Dear Handball Friends, Welcome to the quarter-final stage of the VELUX EHF Champions League. I would like to congratulate all eight teams on making it this far in Europe’s premier men’s club handball competition – it really is quite some achievement! This season we see the traditional powerhouses of men’s handball, including the last two seasons’ champions FC Barcelona Intersport and THW Kiel, joined in the quarter-finals by some new faces. Füchse Berlin and AG Kobenhavn are playing their very first season in the competition and RK Cimos Koper are in the quarter-finals of the VELUX EHF Champions League for the first time in their club’s history. There is a new development too in the quarter-finals, as AG Kobenhavn take on FC Barcelona Intersport, in the Parken football stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark. With 22,000 fans expected, this event looks set to break all spectator records and has already attracted tremendous interest from fans and TV stations around the world. I am sure that the hearts and minds of all players and coaches are firmly set on winning a place in the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in the LANXESS arena, Cologne on 26 and 27 May 2012. They are now just two games away from making this dream a reality. Whatever the results there will be tears, some of joy and some of sadness, but the games will be the very best of the sport we all love. Enjoy watching top-class handball and good luck to all those taking part! Tor Lian EHF President EHF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT Dear Media Representative, The teams are now within touching distance of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 which takes place on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 May 2012 at the LANXESS arena, Cologne, Germany. Many media representatives from across Europe have attended matches this season and the coverage of the VELUX EHF Champions League is going from strength-to-strength with more territories reporting on, and showing live, the very best club handball in the world. The EHF Media and Communications Department are honoured to have you cover our games and are at your disposal at all times. If you should have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us on the details below. Regards, JJ Rowland Andrew McSteen Head of EHF Media and Communications. EHF Media Relations [email protected] [email protected] + 43 (0) 699 171 422 06 +43 (0) 681 207 32013 Official name of the VELUX EHF Champions League The official name of the competition is: VELUX EHF Champions League. The full name of the competition should always be used. VELUX and the three letter abbreviation for the European Handball Federation should always be displayed in capital letters before the name of the competition. Please note: If the season is required, it has to be positioned after “Champions League” e.g. VELUX EHF Champions League 2011/12. The wording “Champions League” should always be written with a capital letter at the beginning of each word, i.e. Champions League. The remaining letters should be in lower case. The word Champions does not have an apostrophe after the ‘s’. VELUX EHF Champions League Title Sponsor VELUX EHF Champions League Premium Sponsors VELUX EHF Champions League Regional Premium Sponsors VELUX EHF Champions League Partners / Suppliers VELUX EHF Champions League Web Sites ehfCL.com ehfFinal4.com ehfTV.com Eight final steps to Cologne Preview of the first leg matches in the VELUX EHF Champions League quarter-finals. The first legs of the VELUX EHF Champions League quarter-finals begin on Friday (20 April), and the line-up boasts five nations, two debutants, the team with the most EHF Champions League titles and every EHF Men’s Champions League winner since the 2004-05 season! Just eight matches remain before we will know the line-up of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 at a sold-out Lanxess Arena in Cologne, the highlight of club handball. But for all clubs, the road to Cologne is steep and rocky as they must navigate tricky quarter final clashes. All three Spanish teams which started in the Group Stages remain in the competition, while two out of four German teams and clubs from Croatia, Slovenia and Denmark have proceeded to the second knockout stage of this season’s competition. Atletico Madrid and defending champions FC Barcelona Intersport had qualified for both previous VELUX EHF FINAL4 events. Kiel had participated (and won the first edition), while all other contenders never been to Cologne before. The three current top scorers in the VELUX EHF Champions League still have the chance to extend their number of goals: Zlatko Horvat (RK Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb/80 goals), Mikkel Hansen (AG Kobenhavn/79) and Kiril Lazarov (Atletico Madrid/74). In total seven of the ten best scorers have made their way to the quarter finals. AG Kobenhavn and Füchse Berlin are VELUX EHF Champions League debutants, while RK Cimos Koper have reached the quarter finals for the first time. In contrast THW Kiel, FC Barcelona Intersport, Atletico Madrid and RK Zagreb are constant participants in the last eight. Kiel can qualify for an EHF Champions League semi-final for the eighth time, while if Barcelona progress to the last four it will be the tenth such time. AG Kobenhavn (DEN) vs. FC Barcelona Intersport (ESP) Friday, April 20 2012, 20:10 hrs local time The "handboldfesten" is expected to be a sell-out with the biggest crowd ever at a European Cup match. AG Kobenhavn expect more than 21,000 spectators in the Parken football arena, where the Danish champions broke the world record last season with 36,000 spectators in the Danish final against Silkeborg. On Monday evening 19,600 tickets were sold, as mentioned by AGK manager Sören Colding on the club website. Both teams are number one in their respective leagues: FC Barcelona Intersport are leaders in Spain, but only two points ahead of Atletico Madrid. Kobenhavn are dominant in Denmark; after reaching top spot in the normal round unbeaten, they have already qualified for the semi final of the Danish league. Three current AGK players will face their former club: Mikkel Hansen, Joachim Boldsen and Kasper Hvidt. "A dream comes true," was the first reaction of Hansen, when the draw was over. Never before have both teams met in an international match. AGK is still unbeaten at home with five victories and one draw (against THW Kiel), while FC Barcelona Intersport only lost one away game this season - the first leg of the Last 16 in Montpellier. While the hosts will miss goalkeeper Steinar Ege (rupture of Achilles, replaced by Mikkel Henriksen), FC Barcelona can pick from a fully fit team. Five times EHF Champions League winner Siarhei Rutenka was suspended for the first match, but his club successfully filed an appeal so now he is eligible to play on Friday. Barcelona eliminated Montpellier in the Last 16, while Kobenhavn did not have any problems against IK Sävehof from Sweden. Watch the match LIVE at ehfTV.com Reale Ademar Leon (ESP) vs. Füchse Berlin (GER) Saturday, April 21 2012, 17:30 hrs local time The third-ranked team from Spanish league takes on the third-ranked team from the German league – whatever happens, there will be one surprise club making their way to Cologne. Whilst Reale Ademar Leon is the only quarter finalist to have finished third after the Group Stage, Füchse are the only club fourth-ranked after the Group Stage. And as the Germans are Champions League debutants, both have never met before in an international competition. Despite some injury problems throughout the whole season, the Asobal team coached by Isidoro Martinez have qualified for the quarter finals for the fourth time in their club’s history. The key to this success is their strength on home soil, as – despite having hosted top teams – Ademar is still unbeaten in their "Leon’s den". They took victories against Kobenhavn, Montpellier and Veszprem and only tied with THW Kiel in their previous matches. Füchse on the other hand have shown that they are best in away games, by winning at Veszprem and Hamburg and drawing at Chekhovskie Medvedi. Berlin lost only two away matches – at Madrid and Kielce. So everybody expects that the first leg will be the key to success. In the Last 16 Leon beat Veszprem by coming from behind to record a three-goal victory, which proved enough in a thrilling final match in Hungary. Berlin won both encounters against their German colleagues from Hamburg in the Last 16. Watch the match LIVE at ehfTV.com RK Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb (CRO) vs. THW Kiel (GER) Saturday, April 21 2012, 19:15 hrs local time The duel of the record-breaking German and Croatian champions is the only quarter final where there is a long history between the two sides, having faced each other eight times in the EHF Champions League, and the balance is equal with each three victories and two draws. Kiel have never won at Zagreb before, Zagreb have never won at Kiel - and in case of knockout stage matches, THW was the aggregate winner in all three cases (semi finals 1998 and 2000, quarter finals 2009). The duel is overshadowed by the sacking of Zagreb coach Ivica Obrvan, who was replaced by Croatian national coach Slavko Goluza. After hitting the brakes hard, Zagreb hope for a wake-up call for their players after missing the SEHA league title. On the other hand THW Kiel is close to win their 17th national championship. Before their Wednesday’s match at EHF Cup winner FA Göppingen, Kiel had extended their series to 54:0 points in all 27 matches.