Jump to:
EHF European Cup Men

EHF European Cup Women

SPAIN

Rocasa Gran Canaria lift third trophy in history

In the second year of the EHF European Cup Women, Rocasa Gran Canaria lifted the trophy despite losing the last match of the competition.

Gran Canaria took the title after a series of close races throughout the competition. They made it through round 3 after losing 37:38 to Skara IF at home and then beating the Swedish team 27:25 away.

Second-leg home victories were key to Gran Canaria reaching the semi-finals, where again a big 34:27 win in Spain saw them take their place in the final over HC Galychanka Lviv after losing 19:20 in the first leg, played in the Czech Republic.

In the all-Spanish final, played in May 2022, Gran Canaria played the first leg at home against 2021 champions Costa del Sol Malaga. They won a low-scoring first half 9:8 but moved ahead in the second half to take a 21:17 win with Katarina Pavlovic scoring seven times.

That put Gran Canaria in a strong position for the second leg in Malaga. Costa del Sol attacked hard and were five up at the break, but Gran Canaria managed to hold the gap at four, thanks to Alba Spugnini's goal nine seconds from the buzzer. Although they lost 25:29 and the aggregate score was 46:46, Gran Canaria won the title on the away goals rule.

There were 7,183 spectators at the Jose Maria Martin Carpena Palacio de los Deportes for the final, a new attendance record for a women's handball match in Spain.

The trophy was Gran Canaria’s third in the third-tier European competition in six years. They also lifted the EHF Challenge Cup in 2016 and 2019.

Malaga have also had considerable success at this level of European competition, reaching the Challenge Cup quarter-finals in both 2018 and 2019 before winning the European Cup in 2021. Both Spanish teams have stepped up to the EHF European League for the 2022/23 season.

EHF European Cup Men

NORWAY AND ROMANIA

Fairytale complete as Nærbø IL lift trophy

Nærbø IL became the first Norwegian side to win a European men’s club competition since 1996 when they lifted the EHF European Cup Men trophy in May 2022. 

Nærbø secured wins in both legs of the final against Romania’s CS Minaur Baia Mare to take the title, ending a hugely successful season in style.

The Norwegian club began the competition in round 2 by eliminating Raimond Sassari of Italy, going on to defeat ASD Accademia P. Conversano 2014 and CSM Foscani 2007. In the quarter-finals they had a walkover after their opponents SKA Minsk were excluded from the competition. 

In the semi-finals, Nærbo beat fellow Norwegian side Drammen in a shootout, forced after both teams won their respective home leg 30:27.

Against Baia Mare, Nærbo started strongly with a 29:25 victory at ‘home’ – although they had moved from their usual court to the 5,000-seater DNB Arena in nearby Stavanger to accommodate more spectators. 

In the return leg Nærbo inflicted Baia Mare’s first home loss of the competition, winning 27:26 to confirm the trophy.

The result was very much a family affair. Nærbo’s assistant coach is Rune Haugseng, and his son Andreas and nephews Tord and Rassin both play in the team. Andreas and Tord Haugseng were both key to the victories in the final, together contributing 27 of Nærbo’s 56 goals in the two legs. 

Although they lost the final, 2021/22 was Baia Mare’s best European season for some time. They previously reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup 2021 in their return to European competition following several years away.