2014–15 Women's EHF Champions League

The 2014–15 Women's EHF Champions League was the 22nd edition of the Women's EHF Champions League, the competition for top women's clubs of Europe, organized and supervised by the European Handball Federation.

Women's EHF Champions League

2014–15
The László Papp Sports Arena hosted the final four
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	2014–2015
Teams	22 (Qualification stage) 16 (Group stage) 12 (Main round) 8 (Knockout stage)
Final positions
Champions	Budućnost
Runner-up	Larvik HK
Tournament statistics
Matches played	96
Goals scored	4991 (51.99 per match)
Attendance	252,163 (2,627 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Cristina Neagu Andrea Penezić (102 goals)

Budućnost won the title for the second time by defeating Larvik HK 26–22 in the big final.[1]

Overview

Team allocation

League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders). 14 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.[2]

Group stage
Győri ETO^TH (1st)	HCM Baia Mare (1st)	Krim (1st)	Vardar (1st)
Viborg HK (1st)	Thüringer HC (1st)	Hypo Niederösterreich (1st)	SPR Lublin (1st)
Larvik HK (1st)	Metz (1st)	Lokomotiva Zagreb (1st)
Dinamo Volgograd (1st)	Budućnost (1st)	IK Sävehof (1st)
Qualification tournament
Ferencváros (2nd)	Byåsen HE (2nd)	Radnički Kragujevac (1st)	SERCODAK Dalfsen (1st)
Midtjylland (2nd)	HC Leipzig (2nd)	Podravka Koprivnica (2nd)	BNTU Minsk (1st)

Round and draw dates

All draws held at the European Handball Federation headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	Qualification tournaments	26 June 2014	20–21 September 2014
Group stage	Matchday 1	27 June 2014	17–19 October 2014
	Matchday 2		24–26 October 2014
	Matchday 3		31 October–2 November 2014
	Matchday 4		7–9 November 2014
	Matchday 5		14–16 November 2014
	Matchday 6		21–23 November 2014
Main round	Matchday 1		31 January–2 February 2015
	Matchday 2		6–8 February 2015
	Matchday 3		13–15 February 2015
	Matchday 4		27 February–1 March 2015
	Matchday 5		6–8 March 2015
	Matchday 6		13–15 March 2015
Knockout stage	Quarterfinal		3–5 April 2015	10–12 April 2015
Final 4 (Budapest)	Semifinal	14 April 2015	9 May 2015 at László Papp Sports Arena
	Final		10 May 2015 at László Papp Sports Arena

Qualification stage

Eight teams took part in the qualification tournaments. They were drawn into two groups of four teams, where they played a semifinal and a final or third place match. The winners of the qualification tournaments, played on 20–21 September 2014, qualified for the group stage. The draw took place on 26 June 2014, at 14:00 local time, in Vienna, Austria.[2][3]

Seedings

The seedings were published on 23 June 2014.[4]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Ferencváros Midtjylland	Byåsen HE HC Leipzig	Podravka Koprivnica BNTU Minsk	SERCODAK Dalfsen Radnički Kragujevac

Qualification tournament 1

	Semifinals				Final
	20 September
	Ferencváros	33
					21 September
	SERCODAK Dalfsen	25
					Ferencváros	38
	20 September
					HC Leipzig (pen.)	39
	HC Leipzig	22
	BNTU Minsk	18
					Third place game
					21 September
					SERCODAK Dalfsen	30
					BNTU Minsk	27

Qualification tournament 2

	Semifinals				Final
	20 September
	Midtjylland	24
					21 September
	Rad. Kragujevac (aet)	29
					Rad. Kragujevac	24
	20 September
					Pod.Koprivnica	28
	Byåsen HE	23
	Pod. Koprivnica	31
					Third place game
					21 September
					Midtjylland	28
					Byåsen HE	24

Group stage

Győr

Viborg

Larvik

Dinamo

Baia Mare

Thüringer

Leipzig

Metz

Budućnost

Krim

Hypo

Lokomotiva

Podravka

Sävehof

Vardar

Lublin

Location of teams of the 2014–15 Women's EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Green: Group B; Blue: Group C; Yellow: Group D.

The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, where they played each other twice. The top three teams advanced to the main round. The draw took place on 27 June 2014, at 18:00 local time, in Vienna, Austria.[2][5]

Seedings

The seedings were published on 23 June 2014.[4]

Pot 1	Pot 2
Győri ETO Budućnost Larvik HK Krim	Viborg HK HCM Baia Mare Thüringer HC Dinamo Volgograd

Pot 3	Pot 4
ŽRK Vardar Metz Handball Hypo Niederösterreich RK Lokomotiva Zagreb	IK Sävehof SPR Lublin SSA HC Leipzig RK Koprivnica

Key to colours in group tables
Top three placed teams advanced to the main round
Fourth-placed teams entered the Cup Winners' Cup last 16

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		DIN	LEI	KRI	HYP
Dinamo Volgograd	6	4	1	1	160	143	+17	9		—	27–19	25–26	27–22
HC Leipzig	6	4	0	2	177	152	+25	8		27–30	—	30–24	42–22
Krim	6	2	0	4	162	165	−3	4		24–26	31–35	—	32–20
Hypo Niederösterreich	6	1	1	4	136	175	−39	3		25–25	18–24	29–25	—

Source:

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		BUD	VAR	THÜ	POD
Budućnost	6	5	1	0	161	130	+31	11		—	23–17	23–14	32–26
Vardar	6	3	1	2	149	140	+9	7		24–24	—	26–21	35–25
Thüringer HC	6	3	0	3	143	144	−1	6		22–27	21–20	—	33–20
Podravka Koprivnica	6	0	0	6	152	191	−39	0		27–32	26–27	28–32	—

Source:

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		GYŐ	VIB	SÄV	LOK
Győri ETO	6	6	0	0	183	127	+56	12		—	22–20	35–23	32–23
Viborg HK	6	3	1	2	162	144	+18	7		25–30	—	38–25	29–24
IK Sävehof	6	0	3	3	146	188	−42	3		21–38	25–25	—	29–29
Lokomotiva Zagreb	6	0	2	4	132	164	−32	2		15–26	18–25	23–23	—

Source:

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		LAR	MET	BAI	LUB
Larvik HK	6	6	0	0	169	141	+28	12		—	25–20	31–26	35–24
Metz	6	2	1	3	164	163	+1	5		25–26	—	34–24	30–30
HCM Baia Mare	6	2	0	4	154	160	−6	4		23–24	23–24	—	30–25
SPR Lublin	6	1	1	4	159	182	−23	3		23–28	35–31	22–28	—

Source:

Main round

The top three teams of each group from the group stage advanced to the main round. The 12 teams were split into two groups of six teams. The top four placed teams advanced to the knockout stage. The points gained in the group stage against teams that advance, were carried over.

Key to colours in group tables
Top four placed teams advanced to quarterfinals

Group 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		BUD	DIN	VAR	THÜ	LEI	KRI
Budućnost	10	9	1	0	270	193	+77	19		—	26–18	23–17	23–14	28–21	39–20
Dinamo Volgograd	10	5	1	4	267	260	+7	11		18–25	—	33–25	30–30	27–19	25–26
Vardar	10	5	1	4	277	254	+23	11		24–24	28–27	—	26–21	26–20	41–30
Thüringer HC	10	5	1	4	258	251	+7	11		22–27	30–33	21–20	—	27–23	33–21
HC Leipzig	10	3	0	7	245	282	−37	6		19–32	27–30	26–23	25–34	—	30–24
Krim	10	1	0	9	248	325	−77	2		20–23	24–26	29–47	23–26	31–35	—

Source:

Group 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		LAR	GYŐ	BAI	VIB	MET	SÄV
Larvik HK	10	10	0	0	263	216	+47	20		—	21–19	31–26	31–18	25–20	25–17
Győri ETO	10	8	0	2	282	224	+58	16		25–26	—	29–23	22–20	31–27	35–23
HCM Baia Mare	10	4	0	6	262	270	−8	8		23–24	18–26	—	32–22	23–24	34–24
Viborg HK	10	3	1	6	252	274	−22	7		23–29	25–30	30–31	—	27–26	38–25
Metz	10	3	0	7	244	253	−9	6		25–26	20–27	34–24	23–24	—	22–25
IK Sävehof	10	1	1	8	227	293	−66	3		20–25	21–38	26–28	25–25	21–23	—

Source:

Knockout stage

The top four placed teams of each group advance to the knockout stage. In the quarterfinals, the teams will play a home-and away series to determine the four participants of the final four, which then determines the winner.

Quarterfinals

The matches were played on 4–5 April and 11–12 April 2015.[6]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Viborg HK	41–57	Budućnost	22–28	19–29
Thüringer HC	44–65	Larvik HK	26–29	18–36
HCM Baia Mare	50–53	Dinamo Volgograd	25–23	25–30
Vardar	51–45	Győri ETO	24–18	27–27

Final four

The draw was held on 14 April 2015.[7][8]

The final four was played in the László Papp Sports Arena, Budapest, Hungary.

	Semifinals				Final
	9 May
	Larvik HK	31
					10 May
	Dinamo Volgograd	22
					Larvik HK	22
	9 May
					Budućnost	26
	Vardar	17
	Budućnost	27
					Third place game
					10 May
					Dinamo Volgograd	26
					Vardar	28

Statistics and awards

Top goalscorers

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.[9]

As of 10 May 2015

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Cristina Neagu	Budućnost	102
	Andrea Penezić	Vardar
3	Nora Mørk	Larvik	98
4	Anna Kochetova	Volgograd	94
5	Karolina Kudłacz	Leipzig	84
6	Olga Akopian	Volgograd	82
7	Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren	Larvik	77
8	Daria Dmitrieva	Volgograd	76
9	Ida Oden	Sävehof	74
10	Ana Gros	Metz	73
	Tamara Mavsar	Krim

All-Star Team

The all-star team and awards were announced on 8 May 2015.[10][11]

• Goalkeeper:  Sandra Toft (DEN)
• Right wing:  Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren (NOR)
• Right back:  Nora Mørk (NOR)
• Central back:  Anikó Kovacsics (HUN)
• Left back:  Cristina Neagu (ROU)
• Left wing:  Siraba Dembélé (FRA)
• Pivot:  Heidi Løke (NOR)

Other awards

• Most Valuable Player of the Final Four:  Clara Woltering (GER)
• Best Coach:  Ambros Martín (ESP)
• Best Young Player:  Eliza Buceschi (ROU)
• Best Defence Player:  Dorina Korsós (HUN)

See also

• 2014–15 Women's EHF Cup Winners' Cup
• 2014–15 Women's EHF Cup
• 2014–15 Women's EHF Challenge Cup

References

1. "Undefeated Buducnost take the trophy for the second time in history". ehfcl.com. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
2. "Women's EHF Champions League teams announced for 2014/15". ehfcl.com. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
3. "Qualification draw sends Midtjylland against Kragujevac, while FTC face SERCODAK". ehfcl.com. 2014-06-26.
4. "Pots ready for qualification and group matches draws". ehfcl.com. 2014-06-23.
5. "Györ to face Viborg, Zagreb and Sävehof in group matches". ehfcl.com. 2014-06-27.
6. "Defending champions await Vardar in the quarter-finals". ehfcl.com. 15 March 2015.
7. "Two teams are new, two return to MVM EHF FINAL4". ehfcl.com. 13 April 2015.
8. "Clashes of women's handball giants open 2015 MVM EHF FINAL4". ehfcl.com. 14 April 2015.
9. Top scorers
10. "All-stars take to the court at the 2015 MVM EHF FINAL4". ehfcl.com. 8 May 2015.
11. "Woltering's heroics in goal earn the MVP award". ehfcl.com. 10 May 2015.

External links

• Official website