Semi-final against Veszprém: “We know each other inside out”

“We won our first two games and moved into the semi-finals with clear games. If you look at the overall circumstances, I think this is the expected result,” said the managing director of Handball Magdeburg GmbH, Marc-Henrik Schmedt.

The victories against North American champion California Eagles (50-20) on Saturday and Asian champion Sharjah SC (36-26) on Sunday were clear, all players could be brought into the tournament and celebrate their successes and SCM has confidently fulfilled its first partial goal by entering the knockout phase.

With Veszprém HC, however, there is now a completely different opponent. The Hungarian champions won their two tournament games against Sydney Uni (51-15) and Al Ahly (31-22) and have recently beaten Dinamo Bucuresti and HBC Nantes in the Champions League. Meanwhile, SCM has its own Super Globe experience with coach Xavi Pascual’s team: In the 2024 final, Magdeburg had to admit defeat 33-34 after a dramatic game including extra time.

“We know each other inside out, as many times as we have competed in the same competitions in recent years. That is perhaps even the advantage over a home team that can play freely here and also has the support of the fans behind it,” Schmedt classifies.

He also refers to the dramatic quarter-final in the Champions League in May, which SCM won and thus paved the way to the title. “We had the happier ending for us. In this respect, preparations are now fully underway for tomorrow. And then we’ll see what happens. Of course, our goal is to make it to the final.”