Barcelona are the best of 24 teams

84 of 120 Group Matches of the VELUX EHF Champions League have been played already, the last three remaining rounds will follow in February after the World Championship in Spain.

Some decisions have already been taken, as ten of 16 participating teams for the Last 16 are already confirmed: Veszprém, Kielce, Barcelona, Berlin, Hamburg, Kiel, Flensburg, Skopje, Velenje and Chekhovskie. 

But the winter break is also a good time to have brief look upon the statistics and give an outlook on the groups – especially which teams have what chances to proceed to the next stages.

Points: group leaders Veszprém (Group B), Kielce (C) and Barcelona (D) are the top of the tops with the optimum of 14 points after seven matches followed by Hamburg and Chekhovskie (both 11) in Group A. The only team with zero on their account are Chambéry Savoie.

Best defence: Like in the previous season Skopje can count on the best defence, as they conceded only 160 goals, ahead of Kielce (163), Barcelona (168), Veszprém (170) and Velenje (175).

Best attack: Leader in this ranking are THW Kiel by scoring 229 goals, followed by Barcelona (226), Flensburg (223), Chekhovskie (222) and Veszprém (217).

So from the statistical point of view Barcelona are the current best of 24 teams by 14 points and a goal difference of +58, ahead of Veszprém and Kielce (both14/+47).

Top scorers: Croat Ivan Čupić (Kielce) is the current top scorer of the VELUX EHF Champions League by 49 goals, ahead of the Danish wing duo Anders Eggert (Flensburg, 47) and Hans Lindberg (Hamburg, 46), who is equal with Slovenian Gašper Marguč (Celje). Montenegrin Fahrudin Melić (Velenje) is fifth ranked with 44 goals

The preview:

In Group A, Montpellier currently have best chances to progress as fourth team to the Last 16, two points ahead of León. Chekhovskie Medvedi have the German top duo Flensburg and Hamburg at home – and can hope for the group victory. 

In Group B Veszprém seem to be unstoppable. Even when Kiel win all three remaining matches, they still have to hope for another failure of the dominant Hungarians. Madrid are supposed to be the favourite for the third rank, as Celje, Constanta and Sävehof (currently equal with four points) fight for the one remaining spot.

In Group C Kielce only need one more victory from three matches to be confirmed as group winner. Below, equal teams Velenje and Metalurg fight for the second position and the better base for the knock-out stages. And below them, Bjerringbro have the best chances to progress to the Last 16 (for the first time in club history) ahead of St. Petersburg and Chambéry.

In Group D Barcelona are in clear lead, but have two tough away matches at Berlin and Minsk ahead. The advance of Berlin ahead of Minsk is only one point and they lost the direct encounter, so the Belarusians can hope for the second place. Szeged (4), Zagreb (3) and Schaffhausen have some direct duels ahead to fight for the fourth position.