winning a title, the first time is always the most special one,” he added, referring to the Danish league title won in 2017 — a feat Aalborg have just replicated, making it a three-peat in Denmark. 

Sagosen says that how far Aalborg has come is a testament to the way they work — something that struck him from the beginning, back in 2014, before he departed in 2017 then returned in 2025. 

“For me coming here, I was 18 years old. Quite young. An inexperienced player. They took really good care of me. It was like coming to a family, with the club, with the team, with the players, and also the fans — everything, the whole thing around this club is so special for me. 

“It's quite unique and I think how far this club also has come shows how they work, not only on the handball pitch, but that it’s a family who's working on it.”

Aalborg have yet to win the EHF Champions League, and Sagosen hopes the team can deliver on that biggest dream this weekend — an achievement that would be extremely special for the Norwegian who has taken the title once before, with Kiel in 2020. Read the whole story below! 

10:43

From 12:30 CEST, the activity in Cologne picks up as the media calls begin, with all four semi-finalists taking part in interviews. Five players from each team plus their head coach are available for media in a relaxed setting, which sets the scene for insightful conversations about the upcoming semi-finals, the weekend in general and of course the season behind.

We will be bringing you lots of insights from those interviews. While we wait for the media calls to roll around, let’s dive into some of the special stories we’ve prepared in the preceding weeks.

First up, take a look at the latest instalment of the Handball Masterminds series, which features Barça coach Carlos Ortega. Ortega has won an incredible eight EHF Champions League titles — six in his time as a player and two as coach, all with Barça. Check out the episode below!

10:30

Good morning and welcome to Friday's live blog coverage straight from the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026! 

The big weekend of action awaits, with the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 semi-finals coming up on Saturday and the finals on Sunday.

Friday is all about the final preparations all round — the last interviews to gather key insights from players and coaches, the last match analysis and strategising, and the last organising at LANXESS arena before fans and the teams arrive for the opening party.

This live blog will guide you through every minute of the day, getting started with some basic info before — see where to watch the games and read the preview of the semi-finals. You can also test your knowledge of the EHF FINAL4 Men with our quiz.