A round before the end of the Euro Cup Group Stage, almost all eighth-final berths have been allocated.
Jug and Savona qualified two weeks ago. This evening, Terrassa, Barcelona, Szolnok, and Sabac joined them with wins in the 5th round.
Everything is open in Group C, where the trend of a penalty shootout continued. Panathinaikos defeated BVSC in Athens after a shootout, 21:18. Vouliagmeni leads this group with 11 points, BVSC has 10, and Panathinaikos 9.
One of the fifth-round derbies was between Sabac and Savona in Group D. Sabac, the home team, qualified for the Round of 16 with a 13:9 victory, while Savona maintained the top spot in the group.
The remaining three teams that earned the eighth-finals berths with this evening’s wins achieved away victories. In Group A, Terrassa defeated Solaris 18:15. In Group B, Szolnok triumphed over Trieste 15:12, and Barcelona won against Dinamo, finishing 19:10.
As in the Champions League, the matches of 6th round will take place in February.
2026 Euro Cup, Group Stage, Round 5
GROUP A
Jug – ASC Duisburg 19:10 (7:3, 5:2, 4:2, 3:3)
Jug: Zuvela 6, Pavlic 3, Kulas 3, Djerkovic 2, Susic 2, Mozara 1, Busic 1, Herceg 1.
ASC Duisburg: Seifert 4, Simic 2, Gemalmazoglu 2, Halb 1, Dolff 1
Solaris – Terrassa 15:18 (4:3, 3:7, 5:4, 3:4)
Solaris: Pelicaric 6, Koprcina 3, Vlahovic 2, Sparada 2, Cubranic 1, Bulat 1.
Terrassa:Ten Broek 5, Sabadell 5, Bargallo 2, Cuacos 2, Blasco 2, Chico 2
Jug, which had already confirmed the top spot in the group before the fifth round, demonstrated its power in the game against ASC Duisburg. The home side, playing without two veterans, Maro Jokovic and Andro Buslje, recorded a comfortable victory
Terrassa joined Jug in the next phase with an away victory over Solaris. For Solaris, this was a must-win game, while Terrassa could keep chances even with a three-goal loss. Solaris managed to take a two-goal lead on two occasions during the first half, with scores of 4:2 and 5:3. Midway through the second quarter, the hosts held a slim advantage at 6:5. However, Terrassa finished the first half strongly, scoring five goals while conceding only one, and ended the half with a 10:7 lead. During the third period, Solaris closed the gap, bringing the score to 10:11, 11:12, and 12:13. Early in the fourth quarter, Terrassa regained a three-goal lead at 15:12. The Spaniards later extended their margin to four goals at 17:13 and maintained control of the match.
Standings: 1. Jug 15, 2. Terrassa 9, 3. Solaris 3, 4. ASC Duisburg 3.
GROUP B
Dinamo Bucharest – Barcelona 10:19 (2:4, 3:4, 3:6, 2:5)
Dinamo Bucharest: Cikovani 4, Radu 2, Cojocariu 1, Sachetti 1, Marinescu 1, Meskhi 1.
Barcelona: Ramon 3, Van der Weijden 3, Daura 3, Watanabe 3, Andrade 2, Paul 2, Villamayor 1.
Trieste – Szolnok 12:15 (4:4, 3:5, 3:3, 2:3)
Trieste: Draskovic 4, Manzi 3, Mezzarobba 2, Petronio 1, F. Faraglia 1, P. Faraglia 1.
Szolnok: Kakstedter Cseh 3, Krasznai 2, Zeman 2, Kovacs 2, Simon 1, Bedo 1, Teleki 1.
In today’s first match in Group B, Barcelona didn’t miss a chance to become the first qualified team from this group. The Spaniards started strongly against Dinamo in Bucharest, taking a 4:1 and a 5:2 lead. Deep into the second quarter, Dinamo cut its deficit to one goal, 4:5. However, Barcelona replied with a 6:2 run and built a five-goal lead in the middle of the third quarter, 11:6 and there was no way back for Dinamo.
After Barcelona, Szolnok secured the ticket for the eighth finals with a 15:12 over Trieste in a derby match. In the first half of an even contest, Trieste held the lead for most of the time, while Szolnok chased the hosts. In the 14th minute, the Hungarians went ahead for the first time, when Kovacs converted a penalty for 7:6. Trieste’s best scorer, Draskovic, leveled immediately. Szolnok ruled the field between the 15th and 22nd minutes. The visitors netted five unanswered goals in those seven minutes and built a crucial 12:7 lead. After that, all of Trieste’s comeback attempts ended in failure.
An encounter between Barcelona and Szolnok in Spain in the 6th round will decide the group winner.
Standings: 1. Barcelona 12, 2. Szolnok 12, 3. Trieste 6, 4. Dinamo 0.
GROUP C
Vouliagmeni – Buducnost 19:9 (4:3, 3:3, 6:2, 6:1)
Vouliagmeni: Troulos 6, Tottis 4, Ubovic 2, Agelopoulos 2, Kastrinakis 2, Te Riele 1, Giannatos 1, Belesis 1.
Buducnost: Boskovic 3, Strkalj 2, Brguljan 2, Brnovic 1, D’Souza 1.
Panathinaikos – BVSC 21:18 (5:4, 2:4, 7:6, 3:3, PSO 4:1)
Panathinaikos: Papanikolaou 6, Gkiouvetsis 4, Papasifakis 2, Banicevic 2, ourouvanis 1, Chatzigoulas 1, Kopelaidis 1.
BVSC: Tatrai 3, Csacsovszky 2, Ekler 2, Benedek 2, Kovacs 2, Batizi 2, Shushiahsvili 1, Jansik 1, Bundschuh 1.
Vouliagmeni returned to the winning track with a convincing victory over Buducnost. However, the Montenegrins kept up with the favorite for more than two quarters. Early in the third period, Buducnost equalized at 7:7. But, Vouliagmeni answered with four goals within less than two minutes to jump to 11:7 and continued dominating until the end.
The second match played in Greece this evening was a real thriller, filled with goals and exclusions. The encounter between Panathinaikos and BVSC had numerous twists and turns. Two goals separated the rivals only twice. The Hungarian side was the first one that took a 2-goal lead late in the second quarter, scoring to make it 8:6. However, Panathinaikos performed slightly better in the third period, and went ahead again in the 22nd minute – 12:11. The teams then exchanged goals until the end of the quarter, leaving them tied at 14:14 at the last break.
Panathinaikos managed to earn a 2-goal advantage (16:14) midway through the final quarter. Then BVSC took control, scoring three straight goals. Just 51 seconds before the end, Ekler put the visitors in front, 17:16. But, Gkiouvetsis converted a man-up with 15 seconds remaining, leveled at 17:17, and for the fourth time this season, a penalty shootout decided the winner in a match in Group C (Vouliagmeni was involved in the previous three games). BVSC scored only once in a shootout.
However, BVSC kept a realistic chance of advancing with one point taken in Athens, because it will host Buducnost in the last round. The Greek battle, Vouliagmeni – Panathinaikos, will decide the second eighth-finalists in this group.
Standings: 1. Vouliagmeni 11, 2. BVSC 10, 3. Panathinaikos 9, 4. Buducnost 0.
GROUP D
Spandau 04 – Steaua 13:10 (4:4, 3:1, 2:2, 4:3)
Spandau 04: Kojic 4, Hofmann 2, Nagy 2, Sekulic 2, Bauer 1, Vujicic 1, Chiru 1.
Steaua: Georgescu 3, Vucinic 2, Iudean 2, Bota 1, Neamtu 1, Tepelus 1.
Sabac – Savona 13:9 (4:1, 2:3, 5:3, 2:2)
Sabac: Stanojevic 4, Toholj 4, Kovacevic 2, Tomic 1, Barac 1, Stojanovic 1.
Savona: Bruni 2, Occhione 2, Damonte 2, Rizzo 1, Condemi 1, Cora 1.
Spandau was ahead of Steaua for most of the match in Berlin. Midway through the second quarter, the home team went on a crucial 3-0 run. The Germans scored three goals in just two and a half minutes, jumping from a tie of 4-4 to a lead of 7-4. For the remainder of the game, Steaua managed to narrow the gap to two goals several times, but it could not get any closer. With this victory, Spandau kept its chances of advancing to the Round of 16 alive. However, these chances lasted for only an hour, until the end of the match in Sabac.
By defeating Savona, Sabac advanced to the Top 16 round and caught up with Savona in points. However, the Italian team shouldn’t be too disappointed. Savona still holds a better head-to-head record against Sabac, thanks to a 17:12 win in Italy. In the final round, Savona will host Steaua, while Sabac will travel to Berlin, making it likely that the Italians will maintain 1st place.
Sabac got off to an excellent start in the game against Savona. The Serbs quickly earned a 2:0 lead. At the first break, they were 4:1 up. Savona, which arrived with only 12 players, fought back and leveled at 4:4 in the 14th minute. Sabac was without a goal for six minutes. Still, the hosts’ Kovacevic and Barac managed to find the net at the end of the first half, giving their team a 6:4 lead before the second half.
Savona halved its deficit to 5:6 and 6:7, but then came Sabac’s 4:0 run. The hosts went to 11:6 and were very close to overcoming a 5-goal deficit from the game in Savona. Between the 21st and 25th minutes, Savona played with a man-down because Leinweber was red-carded for a violent foul committed while Sabac was leading 9:6. However, the visitors reduced the gap in the fourth quarter to 8:11. Sabac built a 4-goal lead twice (12:8 and 13:9), but the Italians avoided a big defeat.
