2018–19 EHF Champions League

The 2018–19 EHF Champions League was the 59th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 26th edition under the current EHF Champions League format.[1]

This article is about the 2018–19 EHF Men's Champions League. For the EHF Women's Champions League, see 2018–19 Women's EHF Champions League.
EHF Champions League
2018–19
Tournament information
SportHandball
Dates12 September 2018–2 June 2019
Teams28
Websiteehfcl.com
Final positions
Champions RK Vardar
Runner-up Telekom Veszprém
Tournament statistics
Matches played200
Goals scored11395 (56.98 per match)
Attendance738,682 (3,693 per match)
MVP Igor Karačić
Top scorer(s) Alex Dujshebaev
(99 goals)

RK Vardar defeated Telekom Veszprém 27–24 in the final to win their second title.[2]

Competition format

Twenty-eight teams, divided into four groups, participated in the competition. 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, while the bottom two in each group dropped out of the competition. The remaining 10 teams qualified for the first knockout phase.

In Groups C and D, six teams played in each group in a round robin format, with both home and away games. The top two teams in each group then met in an elimination play-off, with the two winners proceeding to the first knockout phase. The remaining teams were eliminated from the competition.

Knockout Phase 1 (Last 16)

12 teams played home and away in the first knockout phase, with the 10 teams qualified from Groups A and B and the two teams qualified from Groups C and D.

Knockout Phase 2 (Quarter-finals)

The six winners of the matches in the first knockout phase were joined by the winners of Groups A and B to play home and away for the right to contest the VELUX EHF FINAL4.

VELUX EHF FINAL4

The culmination of the season, the VELUX EHF FINAL4, continued in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title over one weekend in LANXESS arena, Cologne.

Team allocation

28 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.[3]

Groups A/B
Meshkov Brest PPD Zagreb Skjern Håndbold Montpellier Handball
HBC Nantes Paris Saint-Germain Flensburg-Handewitt Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Pick Szeged Telekom Veszprém RK Vardar PGE Vive Kielce
Barcelona Lassa IFK Kristianstad Celje Pivovarna Laško Motor Zaporozhye
Groups C/D
Bjerringbro-Silkeborg Riihimäki Cocks Metalurg Skopje Elverum Håndball
Wisła Płock Sporting CP Dinamo București Chekhovskiye Medvedi
Tatran Prešov Ademar León Wacker Thun Beşiktaş

Round and draw dates
Phase Draw date
Group stage 29 June 2018
Knockout stage
Final Four
(Cologne)		 7 May 2019

Group stage
Location of teams of the 2018–19 EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B; Green: Group C; Yellow: Group D.
Main article: 2018–19 EHF Champions League group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 29 June 2018 at 12:30 at the Erste Campus in Vienna, Austria. 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 was that teams from the same national association could not face each other in the same group. The only exception was HBC Nantes, who play against one of the two French rivals in the group.[4]

In each group, teams will play 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 will be determined in the following manner:

  • Groups A and B – the top team will qualify directly for the quarterfinals, and the five teams ranked 2nd–6th will advance 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.

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BAR VES VAR KIE RNL BRE MON KRI
1 Barcelona Lassa 14 12 0 2 486 391 +95 24 Quarterfinals — 31–28 34–26 31–27 30–25 41–32 35–27 43–26
2 Telekom Veszprém 14 10 0 4 410 382 +28 20 First knockout round 29–26 — 24–27 29–27 28–29 28–20 25–19 36–27
3 RK Vardar 14 9 1 4 406 390 +16 19 26–30 27–29 — 28–27 29–27 30–23 33–27 33–25
4 PGE Vive Kielce 14 7 0 7 439 430 +9 14[lower-alpha 1] 36–42 35–36 31–27 — 35–32 33–31 27–28 33–31
5 Rhein-Neckar Löwen 14 7 0 7 418 410 +8 14[lower-alpha 1] 35–34 25–29 27–30 30–29 — 33–27 37–27 36–27
6 Meshkov Brest 14 4 1 9 379 419 −40 9 21−29 28–29 31–31 26–35 27–24 — 26–23 32–23
7 Montpellier Handball 14 3 1 10 377 414 −37 7 28–36 29–30 24–27 26–29 31–26 29–23 — 30–31
8 IFK Kristianstad 14 2 1 11 396 475 −79 5 25–44 32–29 30–31 33–34 27–32 30–32 29–29 —
Source: EHF
Notes:
  1. Vive Kielce 64–62 Rhein-Neckar Löwen

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification PAR SZE FLE NAN ZAP ZAG SKJ CEL
1 Paris Saint-Germain 14 13 0 1 455 385 +70 26 Quarterfinals — 33–31 29–28 35–34 31–25 33–28 38–28 33–21
2 Pick Szeged 14 9 2 3 411 397 +14 20 First knockout round 33–32 — 30–28 30–28 30–29 26–26 33–33 33–24
3 Flensburg-Handewitt 14 7 1 6 378 370 +8 15 20–27 27–25 — 29–29 31–24 29–31 26–22 27–26
4 HBC Nantes 14 5 4 5 421 408 +13 14 31–35 29–26 31–34 — 23–27 23–20 35–27 38–27
5 Motor Zaporozhye 14 5 1 8 389 381 +8 11[lower-alpha 1] 29–35 31–32 28–26 30–30 — 35–27 33–23 36–27
6 PPD Zagreb 14 4 3 7 382 420 −38 11[lower-alpha 1] 21–32 23–24 21–22 27–27 27–24 — 32–29 24–22
7 Skjern Håndbold 14 3 2 9 398 439 −41 8 24–26 26–29 24–31 32–34 37–33 31–31 — 35–32
8 Celje Pivovarna Laško 14 3 1 10 380 416 −36 7 32–36 28–29 23–20 29–29 33–28 30–21 26–27 —
Source: EHF
Notes:
  1. Motor Zaporozhye 59–54 Zagreb

Group C
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BJE SPO PRE MED BES SKO
1 Bjerringbro-Silkeborg 10 8 0 2 323 273 +50 16 Playoffs — 29–28 29–30 39–28 34–27 33–25
2 Sporting CP 10 7 0 3 304 277 +27 14[lower-alpha 1] 32–35 — 26–28 33–31 34–28 34–26
3 Tatran Prešov 10 7 0 3 278 268 +10 14[lower-alpha 1] 26–24 27–30 — 27–28 27–23 30–24
4 Chekhovskiye Medvedi 10 4 0 6 280 279 +1 8 24–30 22–23 38–26 — 22–24 33–25
5 Beşiktaş 10 3 0 7 255 289 −34 6 24–37 27–33 22–28 27–30 — 23–22
6 Metalurg Skopje 10 1 0 9 246 300 −54 2 29–33 24–31 24–29 25–24 22–30 —
Source: EHF
Notes:
  1. Sporting 56–55 Prešov

Group D
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BUC PLO ELV LEO RII THU
1 Dinamo București 10 7 0 3 293 280 +13 14[lower-alpha 1] Playoffs — 24–21 26–24 35–30 24–22 35–34
2 Wisła Płock 10 7 0 3 278 250 +28 14[lower-alpha 1] 29–28 — 30–28 25–23 34–18 34–24
3 Elverum Håndball 10 6 1 3 278 272 +6 13 29–28 28–30 — 30–25 28–27 29–28
4 Ademar León 10 5 2 3 252 251 +1 12 31–28 27–24 24–24 — 23–20 24–21
5 Riihimäki Cocks 10 2 2 6 246 269 −23 6 31–32 27–26 25–28 19–19 — 31–29
6 Wacker Thun 10 0 1 9 268 293 −25 1 29–33 23–25 29–30 25–26 26–26 —
Source: EHF
Notes:
  1. Dinamo 52–50 Płock

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 will face the runners-up of the other group in a two-legged tie.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Sporting CP 59–57 Dinamo București 32–31 27–26
Wisła Płock 49–46 Bjerringbro-Silkeborg 22–26 27–20

Knockout stage
Main article: 2018–19 EHF Champions League 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
Sporting CP 57–65 Telekom Veszprém 28–30 29–35
Wisła Płock 36–45 Pick Szeged 20–22 16–23
PPD Zagreb 48–59 RK Vardar 18–27 30–32
Meshkov Brest 48–60 Flensburg-Handewitt 28–30 20–30
Motor Zaporozhye 62–67 PGE Vive Kielce 33–33 29–34
Rhein-Neckar Löwen 61–62 HBC Nantes 34–32 27–30

Quarterfinals
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
HBC Nantes 51–61 Barcelona Lassa 25–32 26–29
PGE Vive Kielce 60–59 Paris Saint-Germain 34–24 26–35
Flensburg-Handewitt 47–57 Telekom Veszprém 22–28 25–29
RK Vardar 56–52 Pick Szeged 31–23 25–29

Final four
 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
1 June
 
 
 Telekom Veszprém33
 
2 June
 
 PGE Vive Kielce30
 
 Telekom Veszprém24
 
1 June
 
 RK Vardar27
 
 Barcelona Lassa27
 
 
 RK Vardar29
 
Third place
 
 
2 June
 
 
 PGE Vive Kielce35
 
 
 Barcelona Lassa40

Final
2 June 2019
18:00		 RK Vardar 27–24 Telekom Veszprém Lanxess Arena, Cologne
Attendance: 19,250
Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
Ferreira 6 (16–11) Mahé 6
4× 2× Report 1× 5×

Statistics and awards

Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals[5]
1 Alex Dujshebaev PGE Vive Kielce 99
2 Dainis Krištopāns RK Vardar 94
3 Andy Schmid Rhein-Neckar Löwen 91
4 Barys Pukhouski Motor Zaporozhye 87
Melvyn Richardson Montpellier
6 Zlatko Horvat PPD Zagreb 85
7 Valero Rivera Folch HBC Nantes 81
8 Nedim Remili Paris Saint-Germain 80
9 Uwe Gensheimer Paris Saint-Germain 79
Igor Karačić RK Vardar
Jannik Kohlbacher Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Petar Nenadić Telekom Veszprém

Awards

The all-star team was announced on 31 May 2019.[6]

Other awards

References
  1. "34 clubs apply for a place in the new season". ehfcl.com. 7 June 2018.
  2. "Vardar extend miracle story with second trophy". ehfcl.com. 2 June 2019.
  3. "Starting grid for the 2018/19 season confirmed". ehfcl.com. 19 June 2018.
  4. "Champions Montpellier drawn in Group A alongside three previous winners". ehfcl.com. 29 June 2018.
  5. Goalscorers
  6. "Vardar dominate VELUX EHF Champions league all-star team". ehfcl.com. 31 May 2019.
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