Ohrid the first finalist in Struga, and Trajkoski's 16 saves ruined Stoilov's debut

On the second day of the 54th Struga handball tournament the defending champion HC Ohrid beat Serbia's Dubočica Leskovac 26:21 and became the first team through to Saturday's final. Croatian goalkeeper Dino Slavić made 14 saves, nine of them in the first half alone. Ohrid led 11:6, the visitors clawed back to 11:10, and in the second half Tilen Strmljan with six and Dominik Mate with five goals settled it. In the other match HC Prilep won 31:29 against Butel Skopje in a dramatic finish: veteran goalkeeper Blagojče Trajkoski racked up 16 interventions and ruined Stojanče Stoilov's debut on the Butel bench. Two goalkeepers decided two matches in a single day - the position that gets written about least is the one that most often delivers the result.

Three from three for Eurofarm Pelister under Červar before the season starts

The Macedonian runners-up finished their preparations in Slovenia with three wins from three matches, including against Qatar's national team and Slovenia's Krka. These were the first preparations under Croatian coach Lino Červar, who took over the team this summer. The Bitola side is returning home and continuing training, with the first real test the clash with Partizan on 23 August in the Regional League. Pre-season wins carry no points and every coach knows it. But when a coach with a CV like Červar's agrees to work in Bitola, that says the club still has something to offer - and that does not show up in the score of a friendly.

Croatia paid 10,000 euros for a flag at the medal ceremony, and Mandić another 2,500

The EHF Court of Appeal rejected the Croatian Handball Federation's appeal and upheld the fine of 10,000 euros, of which 2,500 is suspended for two years. In addition, the court partly accepted the EHF's own appeal and imposed a 2,500 euro fine on player Matej Mandić. The reason: at the medal ceremony of the men's European Championship, Mandić displayed a flag not provided for in the EHF protocol. The federation has 21 days to file an appeal with the court of arbitration. Twelve and a half thousand euros for one flag held up for a few seconds - federations in this part of the world have long known that symbols on the podium cost more than any shirt.

A new format in the Champions League: 24 teams and the same number of matches for everyone

The men's EHF Champions League starts on 9 September with a reworked structure. The group stage now has 24 teams - eight more than before - split into six groups of four. The top two from each group go into the main round, the remaining 12 continue in the EHF European League play-offs. The key change is the levelling: everyone who reaches the Final Four will have played 18 matches - six in the group stage, eight in the main round, two in the quarter-finals and two in Cologne. Under the old format some finished with 18 and others with 20 matches, an open inequality nobody wanted to name. The group stage runs until 29 October, the main round from 18 November to 4 March.

Partizan returns to the elite after 13 years, and against Füchse Berlin at that

The season opens in Veszprém, Aalborg, Zagreb and Kielce on 9 September at 18:45. Veszprém hosts Porto, Aalborg receives PSG, and Zagreb plays a regional derby against Celje. Defending champion Barcelona starts the same evening against debutant Aarhus at 20:45. The most interesting Balkan detail comes on Thursday: HC Partizan returns to the Champions League after a 13-year break and immediately hosts last season's finalist - Füchse Berlin. In the second round, on 16 September, comes the rematch of last year's quarter-final Berlin - Veszprém, a tie that lasted 120 minutes and was decided on penalties. The region again has a representative where the audience is largest, and not by default but by result.