EHF European Cup Men 2024
Nail-biting final as Valur claim Iceland’s first European trophy
Following a 30:26 win for Valur in the first leg, the return fixture in Piraeus saw a dramatic comeback from the Icelandic team to end with a draw on aggregate, meaning a penalty shootout was required. After the shootout, Valur clinched the aggregate win by just one goal.
“This means a lot for us at Valur, for Icelandic handball and sport in general in Iceland. This was the first gold that an Icelandic club won in handball, football or basketball,” said Valur head coach Óskar Bjarni Óskarsson. “Only two times a team from Iceland has been in the finals — the last time was in 1980 and that was also Valur.”
The nail-biting spectacle was witnessed by 7,500 people, who set a new attendance record for an EHF club competition in Greece.
Olympiacos left back Savvas Savvas finished as the season’s top scorer, with 81 goals.
Valur eliminated two Romanian teams on the path to the final. In the semi-final, they enjoyed a convincing win over CS Minaur Baia Mare, 66:52, following victories in both legs. Olympiacos drew against Hungarian team FTC-Green Collect in the first leg, before a clear win that took them to the final on an aggregative victory of 67:60.
Valur also won both legs of their quarter-final tie for an overall win of 72:65 against CSA Steaua Bucuresti. Olympiacos earned a 56:45 victory over Slovenian team MRK Krka. The other semi-finalists, Baia Mare and FTC-Green Collect, knocked out Austrian side Bregenz Handball and Slovakian team TATRAN Presov in their respective quarter-finals.
12 countries were represented by the clubs in the Last 16, including Türkiye, Czechia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Italy along with those nations whose clubs progressed to the quarter-finals. In that stage, Valur eliminated RK Metaloplastika Elixir Sabac with a 57:54 win and Olympiacos knocked out Italian team SSV Brixen 66:48. The Last 16 represented Valur’s closest results of the European Cup season, aside from the aggregate score in the final, as they won the first leg by just one goal then the second by two.
In the previous rounds, Valur knocked out former EHF Champions League side HC Motor from Ukraine, Estonian team Pölva Serviti and Lithuanian club Granitas-Karys. While Valur started in round 1, Olympiacos entered the competition in round 2. There, they defeated Italian team Raimond Sassari, before beating Croatian side MRK Trogir in round 3.
