2017–18 EHF Champions League

The 2017–18 EHF Champions League was the 58th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 25th edition under the current EHF Champions League format.

EHF Champions League

2017–18
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	2 September 2017–27 May 2018
Teams	28 (group stage) 31 (qualification)
Website	ehfcl.com
Final positions
Champions	Montpellier
Runner-up	HBC Nantes
Tournament statistics
Matches played	200
Goals scored	11263 (56.32 per match)
Attendance	857,713 (4,289 per match)
MVP	Diego Simonet
Top scorer(s)	Uwe Gensheimer (92 goals)

Montpellier defeated HBC Nantes in the final to win their second title.[1]

Competition format

Group Stage

Twenty-eight teams participated in the competition, divided in four groups. Groups A and B were played with eight teams each, in a round robin, home and away format. The top team in each group qualified directly for the quarter-finals, the bottom two in each group dropped out of the competition and the remaining 10 teams qualified for the first knock-out phase.

In groups C and D, six teams played in each group in a round robin format, playing both home and away. The top two teams in each group then met in a ‘semi-final’ play-off, with the two winners going through to the first knock-out phase. The remaining teams dropped out of the competition.

Knock-out Phase 1 (Last 16)

12 teams played home and away in the first knock-out phase, with the 10 teams qualified from groups A and B and the two teams qualified from groups C and D.

Knock-out Phase 2 (Quarterfinals)

The six winners of the matches in the first knock-out phase joined the winners of groups A and B to play home and away for the right to play in the VELUX EHF FINAL4.

Final four

The culmination of the season, the VELUX EHF FINAL4, will continue in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title.

Team allocation

28 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.[2]

Groups A/B
Meshkov Brest	Zagreb	Aalborg Håndbold	HBC Nantes
Paris Saint-Germain	Flensburg-Handewitt	THW Kiel	Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Pick Szeged	MVM Veszprém	Vardar	PGE Vive Kielce
Wisła Płock	Celje	Barcelona	IFK Kristianstad
Groups C/D
Skjern Håndbold	Montpellier Handball	Metalurg Skopje	Elverum Håndball
Dinamo București	Chekhovskiye Medvedi	RK Gorenje Velenje	CB Ademar León
Kadetten Schaffhausen	Beşiktaş	Motor Zaporozhye	Qualifier
Qualification tournament
Alpla HC Hard	Riihimäki Cocks	Sporting CP	Tatran Prešov

Round and draw dates

The qualification draw was held in Vienna, Austria and the group stage draw in Ljubljana, Slovenia.[3][4]

Phase	Draw date
Qualification tournaments	29 June 2017
Group stage	30 June 2017
Knockout stage
Final Four (Cologne)	2 May 2018

Qualification stage

The four teams played a semifinal and final to determine the last participant. Matches were played on 2 and 3 September 2017.[5][6]

Tatran Prešov hosted the tournament.[7]

Bracket

	Semifinals				Final
	2 September
	Sporting CP	31
					3 September
	Riihimäki Cocks	27
					Sporting CP (OT)	35
	2 September
					Alpla HC Hard	34
	Tatran Prešov	25
	Alpla HC Hard	26
					Third place
					3 September
					Riihimäki Cocks	27
					Tatran Prešov	30

Semifinals

2 September 2017 13:30	Sporting CP	31–27	Riihimäki Cocks	Tatran Handball Arena, Prešov Attendance: 420 Referees: Jurinović, Mrvica (CRO)
	Carol 8	(18–14)	Rönnberg 9
	3× 3×	Report	3× 1×

---

2 September 2017 16:00	Tatran Prešov	25–26	Alpla HC Hard	Tatran Handball Arena, Prešov Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Herczeg, Südi (HUN)
	Butorac 7	(12–13)	Schmid 7
	3× 1×	Report	3× 4×

Third place game

3 September 2017 13:30	Riihimäki Cocks	27–30	Tatran Prešov	Tatran Handball Arena, Prešov Attendance: 400 Referees: Herczeg, Südi (HUN)
	Rönnberg 5	(10–15)	Krok 6
	2× 2× 1×	Report	3× 3×

Final

3 September 2017 16:05	Sporting CP	35–34 (ET)	Alpla HC Hard	Tatran Handball Arena, Prešov Attendance: 500 Referees: Jurinović, Mrvica (CRO)
	Carol 9	(17–17)	Schmid 10
	3× 6×	Report	3× 2×
	FT: 29–29 ET: 6–5

Group stage

Kiel

RN Löwen

Flensburg

Barcelona

León

PSG

Montpellier

Nantes

Veszprém

Szeged

Aalborg

Skjern

Celje

Velenje

Kielce

Płock

Vardar

Metalurg

Kristianstad

Brest

Kadetten

Dinamo

Zagreb

Sporting

Chekhov

Motor

Elverum

Beşiktaş

Location of teams of the 2016–17 EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B; Green: Group C; Yellow: Group D.

The draw for the group stage was held on 30 June 2017 at 21:00 in the Ljubljana castle. The 28 teams were drawn into four groups, two containing eight teams (Groups A and B) and two containing six teams (Groups C and D). The only restriction is that teams from the same national association could not face each other in the same group. Since Germany qualified three teams, the lowest seeded side (Kiel) were drawn with one of the other two.[8]

In each group, teams played against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches.

After completion of the group stage matches, the teams advancing to the knockout stage were determined in the following manner:

• Groups A and B – the top team qualified directly for the quarterfinals, and the five teams ranked 2nd–6th advanced to the first knockout round.
• Groups C and D – the top two teams from both groups contest a playoff to determine the last two sides joining the 10 teams from Groups A and B in the first knockout round.

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams are ranked according to points (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). After completion of the group stage, if two or more teams have scored the same number of points, the ranking will be determined as follows: Highest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved; Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved; Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved (or in the away match in case of a two-team tie); Superior goal difference in all matches of the group; Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group; If the ranking of one of these teams is determined, the above criteria are consecutively followed until the ranking of all teams is determined. If no ranking can be determined, a decision shall be obtained by EHF through drawing of lots. During the group stage, only criteria 4–5 apply to determine the provisional ranking of teams.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VAR	BAR	NAN	RNL	SZE	KRI	PLO	ZAG
1	Vardar	14	9	3	2	390	341	+49	21	Quarterfinals		—	27–24	27–23	30–26	34–30	31–15	31–31	28–21
2	Barcelona	14	9	2	3	408	377	+31	20[lower-alpha 1]	First knockout round		29–28	—	31–25	26–26	28–27	31–29	28–27	32–22
3	HBC Nantes	14	9	2	3	402	382	+20	20[lower-alpha 1]			27–26	29–25	—	26–26	30–26	34–25	32–30	28–27
4	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	14	6	5	3	416	391	+25	17			21–21	31–31	30–30	—	35–37	32–29	31–27	31–24
5	Pick Szeged	14	6	1	7	421	411	+10	13			26–26	31–28	29–33	31–34	—	36–27	24–25	30–28
6	IFK Kristianstad	14	3	2	9	355	415	−60	8			23–26	21–26	26–31	22–35	33–32	—	25–24	28–28
7	Wisła Płock	14	2	3	9	380	408	−28	7			22–26	30–37	30–32	27–32	27–33	25–25	—	27–24
8	Zagreb	14	2	2	10	349	396	−47	6			23–29	24–32	23–22	30–26	23–28	24–27	28–28	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. Barcelona 56–54 HBC Nantes

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PAR	VES	FLE	THW	KIE	BRE	CEL	ALB
1	Paris Saint-Germain	14	11	1	2	424	378	+46	23	Quarterfinals		—	33–27	29–21	29–29	33–28	32–28	32–27	31–28
2	MVM Veszprém	14	8	2	4	407	378	+29	18[lower-alpha 1]	First knockout round		24–29	—	28–27	26–24	31–26	34–22	29–22	30–24
3	Flensburg-Handewitt	14	7	4	3	410	391	+19	18[lower-alpha 1]			33–29	31–31	—	30–33	32–32	37–30	33–28	30–27
4	THW Kiel	14	7	2	5	366	361	+5	16			22–25	22–20	20–20	—	29–30	33–23	26–29	27–26
5	PGE Vive Kielce	14	6	3	5	418	408	+10	15			29–30	32–32	25–25	32–21	—	33–28	37–31	28–27
6	Meshkov Brest	14	4	2	8	374	406	−32	10			29–28	26–29	28–30	24–25	28–25	—	29–24	23–23
7	Celje	14	3	1	10	398	434	−36	7			26–31	31–39	27–30	27–28	31–27	33–33	—	31–28
8	Aalborg Håndbold	14	2	1	11	364	405	−41	5			26–33	29–26	24–31	20–27	30–34	20–23	32–30	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. MVM Veszprém 59–58 Flensburg-Handewitt

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SKJ	ADE	GOR	ELV	SCH	BUC
1	Skjern Håndbold	10	8	0	2	326	252	+74	16	Playoffs		—	33–25	35–20	35–25	32–22	39–28
2	CB Ademar León	10	6	0	4	270	270	0	12[lower-alpha 1]			26–31	—	29–24	26–30	29–28	32–29
3	RK Gorenje Velenje	10	6	0	4	271	271	0	12[lower-alpha 1]			31–29	23–22	—	30–21	27–21	33–29
4	Elverum Håndball	10	5	0	5	287	304	−17	10			27–32	25–30	29–28	—	26–22	40–32
5	Kadetten Schaffhausen	10	4	0	6	263	274	−11	8			25–24	23–24	31–28	36–30	—	27–25
6	Dinamo București	10	1	0	9	278	324	−46	2			23–36	24–28	26–27	33–34	29–28	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. CB Ademar León 50–47 RK Gorenje Velenje

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MON	ZAP	BES	SPO	SKO	MED
1	Montpellier	10	8	0	2	309	267	+42	16	Playoffs		—	28–20	28–33	33–32	32–22	34–23
2	Motor Zaporozhye	10	6	3	1	294	263	+31	15			31–30	—	28–22	32–29	28–28	36–23
3	Beşiktaş	10	5	1	4	293	296	−3	11			32–36	28–28	—	26–30	32–29	33–29
4	Sporting CP	10	4	0	6	293	297	−4	8			29–33	23–31	34–27	—	31–27	31–30
5	Metalurg Skopje	10	2	1	7	262	293	−31	5[lower-alpha 1]			21–27	22–30	27–31	28–27	—	25–29
6	Chekhovskiye Medvedi	10	2	1	7	271	306	−35	5[lower-alpha 1]			24–28	30–30	27–29	30–27	26–32	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. Metalurg 57–55 Chekhovskiye Medvedi

Playoffs

The top two teams from Groups C and D contested a playoff to determine the two sides advancing to the knockout phase. The winners of each group faced the runners-up of the other group in a two-legged tie. The first leg was played on 24 February 2018 and the second leg on 4 March 2018.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CB Ademar León	43–48	Montpellier	24–28	19–20
Motor Zaporozhye	58–63	Skjern Håndbold	32–30	26–33

Knockout stage

The first-placed team from the preliminary groups A and B advanced to the quarterfinals, while the 2–6th placed teams advanced to the round of 16 alongside the playoff winners.

Round of 16

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Montpellier	56–55	Barcelona	28–25	28–30
Skjern Håndbold	61–59	MVM Veszprém	32–25	29–34
Meshkov Brest	52–60	HBC Nantes	24–32	28–28
IFK Kristianstad	46–53	Flensburg-Handewitt	22–26	24–27
PGE Vive Kielce	77–47^[B]	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	41–17	36–30
THW Kiel	56–50^[A]	Pick Szeged	29–22	27–28

Notes

1. ^
   Order of legs reversed after original draw.
2. ^
   A scheduling conflict for the first leg resulted in the Rhein-Neckar Löwen only fielding their reserve team against Kielce while the first team played a Handball-Bundesliga match against THW Kiel on the same day.[9]

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
THW Kiel	56–56	Vardar	28–29	28–27
PGE Vive Kielce	60–69	Paris Saint-Germain	28–34	32–35
Flensburg-Handewitt	45–57	Montpellier	28–28	17–29
HBC Nantes	60–54	Skjern Håndbold	33–27	27–27

Bracket

	Semifinals				Final
	26 May
	HBC Nantes	32
					27 May
	Paris Saint-Germain	28
					HBC Nantes	26
	26 May
					Montpellier	32
	Vardar	27
	Montpellier	28
					Third place
					27 May
					Paris Saint-Germain	29
					Vardar	28

Final

27 May 2018 18:00	HBC Nantes	26–32	Montpellier	Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,250 Referees: López, Ramírez (ESP)
	Lazarov 6	(13–16)	Fabregas, Simonet 6
	2× 2×	Report	1× 3×

Statistics and awards

Top goalscorers

As of 27 May 2018

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Uwe Gensheimer	Paris Saint-Germain	92
2	Markus Olsson	Skjern Håndbold	88
3	Andy Schmid	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	83
4	Nedim Remili	Paris Saint-Germain	80
5	Alex Dujshebaev	PGE Vive Kielce	79
	Eduardo Gurbindo	HBC Nantes
7	Nicolas Tournat	HBC Nantes	76
8	Máté Lékai	MVM Veszprém	75
9	Vuko Borozan	Vardar	74
	Michał Jurecki	PGE Vive Kielce
	Bjarte Myrhol	Skjern Håndbold

Awards

The all-star team was announced on 25 May 2018.[10]

• Goalkeeper:  Arpad Sterbik (ESP)
• Right wing:  David Balaguer (ESP)
• Right back:  Dika Mem (FRA)
• Centre back:  Nikola Karabatić (FRA)
• Left back:  Sander Sagosen (NOR)
• Left wing:  Uwe Gensheimer (GER)
• Pivot:  Bjarte Myrhol (NOR)

Other awards

• MVP of the Final four:  Diego Simonet (ARG)[11]
• Best Defender:  Luka Karabatic (FRA)
• Best Young player:  Romain Lagarde (FRA)
• Coach:  Patrice Canayer (FRA)

References

1. "After 15 years, Montpellier top the podium again". ehfcl.com. 27 May 2018.
2. "EXEC confirms the 2017/18 starting grid". ehfcl.com. 24 June 2017.
3. "Record high demand for the jubilee season". ehfcl.com. 12 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-06-16. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
4. "Ljubljana hosts draw for the 25th season of EHF Champions League". ehfcl.com. 13 June 2017.
5. "Seeding for the group phase draw released". ehfcl.com. 26 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-06-26. Retrieved 2017-06-27.
6. "Draw grants first right to organise a group to Hard". ehfcl.com. 29 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-07-02. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
7. "Tatran Presov set to welcome qualification hopefuls to Slovakia". ehfcl.com. 19 July 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-07-19. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
8. "Vardar to start the title defence in a group with record champions". ehfcl.com. 30 June 2017.
9. "Machtkampf der Verbände im Terminchaos eskaliert". rhein-neckar-loewen.de. 8 March 2018.
10. "Seven new names blow fresh wind in VELUX EHF Champions League 2017/18 All-star Team". ehfcl.com. 25 May 2018.
11. "Diego Simonet – a proud Argentinian with two trophies". ehfcl.com. 27 May 2018.

External links

• Official website