One debutant, four nations and goals galore
Six teams are still in the race to reach the Men's EHF Cup Finals in Berlin on May 16 and 17, for which Füchse Berlin have already qualified, skipping the quarter-finals as the hosts won their group.
Prior to the draw for the three remaining duels for a place in the German capital, and after 48 matches, here are the most important facts and figures from the group phase.
HSV Hamburg, MT Melsungen (both Germany) and Team Tvis Holstebro (Denmark) will be in Pot 1 at Tuesday's draw, which will be streamed live on ehfTV.com from 10:45 (local time in Vienna) while Gorenje Velenje (Slovenia), Skjern Handball (Denmark) and Eskilstuna Guif (Sweden) are in Pot 2 of the runners-up.
0 teams from last season’s quarter-finals have reached this stage of the competition again.
0 national champions entering the competition from VELUX EHF Champions League qualification made it to the quarter-finals.
1 team remained unbeaten during the group phase -Danish side Team Tvis Holstebro (four wins, two draws).
1 European Cup debutant is among the seven teams still in the competition - German side MT Melsungen.
1 team can still complete their full cabinet of international trophies - HSV Hamburg. After winning the Cup Winners’ Cup in 2007 and the VELUX EHF Champions League in 2013, the German side now aim for the only missing title.
1 quarter-final pairing with teams from the same country is possible – and it is a Danish one, Holstebro vs Skjern. Two years ago, Holstebro faced the same situation, playing against KIF Kolding Kobenhavn, and they qualified for the EHF Cup Finals with a thrilling last-second goal. The two remaining German sides cannot face each other as they are in the same pot.
1 team did not take any points in the group phase - RK Vojvodina from Novi Sad (Serbia).
2 teams that had been part of previous EHF Cup Finals are in the race – already-qualified Berlin (finished third in 2014), and Holstebro (finished third in 2013).
2 is the lowest possible number of nations represented at the EHF Cup Finals – if Hamburg and Melsungen win their quarter-finals and join hosts Berlin, three German teams would be part of the event.
3 EHF Cup Finals hosts – which means all of them – have qualified for the final event straight from the group phase: Nantes (2013) and Berlin twice (2014, 2015)
4 nations are represented in the quarter-finals - Germany, Denmark (two teams each), Sweden and Slovenia.
4 of the six quarter-finalists have advanced from the second qualification round - Holstebro, Skjern, Melsungen and Guif. Hamburg and Velenje started one round later.
5 group matches ended in draws. Guif, Holstebro and Constanta were the experts, being part of two draws each, while no draws occurred in groups A and C.
5 consecutive times HC St. Petersburg have qualified for a European Cup competition group phase and for the fifth straight time the Russian runners-up failed to proceed, following four unsuccessful attempts to advance in the VELUX EHF Champions League.
8 points were needed to finish among the three best second-ranked teams, 7 was not enough for Granollers. Skjern was the best second-ranked team with 10 points – the same number as the four group winners.
8 group matches had an attendance of over 2,000 spectators.
10 points from six matches was exactly the same return for all four group winners.
15 wins in 18 matches were achieved by the three Germans teams in total, and all three proceeded from the group phase as group winners.
18 group matches were won by the away team.
25 group matches were won by the home team.
25 goals was the highest overall margin of victory from a fixture over the course of both meetings, Velenje vs Haslum (34:21 and 34:22)
37 goals was the highest number a team scored in a single match - Berlin beat Vojvodina 37:22
44 goals were scored in the match between Granollers and Constanta (23:21) - the lowest scoring match of the group phase.
48 group matches were played, and only 10 games remain to decide the 2014/15 EHF Cup winner.
68 goals were scored in the match between Constanta and Holstebro (34:34) - the highest scoring match of the group phase.
91 goals were scored in the two duels of Berlin and Porto (25:20, 26:20) - the lowest combined total from two teams over two contests.
143 goals were conceded by Berlin - the best defence of all 16 group phase participants.
192 goals were scored by Velenje - the best attack of all teams in the group phase.
5,894 fans on average watched Füchse Berlin's home matches in the Max-Schmeling-Halle - the venue of the EHF Cup Finals.
6,453 fans saw the match between Füchse and Vojvodina - the highest attendance of any match in the group phase
Matches with winning margins greater than 10 goals:
+15: Berlin vs Vojvodina 37:22
+13: Velenje vs Haslum 34:21
+12: Balatonfüred vs Nexe 19:31
+12: Haslum vs Velenje 22:34
Matches with 60 or more goals:
68: Constanta vs Holstebro 34:34
66: Haslum vs Hamburg 34:32
65: Winterthur vs Haslum 31:34
63: Velenje vs Hamburg 31:32
62: St. Petersburg vs Constanta 35:27
62: Holstebro vs Constanta 34:28
62: St. Petersburg vs Holstebro 30:32
62: Hamburg vs Haslum 36:26
61: Hamburg vs Velenje 33:28
61: Winterthur vs Velenje 26:35
60: Melsungen vs Nexe 34:26
60: Skjern vs Berlin 32:28
Lowest number of goals:
44: Granollers vs Constanta 23:21
45: Berlin vs Porto 25:20
46: Porto vs Berlin 20:26
47: Porto vs Skjern 23:24
48: Vojvodina vs Skjern 23:25
48: Skjern vs Porto 27:21
48: Guif vs Balatonfüred 24:24
48: Balatonfüred vs Guif 23:25
48: Winterthur vs Hamburg 22:26
49: St. Petersburg vs Granollers 22:27
Best defences:
143 goals conceded: Berlin
147 goals conceded: Skjern
152 goals conceded: Melsungen, Porto
154 goals conceded: Granollers
Best attack:
192 goals: Velenje
189 goals: Hamburg
185 goals: Holstebro
177 goals: Melsungen
175 goals: Berlin
Best goal difference:
+32: Velenje, Berlin
+25: Melsungen
+20: Hamburg
+17: Skjern, Holstebro
Top scorers:
62 goals: Stas Skube (Velenje)
51 goals: Michael Nielsen (Holstebro)
47 goals: Taras Dryapochko (St. Petersburg)
47 goals: Javier Hurnet (Constanta)
47 goals: Julian Krieg (Winterthur)
Top scorers still in competition:
62 goals: Stas Skube (Velenje)
51 goals: Michael Nielsen (Holstebro)
45 goals: Patrick Larsen (Holstebro)
45 goals: Viktor Tstlund (Guif)
44 goals: Mathias Tholin (Guif)
Top attendances:
6,453: Berlin vs Vojvodina
6,316: Berlin vs Porto
4,915: Berlin vs Skjern
2,845: Constanta vs Granollers
2,136: Melsungen vs Guif
TEXT:
Björn Pazen / jh