2013–14 EHF Champions League

The 2013–14 VELUX EHF Champions League was the 54th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 21st edition under the current EHF Champions League format. HSV Hamburg was the defending champion. The VELUX EHF FINAL4 was played on 31 May–1 June at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany.[1]

EHF Champions League

2013–14
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	31 August 2013–1 June 2014
Teams	38 (Qualification stage) 24 (Group Phase) 16 (Knockout stage)
Final positions
Champions	SG Flensburg-Handewitt (1st title)
Runner-up	THW Kiel
Tournament statistics
Matches played	148
Goals scored	8338 (56.34 per match)
Attendance	651,334 (4,401 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Momir Ilić (103 goals)

SG Flensburg-Handewitt won the title for the first time after defeating THW Kiel 30–28 in the final.

Overview

Team allocation

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[2]

• TH: Title holders
• CW: Cup winners
• CR: Cup runners-up
• 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position

Group stage
THW Kiel (1st)	Paris Saint-Germain (1st)	Gorenje (1st)	Wacker Thun (1st)
Flensburg (2nd)	Dunkerque (2nd)	Celje (2nd)	Zagreb (1st)
Rhein-Neckar Löwen (3rd)	Aalborg (1st)	St. Petersburg (2nd)	Vive Targi Kielce (1st)
Barcelona (1st)	KIF Kolding (2nd)	MKB Veszprém (1st)	Vardar (1st)
Logroño (3rd)
Qualifying
Qualification tournament			Wild card tournament
HCM Constanța (1st)	Elverum (1st)	KRAS/Volendam (1st)	Füchse Berlin (4th)
Porto (1st)	Dinamo-Minsk (1st)	Handball Esch (1st)	HSV Hamburgth (5th)
HK Drott (1st)	AEK Athens (1st)		Montpellier (3rd)
Vojvodina (1st)	Alpla HC Hard (1st)		Pick Szeged (2nd)
Motor Zaporozhye (1st)	Tatran Prešov (1st)		Wisła Płock (2nd)
Borac Banja Luka (1st)	Beşiktaş (1st)		Metalurg (2nd)

Qualification stage

Qualification tournaments

Fourteen teams took part in the qualification tournaments. Twelve were drawn into three groups of four teams, where they played a semifinal and a final or third place match, while the remaining two teams played a two-legged playoff match. The winners of the qualification tournaments and of the play-off qualified for the group stage, while the eliminated teams were transferred to the 2013–14 EHF Cup. The draw took place on 27 June 2013, at 14:00 local time, in Vienna, Austria.[3][4] Matches were played on 31 August and 1 September 2013.

Seedings

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Dinamo-Minsk Borac Banja Luka HCM Constanța	Vojvodina Tatran Prešov Porto	Alpla HC Hard Elverum Beşiktaş	Motor Zaporozhye AEK Athens KRAS/Volendam

Qualification tournament 1

This qualification tournament was hosted in Presov, Slovakia, at the home venue of Tatran Prešov.

	Semi-finals				Final
	31 August 2013
	Dinamo-Minsk	25
					1 September 2013
	AEK Athens	21
					Dinamo-Minsk	29
	31 August 2013
					Tatran Prešov	27
	Tatran Prešov	32
	Beşiktaş	30
					Third place
					1 September 2013
					AEK Athens	34
					Beşiktaş	30

Qualification tournament 2

This qualification tournament was hosted in Novi Sad, Serbia, at the home venue of Vojvodina.

	Semi-finals				Final
	31 August 2013
	Borac Banja Luka	18
					1 September 2013
	Motor Zaporozhye	40
					Motor Zaporozhye	36
	31 August 2013
					Vojvodina	24
	Vojvodina	27
	Alpla HC Hard	26
					Third place
					1 September 2013
					Borac Banja Luka	17
					Alpla HC Hard	25

Qualification tournament 3

This qualification tournament was hosted in Porto, Portugal, at the home venue of Porto.

	Semi-finals				Final
	31 August 2013
	Porto	29
					1 September 2013
	Elverum	28
					Porto	26
	31 August 2013
					HCM Constanța	22
	HCM Constanța	34
	KRAS/Volendam	25
					Third place
					1 September 2013
					KRAS/Volendam	24
					Elverum	32

Playoff

The winner qualified for the group stage and the losing team entered the 2013–14 EHF Cup second round.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Handball Esch	44–63	HK Drott	30–26	14–37

Wildcard qualification

The winners qualified for the group stage and the losing teams entered the 2013–14 EHF Cup third round.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Füchse Berlin	56–57	HSV Hamburg	30–30	26–27
Metalurg	45–39	Pick Szeged	26–16	19–23
Montpellier	52–55	Wisła Płock	29–27	23–28

Group phase

Veszprém

Kiel

Barcelona

Aalborg

Zagreb

Kielce

PSG

Velenje

St. Petersburg

Wisła

Vardar

Flensburg

Löwen

KIF

Logroño

Thun

Celje

Dunkerque

Dinamo

Drott

Motor

Porto

Metalurg

Hamburg

Location of teams of the 2013–14 EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Green: Group B; Blue: Group C; Yellow: Group D.

The draw for the group stage took place at the Gloriette in Vienna on 28 June 2013 at 20:15 local time. A total of 24 teams were drawn into four groups of six. Teams were divided into six pots, based on EHF coefficients. Clubs from the same pot or the same association could not be drawn into the same group, except the wild card tournament winner, which did not enjoy any protection.[3][5]

Pot 1 THW Kiel Barcelona Aalborg Veszprém

Pot 2 Kielce Zagreb Paris SG Gorenje

Pot 3 Flensburg Wisła Płock St. Petersburg Vardar

Pot 4 KIF Kolding Wacker Thun RN Löwen Logroño

Pot 5 Dunkerque Celje HK Drott Dinamo-Minsk

Pot 6 Motor Porto Metalurg HSV Hamburg

Key to colours in group tables
Top four placed teams advanced to the last 16

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		VES	RNL	CEL	ZAP	ZAG	PET
MKB Veszprém	10	8	1	1	303	243	+60	17		—	30–29	27–26	44–27	34–27	29–20
Rhein-Neckar Löwen	10	7	2	1	305	252	+53	16		25–25	—	35–25	31–31	34–26	31–17
Celje	10	4	1	5	269	272	−3	9		26–31	25–28	—	30–27	26–20	29–22
Motor Zaporozhye	10	4	1	5	277	296	−19	9		25–21	26–32	29–32	—	31–30	29–24
Zagreb	10	4	0	6	267	282	−15	8		22–33	24–28	24–21	33–27	—	26–24
St. Petersburg	10	0	1	9	216	292	−76	1		15–28	23–32	29–29	18–24	24–35	—

Source:

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		KIE	KOL	KSK	PLO	POR	DUN
THW Kiel	10	8	1	1	298	268	+30	17		—	29–26	28–28	34–25	30–25	28–25
KIF Kolding	10	7	0	3	249	240	+9	14		24–26	—	29–24	23–22	25–20	26–24
Vive Targi Kielce	10	6	1	3	307	276	+31	13		34–29	25–26	—	38–30	35–23	33–23
Wisła Płock	10	4	0	6	275	277	−2	8		33–34	25–26	28–30	—	28–22	32–25
Porto	10	2	1	7	241	278	−37	5		27–31	27–24	30–35	20–24	—	22–21
Dunkerque	10	1	1	8	237	268	−31	3		21–29	18–20	30–25	25–28	25–25	—

Source:

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		BAR	PSG	MET	VAR	MIN	THU
Barcelona	10	8	1	1	348	256	+92	17		—	38–28	35–17	30–23	35–25	45–26
Paris Saint-Germain	10	6	1	3	315	288	+27	13		29–33	—	32–29	35–25	34–30	38–24
Metalurg	10	5	2	3	256	265	−9	12		31–29	28–26	—	22–27	33–29	24–24
Vardar	10	4	2	4	269	263	+6	10		29–29	24–24	18–26	—	30–22	32–25
Dinamo-Minsk	10	3	1	6	266	295	−29	7		25–35	29–35	23–23	26–24	—	27–20
Wacker Thun	10	0	1	9	242	329	−87	1		23–39	28–34	22–23	24–37	26–30	—

Source:

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		HAM	FLE	GOR	AAH	RIO	HKD
HSV Hamburg	10	9	0	1	330	266	+64	18		—	32–27	41–32	28–20	34–27	39–30
Flensburg	10	8	1	1	314	272	+42	17		27–24	—	35–31	31–27	37–25	33–25
Gorenje	10	4	0	6	307	320	−13	8		29–36	23–28	—	25–30	33–28	35–33
Aalborg	10	4	0	6	275	265	+10	8		26–28	26–27	23–28	—	28–24	37–24
La Rioja	10	3	2	5	292	320	−28	8		24–33	32–32	34–31	25–23	—	38–34
HK Drott	10	0	1	9	289	364	−75	1		24–35	27–37	32–40	26–35	35–35	—

Source:

Knockout stage

Last 16

The draw was held on 25 February 2014 at 12:00 in Vienna, Austria. The first legs were played on 20–23 March, and the second legs on 29–31 March 2014.[6][7]

Seedings

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
MKB Veszprém THW Kiel Barcelona HSV Hamburg	Rhein-Neckar Löwen KIF Kolding Paris Saint-Germain Flensburg	RK Celje Vive Targi Kielce Metalurg Skopje Gorenje	Motor Zaporozhye Wisła Płock Vardar Aalborg

Matches

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Motor Zaporozhye	56–71	THW Kiel	28–31	28–40
Aalborg	42–60	Barcelona	22–29	20–31
Vardar	58–57	HSV Hamburg	28–28	30–29
Wisła Płock	60–64	MKB Veszprém	34–33	26–31
Gorenje	55–62	Paris Saint-Germain	30–28	25–34
Celje	53–55	Flensburg	26–25	27–30
Metalurg Skopje	53–43	KIF Kolding	23–17	30–26
Vive Targi Kielce	55–55	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	32–28	23–27

Quarter-finals

The draw was held on 1 April 2014 at 12:15 in Vienna, Austria. The first legs were played on 19–21 April, and the second legs on 26–27 April 2014.[8][9]

Seedings

Pot 1	Pot 2
MKB Veszprém	Rhein-Neckar Löwen
THW Kiel	Metalurg Skopje
Barcelona	Paris Saint-Germain
Vardar	Flensburg

Matches

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Rhein-Neckar Löwen	62–62	Barcelona	38–31	24–31
Flensburg	49–49	Vardar	24–22	25–27
Metalurg Skopje	47-65	THW Kiel	21–31	26-34
Paris Saint-Germain	52–59	MKB Veszprém	26–28	26–31

Final four

The draw was held on 29 April 2014.[10]

	Semi-finals				Final
	31 May
	Barcelona	39
					1 June
	Flensburg (pen.)	41
					Flensburg	30
	31 May
					THW Kiel	28
	MKB Veszprém	26
	THW Kiel	29
					Third place
					1 June
					Barcelona	26
					MKB Veszprém	25

All-Star Team

• Goalkeeper:  Niklas Landin (DEN)
• Left wing:  Timur Dibirov (RUS)
• Left back:  Momir Ilić (SRB)
• Playmaker:  Mikkel Hansen (DEN)
• Pivot:  Renato Sulić (CRO)
• Right back:  Kiril Lazarov (MKD)
• Right wing:  Luc Abalo  (FRA)

[11]

Other awards

• Most Valuable Player of the Final-Four:  Aron Palmarsson (ISL)
• Best Defence Player:  Timuzsin Schuch (HUN)

[12]

See also

• 2013–14 EHF Cup

References

1. "7,000 tickets already sold". ehfcl.com. 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
2. "2013/14 list of participants". europeancup.eurohandball.com. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
3. "Pots for the Qualification and the Group Phase draw confirmed". ehfcl.com. 2013-06-21.
4. "Qualification groups determined". ehfcl.com. 2013-06-27.
5. "Group Phase draw provides great battles". ehfcl.com. 2013-06-28.
6. "All pots for Last 16 draw confirmed". ehfcl.com. 23 February 2014.
7. "Hamburg vs Vardar, Löwen vs Kielce". ehfcl.com. 25 February 2014.
8. "Pots for the quarter-finals draw ready". ehfcl.com. 1 April 2014.
9. "Barcelona to tame Lions, Kiel face Metalurg". ehfcl.com. 1 April 2014.
10. "Barcelona take on Flensburg, Veszprem meet Kiel". ehfcl.com. 2014-04-29.
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2014-06-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. Ilic takes top scorer trophy, Palmarsson becomes MVP

External links

• Official website