Cologne

The team started life inside a school in the early 1980s, formed as the sports group of a middle school in Cologno Monzese. A merger with ARCI Chiari in 1987 turned that school project into a proper senior side, and the club has carried the sponsor's name ever since, playing today as Metelli Cologne.

It has stayed a step below Italian handball's summit. The closest it came was a third-place finish in Serie A1 in the 2007–08 season; the title itself has never followed. What the club has instead is a habit of climbing back: it has won the Serie A2 championship four times, in 1997–98, 2006–07, 2012–13 and 2015–16.

The academy has done steadier work than the first team's results suggest. Nine national youth championships sit in the club's history, spread across age groups from under-14 to under-20. Marko Knežević, the Hungarian international who captains the side and leads its scoring, gives the current squad its most recognisable name.

Local rivalry runs through the fixture list more than any trophy race does: the Derby del Bresciano against Pallamano Palazzolo, and the Derby Lombardo, contested with both Salumificio Riva Molteno and Cassano Magnago. Those nights fill the Palasport di Cologne on Via Dante Alighieri, where grey and fuchsia colours have marked the club since its school-team days.