A week after stumbling in their European opener away to defending champions Magdeburg (37-31), Paris finally returned to home turf for EHF Champions League Matchday 2. Stefan Madsen's men were up against a familiar opponent: Eurofarm Pelister. Playing in the same group as the capital club for the third consecutive season, the Macedonian side have failed to trouble the Parisians, losing all four of their previous encounters with their French opponents. However, the Parisians had to be careful not to underestimate a team that is gaining in maturity with each passing season, as evidenced by their victory over Zagreb (25-23) on the opening day of the current campaign.
As Europe's top club competition returned to Paris for the first time this season, Coubertin rose to the occasion and pushed their team from the outset. On the court, however, Paris took some time to find their feet. Patiently analysing their opponents' play, the capital club maintained a fairly slow pace (5': 2-2). This was in stark contrast to the Macedonians, who started the match at full throttle. Quickly down to four men for two minutes, Pelister did not give Les Rouge et Bleu time to take advantage and even took the lead as the first quarter of an hour drew to a close (12': 5-6).
However, this situation only served to wake up our Parisians, who immediately shifted into high gear. The ball started flying from left to right, the team shone and the visitors were soon left reeling. The capital club put four unanswered goals past the Green and Whites, and Ruben Gabarya had no choice but to call the first timeout of the match (18': 11-7).
While all of our Rouge et Bleus stepped up their game, certain individuals in particular had Coubertin roaring with joy. This was especially true of Elohim Prandi, who seemed to be in a state of grace in the first half, racking up six goals from eight attempts ten by the 20-minute mark. This put a big smile on the faces of club legends Nikola Karabatic and Vincent Gérard, both of whom had turned out to support their long-time club (23': 15-10). However, while the Bison took a break on the bench to recover his energy, Paris's offensive play lacked creativity and Pelister managed to catch up. The two teams went into the break neck and neck, with an exciting second half veyr much on the cards (30': 16-16).
As soon as the second half began, Elo' resumed his scoring spree, while Stanis Soullier made an immediate impact off the bench, immediately saving a penalty before beating Kuzmanovski one on one. However, with Paris down a man, the Macedonians managed to open up a slight lead (36': 18-20). The capital club then spent five long minutes without scoring, but Kamil Syprzak soon stepped up to get his side back on track. With his fifth goal of the evening, the Polish pivot reduced the gap to a single point and forced the visitors to stop play to make some tactical adjustments (43': 22-23).
If the aim of this time-out was to come up with a tactic to stop Kamil, it wasn't particularly successful. As usual, our Polish hitman stepped up when his teammates needed him most, continuing his good form to get the Parisians back on level terms. In the wake of this, it was the other star of the evening, Elohim Prandi, who breached the ten-goal mark to restore his side's lead as Coubertin neared boiling point in the final stages of the match (48': 25-24).
In the final minutes, Paris's experience came into play; while Pelister rushed forward with attempts on goal from their own area, Les Rouge et Bleus took their time to exploit every space left open by the Macedonian defence and created a break at the best possible moment (55': 29-27). In defence, Stanis continued his stellar showing with a fifth save, preventing the visitors from getting back into the game. Under pressure from a team that gave it their all, Paris managed to win a thrilling match in a Coubertin buzzing with excitement, securing their first EHF Champions League victory of the season (60': 33-27).
C'était difficile face à Pelister, mais les Parisiens valident cette première victoire en @ehfcl !
— PSG Handball (@psghand) September 18, 2025
Prochain rendez-vous européen face à Szeged en Hongrie après la réception de @USAMNIMESGARD ce dimanche !
Allez Paris ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/HL2jZh38IM
Stefan Madsen's men will return to Coubertin on Sunday for Liqui Moly StarLigue Matchday 3. Paris will take on Nîmes in a classic French league fixture that never fails to deliver - another must-see encounter, with throw-off scheduled for 17:00.
