On Thursday, February 19, Sporting lost 38-27 to Nantes in the 11th round of Group A of the Handball Champions League, allowing the French team to catch up in the standings. Returning to the main European club competition two months later, the two-time Portuguese champions were trailing 21-16 at halftime, marking their sixth defeat in this phase against the team that eliminated the 'lions' in the quarter-finals of the previous edition, which they had already lost to in Lisbon. With this result, the lions sit in sixth place, tied on 10 points with Nantes in fifth, both behind Kielce with 11, Veszprém with 12, Aalborg with 19, and the German team Fuchse Berlin, who lead with 20. The top two teams from each group qualify directly for the quarter-finals, while teams finishing between third and sixth will compete in a playoff for access to that knockout stage.