Lasse Andersson ahead of his farewell from Füchse Berlin: the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne also carries a powerful personal story
Ahead of the final tournament of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, the European Handball Federation has once again placed emphasis on Füchse Berlin and Lasse Andersson, the Danish left back for whom the appearance in Cologne will be the final chapter in a six-year spell at the German club. According to the EHF announcement of 8 June 2026, Andersson will play his last match for the Berlin team on 14 June, the final day of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 tournament. This brings to an end a period in which he became one of the most important players of Füchse, but also one of the symbols of the club's rise towards the very top of European handball. The news carries additional weight because the farewell is not taking place in a routine league match, but on the most visible club stage of European handball, in the LANXESS arena in Cologne. In sporting terms, Berlin enter the final phase with the ambition of taking one step further after last season's defeat in the final, while Andersson, on a personal level, is trying to end his cycle at the club with a trophy that Füchse have not yet won.
Cologne once again gathers four European title contenders
According to official EHF information, the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026 takes place on 13 and 14 June in the LANXESS arena in Cologne. The final tournament brings four matches over two days, and the winner will lift the 33rd trophy in the history of the men's EHF Champions League. The semi-final schedule was confirmed after the draw in Vienna: on Saturday, 13 June, from 15:00 Central European Summer Time, SC Magdeburg and Füchse Berlin will play, while from 18:00 Aalborg Håndbold and Barça will meet. The following day, 14 June, the third-place match is scheduled for 15:00, and the final for 18:00. The EHF states that this is the 17th edition of the final event played in Cologne, a city that in recent years has become synonymous with the final weekend of the strongest European club handball competition.
The semi-final pairings carry a strong competitive context. The EHF announced that the first semi-final repeats the German clash from the 2024/25 season final, when SC Magdeburg defeated Füchse Berlin and won the title. Magdeburg arrive in Cologne as defending European champions and as a club that, according to the EHF, has won two of the last three titles in the men's Champions League. Barça are the competition record holders with 11 European titles, while Aalborg and Berlin are still waiting for their first triumph in this competition. Precisely for that reason, the EHF final event has double importance for Füchse: an opportunity for a historic club breakthrough and the possibility for Andersson to say farewell in a match or weekend that would hold a special place within the club's history.
Andersson's final weekend in the Berlin shirt
According to the EHF, Andersson arrived in Berlin in 2020 after a four-year period in Barcelona, and before that he had already had experience playing in the Champions League with Danish side KIF Kolding København. In its official preview ahead of the final event, the EHF describes him as a player who won several trophies with Füchse and grew into one of the team's key figures. The European federation states that with Berlin he won the EHF European League, the German championship, the German Cup, the German Super Cup and the IHF Super Globe, and last season reached the final of the EHF Champions League. That defeat against Magdeburg remained a sporting wound that Berlin will now try to close in a direct semi-final duel with the same opponent.
Official EHF data show that in the 2025/26 season, up to the final tournament, Andersson scored 83 goals in the EHF Champions League for Füchse Berlin. In the final event preview, the EHF lists him as Berlin's second-best scorer in the current European season, behind Mathias Gidsel, who at that moment was the overall top scorer of the competition. In the 2024/25 season, Andersson scored 115 goals in the same competition, confirming his long-term importance in Berlin's attack. Füchse Berlin stated in an earlier club announcement that Andersson had been the third-best scorer of the Champions League last season and that at the Max-Schmeling-Halle he often delivered a combination of powerful shooting and assists. The club also emphasized that from October 2024 he had been the team's vice-captain and that he had an important role in the dressing room, especially in his relationship with younger players.
Andersson, according to the EHF, is aware that the farewell is taking place at an exceptional moment, but he said that he is trying to experience it as normally as possible. In the same announcement, he emphasized that he sees the duel against Magdeburg as a match full of energy and as an opportunity for revenge after last season's final. The EHF also notes his assessment that league matches cannot be directly compared with a Champions League semi-final, even though Magdeburg defeated Berlin twice in the German championship this season. That sentence sums up the logic of the final tournament well: form, head-to-head records and previous results provide the framework, but two days in Cologne often create a different dynamic from the league rhythm. In such an environment, the experience of players like Andersson can have greater value than statistics alone.
The return to Denmark has been agreed for the summer of 2026
HØJ Elite officially announced that it had agreed a partnership with Andersson from the summer of 2026. The Danish club stated that it is a four-year contract and that Andersson is returning to Danish handball after ten years abroad. In HØJ Elite's announcement, it was highlighted that the 31-year-old backcourt player, at the time of signing, was coming from Füchse Berlin and that he had previously also played for FC Barcelona. Füchse Berlin separately confirmed that Andersson will leave the club after the season, using a clause in the contract that originally ran until 2027. The Berlin club announced that it did not want to create obstacles for his return to his homeland, even though the departure of such a player is a major sporting loss.
The decision to return to Denmark has meanwhile gained additional context because the HØJ Elite project is in a period of change and ambition. HØJ Elite emphasized in its club announcement that it sees Andersson as an important part of the attempt to build a stronger team on Sjælland. The player himself, according to that announcement, stated that he and his family are looking forward to returning to Denmark and continuing his career at a club whose values and plans convinced him. For Füchse, however, the immediate focus remains competitive: until the end of the weekend in Cologne, Andersson remains one of the mainstays of the game and a player expected to take responsibility in the most difficult moments. Such a combination of a future transfer and the current fight for the European title makes his story one of the most prominent individual themes of the final event.
Berlin reached the final event through a dramatic quarter-final outcome
Füchse Berlin qualified for Cologne after an extremely tense quarter-final against One Veszprém HC. According to the EHF report, Veszprém won the first match 35:34, and Berlin celebrated 35:33 in the return leg after drama that also included a seven-metre shootout. The EHF particularly highlighted Mathias Gidsel, who scored 10 goals in regular time and then converted the decisive shot in the shootout. Dejan Milosavljev also had a key role with saves in the closing stages and in the shootout, while in the match itself Berlin held the lead for a long time but failed to avoid a dramatic ending. In total, Füchse went through 69:68, thereby securing an appearance at the final tournament for the second consecutive time and the third time in the club's history.
In the same report, the EHF stated that Berlin had the best result in the group in the 2025/26 season, securing direct qualification for the quarter-finals as group winners ahead of Aalborg Håndbold. This is important because it shows that the Berlin team are not arriving in Cologne as accidental participants, but as a side that maintained high consistency throughout the European season. Still, the way they overcame Veszprém also recalled Füchse's vulnerability in situations when a match opens up and when the opponent manages to reduce the gap in the final minutes. In the context of the semi-final against Magdeburg, this will be especially important because the clubs meeting know each other very well from the German championship and European clashes. Berlin will need to maintain attacking breadth, but also reduce periods of technical errors that against Veszprém almost opened the way for a Hungarian comeback.
Magdeburg as an opponent with the weight of recent success
SC Magdeburg enter the final event with the reputation of a team that knows how to win in the most important matches. According to the EHF, Magdeburg are the defending champions and a club that have been the best in Europe twice in the last three seasons. The fact that it was precisely Magdeburg who stopped Berlin in last year's Champions League final gives additional weight to Saturday's semi-final. Ahead of the draw and the final event, the EHF recalled that this is a reprise of a major German duel, but now at the semi-final stage. This means that one of the two clubs that played for the title last season will this time be left without a final already on the first day of the tournament.
For Füchse, that encounter is also an opportunity to change the narrative of the season. Berlin have grown in recent years into a club that regularly competes for trophies, but still do not have a Champions League title. According to DAIKIN HBL, in April 2026 the club won the DHB-Pokal with a 42:33 victory against Bergischer HC in Cologne, which was Füchse's second cup title in history after 2014. That piece of information shows that Berlin already have experience this season of winning a trophy in the same hall in which the European final event will also be played. Still, the Champions League has a different status, and the presence of Magdeburg, Barcelona and Aalborg makes the competition significantly more demanding. For Andersson, a new trophy in Cologne would be an especially powerful end to his Berlin period, but the path to it requires two top-level matches in less than 30 hours.
Why Andersson is important for Füchse's attack
Andersson's importance to Füchse is not reduced only to the number of goals. As a left back, he brings a threat from nine metres, the ability to create space for teammates and experience in reading defences that is particularly visible in high-pressure matches. The EHF statistics of 83 goals in the current Champions League season show that he remains one of the main attacking pillars, but his contribution also includes the rhythm with which Berlin can connect the back line with the wings and the pivot. Alongside Mathias Gidsel, who in the quarter-final against Veszprém was the most visible player of the final phase, Andersson forms part of the axis that enables Berlin to change tempo quickly. Against Magdeburg, such variety will be necessary because the defending champions have experience in defensive adjustment during a match.
In its official announcement about his departure, Füchse Berlin also emphasized Andersson's role beyond the mere finishing of attacks. The club describes him as a player who took responsibility in Berlin and had an understanding for younger teammates. Such a dimension often becomes especially important at final tournaments, where teams do not have time to return through a series of matches, but every drop in concentration can define the season. Berlin in Cologne must balance the emotion of farewell with the practical demands of the semi-final, and Andersson will therefore have to remain both leader and finisher. If Füchse manage to turn his farewell motivation into stability rather than an additional burden, his final weekend at the club could have the kind of sporting ending that few people get.
A farewell that goes beyond one match
The EHF's focus on Andersson ahead of the final event shows that the final tournament is not only a battle of four clubs for the title, but also a space in which major personal stories are brought to a close. Andersson arrived in Berlin as a player with Barcelona experience, and leaves as one of the actors of the most successful period in Füchse's history. In six years, the club has travelled the path from an ambitious German project to a regular contender for the biggest European matches. In that development, Andersson had a visible role, from European evenings in the European League to the Champions League final and a new final event in Cologne. Regardless of the outcome, 14 June 2026 will be the day of his last match for Berlin, and the final event schedule guarantees that the farewell will come in a medal match or in the final.
For Füchse Berlin, the immediate goal remains sportingly simple but in execution very demanding: defeat Magdeburg and secure the final. For Andersson, the goal is at the same time personal and club-related, because the EHF Champions League title would be the strongest possible end to the Berlin episode. According to the available information, after the final event he turns towards a return to Denmark and the HØJ Elite project, but until then he remains focused on what makes the EHF FINAL4 special: a short tournament in which experience, concentration and emotional control often decide just as much as team quality. Cologne will therefore be both a test of maturity for Füchse and a farewell to one of the most important players in their recent history.
Sources:
- EHF Champions League – preview of Lasse Andersson's farewell from Füchse Berlin at the final tournament in Cologne (link)
- EHF Champions League – official information about the date, location and schedule of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 2026 (link)
- EHF Champions League – announcement of the semi-final pairings and context of the EHF FINAL4 2026 final event (link)
- EHF Champions League – report on the quarter-final between Füchse Berlin and One Veszprém HC and Berlin's qualification for Cologne (link)
- European Handball Federation – official profile and statistics of Lasse Bredekjær Andersson in European competitions (link)
- Füchse Berlin – club announcement about Lasse Andersson's departure and use of the contract clause (link)
- HØJ Elitehåndbold – official announcement about the four-year contract with Lasse Andersson from the summer of 2026 (link)
- DAIKIN HBL – information about winning the 2026 DHB-Pokal and the final between Füchse Berlin and Bergischer HC (link)