The Danish Men's Handball cup () is the nationwide cup tournament for men's
handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...
teams in Denmark. It’s also known as Santander Cup for sponsorship reasons. The competition has been played annually since 1964.
Tournament structure
The initial fase of the tournament is split in two. They are managed by the three regional federations,
Jydsk Håndbold Forbund (JHF) in Jutland, and
Håndboldregion Øst (HRØ) in Sealand together with
Fyns Håndbold Forbund (FHF) in fyn. The western half of the initial tournament lasts 7 rounds, while the eastern half lasts 6 round.
After the initial fase the DHF taking over the tournament at the round of 16. At the round of 16 and onwards, there are no longer geographical considerations, when drawing the matches.
The tournament ultimately results in a final four event scheduled between Christmas and New Year. The winner of the tournament qualify for the annual Super Cup held during the summer where they meet the season's league winner. If the same team wins both the league and the cup, the losing cup finalist will participate as the second team in the Super Cup. The winner also qualifies for the
EHF European League.
Continental Qualification
The winner of the tournament qualifies for the continental tournament
EHF European League. If the team is already qualified for the tournament or the
EHF Champions League
The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...
, the loser of the final will qualify instead.
If they are also qualified, the qualification spot will go the whichever of the two losing semifinalists, who finished the highest in the league table.
History
From 2001 to 2014 all finals where played in
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...
, with the exception of 2011 where it took plays in
Aalborg
Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...
. Since 2010 the semifinals and finals have been played at one big event, where the semifinals are played on a saturday, while the final is played the day after, on sunday.
Past winners
Finals
Here is the list of Cup finals since 1964.
Most valuable players
Since 1993,
DHF has named an
MVP
MVP most commonly refers to:
* Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition
* Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering
MVP may also refer to:
...
(
Danish: ''pokalfighter'') following the cup final.
External links
The Danish Handball Federation
About the tournament
References
{{Handball in Denmark
Handball competitions in Denmark
Recurring sporting events established in 1964
Annual sporting events in Denmark
1964 establishments in Denmark