EHF Final4 2026 Fever: Who Will Rule Europe?

Posted on 11. June 2026.

The grand finale of the 2025/2026 season will be played in Cologne! The moment awaited by everyone with handball in their heart, the event at LANXESS Arena after which we will find out who the best team in Europe is this season, is slowly building up the kind of euphoria we have known so well since 2010, when the EHF introduced the new competition system with a final weekend played over two days.

The reigning German champions and EHF Champions League title holders, Magdeburg, will have the chance to strike another blow against their biggest rivals of recent years, Füchse Berlin, already in the semi-final. It will be a repeat of last year’s final, won by Bennet Wiegert’s team after they had lost the Bundesliga title. This time, Berlin find themselves in that position, determined to add at least one of the two biggest trophies in world handball to their cabinet — with the added note that they won the German Cup two months ago under the roof of the same sporting temple on the banks of the Rhine.

While Magdeburg are preparing to say goodbye to their goalkeeping duo Hernández–Portner and defensive legend O’Sullivan, the emotional weight seems even greater for the “Foxes”, who are parting ways with the Milosavljev–Andersson duo. This tournament is also the final item on Mathias Gidsel’s bucket list. He has done absolutely everything in his career, broken every possible record, built a remarkable golden run with Denmark, and now only the EHF Champions League trophy remains. Last season, he was sent off in the semi-final against Nantes, before Bennet Wiegert’s tactics completely neutralised him in the final against Magdeburg.

The fact that he spent an average of 55 minutes and two seconds per match on the court in the Bundesliga this season, while also playing the leading role for the national team on the road to gold at the EHF EURO 2026, clearly shows the level of workload placed on him. But for the Final4 and these 120 minutes, everyone finds a way to give everything they have.

The second semi-final will bring a clash between Aalborg and Barça. The most decorated club of all time against a club that emerged on the big stage five or six years ago with a vision of becoming “the best club in Europe”. The Danes are on the right path, but if you want to reach the very top, taking Barça’s scalp is a must. They have tried twice and stopped in the final both times, in 2021 and 2024. Will it be third time lucky for Landin and his teammates? On the other side, will be the third success for Antonio Carlos Ortega and fourth for Dika Mem?

WHO WILL WIN THE EHF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2025/2026?