Semi-finals day in Cologne; countdown to throw-off
The moment has arrived — it's time to decide the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 title! First step: The semi-finals, taking place today in LANXESS arena, Cologne.
The all-German derby and rematch of last season's final gets the day started at 15:00 CEST, when SC Magdeburg meet Füchse Berlin. At 18:00 CEST, Aalborg Håndbold and Barça clash in a rematch of the previous year's final to determine the opponents of whichever German club reaches the title match for the second straight time.
The final will be played on Sunday at 18:00 CEST.
12:43
Jumping ahead to semi-final two, as time will be tight once we get rolling in LANXESS arena — let's take a look at Aalborg Håndbold versus Barça.
It's a case of Aalborg looking for revenge in this encounter, as the Danish side have made it to the EHF Champions League final twice — where they were defeated by Barça in both instances.
Where the German semi-finalists have previously met in European cup competitions only twice, the international history between Barça and Aalborg is much more extensive, dating to 2014. In 14 duels, Barça have won 13. The only victory for Aalborg was in the most recent clash, in the 2024/25 group phase, when Aalborg beat Barça 36:35.
Barça have the top goalkeeper in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 in Emil Nielsen, who has an average save rate of 34.34 per cent through the season and 159 saves. His partner in goal, Viktor Hallgrímsson, sits third in the season for save rate, making them the best duo in the season.
For Aalborg, Nielsen's predecessor in the Denmark goal, Niklas Landin, is the leading keeper for his side and fifth overall in the season, with 127 saves at a rate of 27.37 per cent.
Scoring wise, Barça are led by wing Aleix Gómez, on 103 goals. For Aalborg, back Thomas Arnoldsen is the top scorer with 94 goals. Gómez ranks sixth on the overall scorer list for the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26, while Arnoldsen sits ninth.
12:22
To some key facts surrounding the first semi-final, SC Magdeburg vs Füchse Berlin.
The sides have met only twice in European cup competitions, and both times were finals — both won by Magdeburg. The first was the final of the EHF European League in 2021, which Magdeburg won 28:25. The second was of course last season's Champions League final, where Magdeburg took a 32:26 victory.
The teams are much more familiar foes in a domestic context. There, Magdeburg won both encounters in the Bundesliga 2025/26. With those victories part of their record, SCM became German league champions for the fourth time (2001, 2022, 2024, 2026).
Berlin took their first Bundesliga title ever last season. This year, they celebrated the German Cup, which they won for the second time, following the first in 2014.
I've already talked about Berlin back Mathias Gidsel leading the season's score chart, which naturally makes him Füchse's top scorer this season. Next behind him is fellow Dane Lasse Andersson, with 83 goals. Dejan Milosavljev, one of Berlin's heroes in last year's semi-final in particular, is their leading keeper, with 129 saves in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26.
On SCM's side, Icelandic back Ómar Ingi Magnússon is the top scorer, with 86 goals. Sergey Hernandez is their numer one goalkeeper, with 109 saves.
12:06
Now to the business — let's get into these semi-finals.
First up we have the German derby, the rematch of last season's final, the clash between the newly crowned Bundesliga champions SC Magdeburg and the German Cup winners Füchse Berlin.
Let's start with one man in particular: The EHF Excellence Awards 2024/25 MVP, three-time back-to-back IHF World Player of the Year and MVP of five national team championships since he made his debut in 2021, Mathias Gidsel.
Last year his maiden appearance in Cologne was surrounded by anticipation, and we were served up the drama early as he received a direct red card just nine minutes into the semi-final against HBC Nantes. But Berlin showed they could play a huge game without him, taking a dominant win to reach the final. We'll come back to that later.
Gidsel is poised to take the EHF Champions League top scorer title for the second consecutive time. With a goal count of 144, Gidsel has passed not only his own tally from 2024/25 (135), but his compatriot Mikkel Hansen's record of 141 — which was the highest in one season according to how far back our reliable records go.
The closest player behind Gidsel still in the competition is Barça win Aleix Gómez, who has 103 goals — meaning Gidsel's individual title is pretty much locked up, although nothing is official until the final whistle.
Below, check out the special video story on Berlin and Gidsel (and head over to the Home of Handball YouTube for more!), and read the originating piece in the exclusive EHF Champions League My Game series, which I wrote with Gidsel ahead of last season.
10:39
Good morning and welcome to the first of the two biggest days on the men's club handball calendar — semi-finals day at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026!
Today the two teams that will battle for the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 title will be decided. A reminder of the semi-final schedule:
- 15:00 CEST SC Magdeburg vs Füchse Berlin
- 18:00 CEST Aalborg Håndbold vs Barça
The handball action surrounding the event is already underway, with the GOG U18 side having just beaten Barça 31:25 in the first semi-final of the EHF Youth Club Trophy Men. The second semi-final, Füchse Berlin versus Veszprém Handball Academy, begins at 11:30 CEST.
On the line for the U18 sides are places in the final on Sunday, which will be played in LANXESS arena right before the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 finals. Watch all the Youth Club Trophy action live on EHFTV.
Back to the A teams and some housekeeping before we get properly into the build-up fun: Below, read all the key facts surrounding the semi-finals in our preview; find out where to watch the matches in your country; and review everything the teams got up to on Friday with yesterday's live blog.
