KH Besa Famgas travelled to Türkiye with a five-goal lead after their first leg against Depsas Enerji AS SK. Depsas took control of the match between minutes 26 and 43, leading by as many as seven goals. Yet, Famgas came back in the last quarter of the second leg to close the gap to two goals (30:28) and advance to the second round with a 67:64 win on aggregate.
- Raimond Sassari played their double-header in Türkiye over the weekend and travel home with two wins and a ticket to round 2; on Friday, the Italian side secured a 36:32 win thanks to Giovanni Pavani’s incredible 21 saves (39 per cent); On Sunday, they led from start to finish in a 42:38 goal fest; Rohnan Conte and Albin Järlstam were the team’s top scorers with 18 and 17 goals, respectively, over the two matches
- roomz JAGS Vösslau reached round 2 after beating Mistra with the same result as last week: 31:23, this time in Estonia; Victor Pelechenko was the Austrian side’s top-scorer in the second leg with eight goals and a perfect six from six from the penalty line
- A.C. PAOK comfortably reach the second round, beating Greek rivals E.S.N. Vrilissia 60:44 on aggregate; after saving 18 shots in the first leg, PAOK goalkeeper Igor Arsic shone once more with 13 saves (43 per cent) in Saturday’s 33:24 home win
- MRK Sloga Doboj added four more goals to their sixteen-goal advantage from the first leg, winning the second leg against Granitas-Karys 37:33 in Lithuania; Simas Butkus and Marius Kairys scored 10 goals each for the Lithuanian side
- CSM Constanta dominated their double-header at home against Parnassos Strovolou from Cyprus, winning 39:22 in the first leg and 34:24 in the second leg; Constanta’s goalkeeper trio saved 25 shots (35 per cent) throughout both matches
HB Dudelange stun North Macedonian crowd
A tough task awaited HB Dudelange in North Macedonia on Saturday, after losing the first leg against HC Butel Skopje 27:31 at home. Throughout the first half, the match was neck and neck, with the guests grabbing a one-goal lead four seconds before the buzzer. Dudelange had the better start to the second half, drawing the tie on aggregate for the first time after 37 minutes (14:18). However, the hosts came back, even taking a two-goal lead with 10 minutes to go.
Dudelange did not surrender and outscored Butel by 9:4 in the remaining period. Going into the last minute (23:27), two options seemed the most probable: a penalty shootout or Butel to qualify for the next round. Yet, a turnover with three seconds to go by the home side and a buzzer-beater from Fynn Köller sends the side from Luxembourg into the second round.
