Vardar return to the Champions League, and the EHF announced it with a special video

The European Handball Federation devoted a special video to Vardar's return to the elite, assembled from moments in their Champions League campaigns in the 2016/17 and 2018/19 seasons - the two in which the Macedonian club climbed to the top of Europe. It is a flattering announcement, but also a reminder of how far that Vardar is from this one. The return begins on 16 September at home against France's Nantes, with Germany's Melsungen and Polish champions Wisła Płock to follow in the group stage. Tickets for the Nantes match are already on sale. The question nobody asks out loud: can a club that won Europe twice hold the same stage on its current budget?

Ohrid and Eurofarm Pelister opened with 28:28, and Rojević is asking for respect

The derby at Biljanini Izvori finished 28:28, decided in the final second - Atanasijević scored and took the win away from a host that was a step from it. After the match, Ohrid coach Boris Rojević talked more about the club than about the result: "My heart aches for these lads, who gave their maximum. I would just like a little more respect for the Ohrid handball club. I think we deserve that." He praised the crowd and the atmosphere, and on the game he was specific - "nuances decided it" and "we need the goalkeepers to come good as soon as possible." A coach who, after a point in a derby, asks for respect rather than reinforcements says something about where the club stands off the court.

Alkaloid and Prilep with convincing wins to open the Super League

The first round of the men's Super League confirmed the favourites. In Avtokomanda, Alkaloid beat Munti Esens 38:28 - Kiril Lazarov's team took control from the start, led by five goals at half-time and did not let up even when the coach began rotating. The top scorer was Damjan Mitev with nine goals. Prilep beat Kumanovo 38:31 in front of their home crowd, with Nikola Šipinkoski and Denis Šabanović on seven goals each, while the top scorer of the whole match was Kumanovo's Naum Kostov with eight. A ten-goal margin on opening day looks good on paper - the real test comes when Alkaloid face Vardar and Pelister.

The Champions League starts with 24 teams and a new format

Handball's strongest club competition returns this week with 24 teams in a new version of the format, all playing for the trophy lifted in Cologne in June. The first round is densely packed: on 9 September seven matches are played, among them Zagreb - Celje, Veszprém - Porto, Aalborg - PSG, Kielce - Kriens-Luzern, Nantes - Wisła Płock, Magdeburg - Kolstad and Barcelona - Aarhus. On 10 September come Partizan - Füchse Berlin, Dinamo Bucharest - Montpellier, Pick Szeged - Kristianstad, Sporting - GOG and the match that interests us most - Melsungen - Vardar. The Balkans are present on both of those dates. The question is how long they will stay present.

Barcelona are the first favourites, but the gap at the top is narrowing

The EHF published its pre-season ranking and at the top is Barcelona again, but with a note rarely found in material of this kind - the top teams are right behind them. That is a politically phrased way of saying something more interesting: a dominance that has lasted for years is getting tighter. In the women's competition the season has already begun and the message is the same - four of the opening matches were won by the away teams. Győr beat Podravka in the match of the round, Metz opened their title defence with a win, and FTC, Gloria Bistrița and Brest won away. Home advantage in European handball evidently no longer means what it used to. For a club like Vardar, opening the season at home against Nantes, that is good news and bad news at the same time.