Two neighbours, two trophies, two parties

It is a handball game that excites the masses just like Barcelona vs Madrid, Man City vs Man United and Schalke vs Dortmund do in football.

Whenever SG Flensburg-Handewitt face THW Kiel an entire region is thrilled. Twice it has been the fixture for an EHF Champions League Final. While Kiel took the trophy in 2007 when there were still home and away matches being played, Flensburg stroke back in 2014 at the VELUX EHF FINAL4.

Four times in the first 13 years of the EHF Champions League both finalists came from the same country; an all-Spanish affair on all four occasions. In 1996 Barcelona won against Elgorriaga Bidasoa; in 2001 Portland San Antonio beat Barcelona; in 2005 Barcelona beat Ciudad Real and in 2006 Ciudad Real beat San Antonio.

Until May 2007 only three German teams had made it to final: Kiel in 2000, Magdeburg in 2002 and Flensburg in 2004 – and only Magdeburg had eventually won the trophy.

A clash everyone remembers

Then came the 2007 final and never before had there been such a small distance between the two competitors: Only 60 kilometres separate Kiel and Flensburg.

In Kiel, fans were camping overnight in front of the ticket office and the same happened in Flensburg. The games sold-out within hours and an entire region went handball-crazy.

Kiel were the clear favourites, but they had been hit hard by a long series of injuries: Lövgren, Ahlm and some more key players were ruled out for the finals.

They reacted and igned legendary Andrej Xepkin from Barcelona, who had quit playing handball after winning the Champions League six times with the Spanish side – and to date he remains the only player with seven trophies to his name.

With only seven court …

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