2017–18 Women's EHF Champions League

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

Women's EHF Champions League
2017–18
Tournament information
SportHandball
Dates9 September 2017–13 May 2018
Teams16 (group stage)
22 (qualification)
Websiteehfcl.com
Final positions
ChampionsHungary Győri Audi ETO KC
Runner-upNorth Macedonia HC Vardar
Tournament statistics
Matches played96
Goals scored5014 (52.23 per match)
Attendance281,647 (2,934 per match)
Top scorer(s)Romania Cristina Neagu
(110 goals)

Győri Audi ETO KC defended their title by defeating HC Vardar in the final.[1]

Competition format edit

16 teams participated in the competition, divided in four groups who played in a round robin, home and away format. The top three teams in each group qualified for the main round

Main round

The 12 qualified teams were divided in four groups who played in a round robin, home and away format. The points gained against the qualified teams in the first round were carried over. The top four teams in each group qualified for the quarterfinals.

Knockout stage

After the quarterfinals, the culmination of the season, the WOMEN'S EHF FINAL4, will continue in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title.

Team allocation edit

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

Group stage
  FC Midtjylland   Nykøbing Falster Håndbold   Brest Bretagne Handball   Metz Handball
  SG BBM Bietigheim   FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria   Győri Audi ETO KC   HC Vardar
  ŽRK Budućnost   Larvik HK   Vistal Gdynia   CSM București
  Rostov-Don   RK Krim
Qualification tournaments
  Hypo Niederösterreich   HC Gomel   Podravka Koprivnica   Thüringer HC
  Vipers Kristiansand   CB Atlético Guardés   H 65 Höör   Kastamonu Belediyesi

Round and draw dates edit

The qualification draw was held in Vienna, Austria, the group stage draw in Ljubljana, Slovenia and the final four draw in Budapest, Hungary.[3][4][5]

Phase Draw date
Qualification tournaments 29 June 2017
Group stage 30 June 2017
Knockout stage
Final Four 17 April 2018

Qualification stage edit

The draw was held on 29 June 2017. The two winners of the qualification tournaments advanced to the group stage.[6]

Qualification tournament 1 edit

Vipers Kristiansand hosted the tournament.[7]

Bracket edit

 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
9 September
 
 
  Vipers Kristiansand43
 
10 September
 
  HC Gomel19
 
  Vipers Kristiansand42
 
9 September
 
  Podravka Koprivnica14
 
  Podravka Koprivnica21
 
 
  Kastamonu Belediyesi17
 
Third place
 
 
10 September
 
 
  HC Gomel29
 
 
  Kastamonu Belediyesi28

Qualification tournament 2 edit

Thüringer HC hosted the tournament.[7]

Bracket edit

 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
9 September
 
 
  Thüringer HC31
 
10 September
 
  CB Atlético Guardés21
 
  Thüringer HC33
 
9 September
 
  H 65 Höör24
 
  H 65 Höör32
 
 
  Hypo Niederösterreich19
 
Third place
 
 
10 September
 
 
  CB Atlético Guardés27
 
 
  Hypo Niederösterreich29

Group stage edit

The draw was held on 30 June 2017.[8]

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

Group A edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BUC NYK KRI GDY
1   CSM Bucureşti 6 5 0 1 192 144 +48 10 Main round 39–26 30–18 34–22
2   Nykøbing Falster 6 4 0 2 168 163 +5 8 25–22 28–26 27–21
3   RK Krim 6 3 0 3 159 158 +1 6 30–33 27–26 29–22
4   Vistal Gdynia 6 0 0 6 135 189 −54 0 EHF Cup 23–34 28–36 19–29
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers

Group B edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification GYO ROS MID BRE
1   Győri Audi ETO KC 6 5 0 1 153 126 +27 10 Main round 25–23 27–16 29–17
2   Rostov-Don 6 4 0 2 149 138 +11 8 23–22 27–20 26–24
3   FC Midtjylland 6 3 0 3 134 147 −13 6 24–27 24–21 27–23
4   Brest Bretagne Handball 6 0 0 6 132 157 −25 0 EHF Cup 23–26 23–29 22–23
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers

Group C edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification VAR FER THÜ LAR
1   HC Vardar 6 6 0 0 182 147 +35 12 Main round 34–31 29–21 30–27
2   FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria 6 4 0 2 183 167 +16 8 28–29 28–25 37–33
3   Thüringer HC 6 1 0 5 145 167 −22 2[a] 21–29 25–29 22–25
4   Larvik HK 6 1 0 5 152 181 −29 2[a] EHF Cup 19–31 21–30 27–31
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Thüringer HC 53–52 Larvik HK

Group D edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification MET BUD BIE KRI
1   Metz Handball 6 5 0 1 157 137 +20 10 Main round 27–23 27–21 30–22
2   ŽRK Budućnost 6 3 0 3 144 148 −4 6[a] 23–18 32–24 26–23
3   SG BBM Bietigheim 6 3 0 3 152 158 −6 6[a] 26–30 27–21 25–24
4   Vipers Kristiansand 6 1 0 5 144 154 −10 2 EHF Cup 22–25 29–19 24–29
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ a b ŽRK Budućnost 53–51 SG BBM Bietigheim

Main round edit

The top three teams of each preliminary group advance. Points obtained against qualified teams from the same group are carried over.

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

Group 1 edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification GYO ROS BUC MID NYK KRI
1   Győri Audi ETO KC 10 8 0 2 281 231 +50 16 Quarterfinals 25–23 28–24 27–16 32–23 34–25
2   Rostov-Don 10 7 1 2 266 232 +34 15 23–22 25–24 27–20 32–22 29–22
3   CSM Bucureşti 10 6 1 3 282 246 +36 13 28–22 22–22 29–24 39–26 30–18
4   FC Midtjylland 10 2 2 6 226 251 −25 6 24–27 24–21 26–31 24–20 24–24
5   Nykøbing Falster 10 2 1 7 240 284 −44 5[a] 24–32 25–29 25–22 21–21 28–26
6   RK Krim 10 2 1 7 243 294 −51 5[a] 21–32 26–35 30–33 24–23 27–26
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Nykøbing Falster 54–53 RK Krim

Group 2 edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification VAR MET FER BUD BIE THÜ
1   HC Vardar 10 9 0 1 301 245 +56 18 Quarterfinals 29–23 34–31 31–24 30–22 29–21
2   Metz Handball 10 7 0 3 269 256 +13 14 24–22 28–25 27–23 27–21 35–29
3   FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria 10 6 0 4 282 265 +17 12 28–39 29–27 34–26 31–22 28–25
4   ŽRK Budućnost 10 4 0 6 251 260 −9 8 25–30 23–18 23–24 32–24 29–21
5   SG BBM Bietigheim 10 2 0 8 242 294 −52 4[a] 26–38 26–30 27–23 27–21 31–24
6   Thüringer HC 10 2 0 8 257 282 −25 4[a] 21–29 29–31 25–29 24–25 28–26
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ a b SG BBM Bietigheim 57–52 Thüringer HC

Knockout stage edit

The first four placed teams from the main round qualified for the knockout stage.

Quarterfinals edit

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
ŽRK Budućnost   48–56   Győri Audi ETO KC 20–26 28–30
FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria   51–63   Rostov-Don 29–31 22–32
CSM București   54–48   Metz Handball 34–21 20–27
FC Midtjylland   48–56   HC Vardar 23–24 25–32

Final four edit

Bracket edit

 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
12 May
 
 
  CSM București20
 
13 May
 
  Győri Audi ETO KC26
 
  Győri Audi ETO KC (OT) 27
 
12 May
 
  HC Vardar26
 
  Rostov-Don19
 
 
  HC Vardar25
 
Third place
 
 
13 May
 
 
  CSM București31
 
 
  Rostov-Don30

Final edit

13 May 2018
18:00
Győri Audi ETO KC   27–26 (ET)   HC Vardar László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest
Attendance: 12,000
Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
Groot 9 (9–9) Lekić 6
  6×  Report   4× 

FT: 20–20 ET: 7–6

Awards and statistics edit

All-Star Team edit

The all-star team and awards were announced on 11 May 2018.[9]

Other awards edit

Top goalscorers edit

As of 13 May 2018
Rank Player Club Goals
1   Cristina Neagu   CSM București 110
2   Iveta Luzumová   Thüringer HC 105
3   Andrea Penezić   HC Vardar 92
4   Veronica Kristiansen   FC Midtjylland 91
5   Johanna Westberg   Nykøbing Falster 76
6   Ana Gros   Metz Handball 74
7   Milena Raičević   ŽRK Budućnost 72
8   Anita Görbicz   Győri Audi ETO KC 70
9   Andrea Lekić   HC Vardar 69
10   Nerea Pena   FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria 66
  Anna Vyakhireva   Rostov-Don
  Isabelle Gulldén   CSM București

References edit

  1. ^ "A perfect farewell for Martin: Györ become first to defend FINAL4 title". ehfcl.com. 13 May 2018.
  2. ^ "Top flight participants for 2017/18 confirmed". ehfcl.com. Archived from the original on 24 June 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  3. ^ "EHF receives 25 registrations for the 25th season of Women's EHF Champions League". ehfcl.com. 12 June 2017. Archived from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  4. ^ "Ljubljana hosts draw for the 25th season of EHF Champions League". ehfcl.com. 13 June 2017.
  5. ^ "Follow the Women's EHF FINAL4 2018 Draw live". ehfcl.com. 17 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Former champions avoid a clash in the qualification". eurohandball.com. 29 June 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Vipers Kristiansand and Thüringer HC host EHF CL Qualification Tournaments". ehfcl.com. 7 July 2017. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  8. ^ "Defending champions in the group with the EHF Cup winners Rostov". ehfcl.com. 30 June 2017.
  9. ^ "Women's EHF Champions League All-star team revealed on the eve of EHF FINAL4". eurohandball.com. 11 May 2018. Archived from the original on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.

External links edit