7 nations, 850 goals and a new attendance record

After an overall of 136 matches of group phase and Last 16 it is again time to look upon the numbers of this VELUX EHF Champions League season with the focus on those teams which proceeded to the quarter-finals.

0 times a winner of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 defended their title in Cologne. History continued this season, as reigning champions SG Flensburg-Handewitt were eliminated in the Last 16 by their 2014 final opponent THW Kiel.

0 teams have qualified for all five previous VELUX EHF FINAL4 events.

0 Last 16 matches ended in a draw, so the season total remains on nine draws so far.

1 club is both quarter-finalist of VELUX EHF Champions League and Women’s EHF Champions League: Vardar Skopje.

1 quarter-finalist turned around a deficit from the first leg: Vardar Skopje, eliminating Plock by a 31:20 home win after a 26:32 away defeat.

2 former EHF Champions League winners are still part of the race to Cologne, representing ten trophies: record winner FC Barcelona (seven titles) and THW Kiel (three). Additionally Veszprem are the only team, which had been part of an EHF Champions League final (2002), but did not win the trophy.

2 consecutive times the defending VELUX EHF Champions League champion was eliminated in the Last 16: 2014 Hamburg and 2015 Flensburg.

2 teams lost their second leg matches of the Last 16, but managed to qualify for the quarter-final: Zagreb and Kielce.

2 teams had been part of all quarter-finals since the implementation of the current playing system in the 2009/10 season: FC Barcelona and THW Kiel.

4 teams of those, who are still in competition, have been part in previous VELUX EHF FINAL4 events in Cologne: Barcelona (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014), Kiel (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014), Kielce (2013) and Veszprem (2014)

4 – which means all – group winners have clinched their berth for the quarter-finals. Zagreb are the only third ranked team of the first stage entering the last stage prior to Cologne, while PSG, Szeged and Vardar were second ranked.

4 Last 16 matches are among the top 18 games of the season in terms of attendance, topped by Zagreb vs. Kolding (14,500).

5 teams of the 2013/14 quarter-finals of the VELUX EHF Champions League have again reached this stage of the competition: Kiel, Barcelona, Veszprem, PSG and Vardar.

5 quarter-finalists manage to win both Last 16 duels: Barcelona, Kiel, PSG, Veszprem and Szeged.

5 goals only were scored in the first half by Aalborg in the first leg against Barcelona.

5 of the 13 matches with the lowest overall scores of the whole season where played in the Last 16.

7 nations – so many have not been seen in the past decade – are represented by the eight quarter-finalists. For the first time since 2002 only one German team is among the top eight sides. The only country represented by two teams is Hungary – and Veszprem and Szeged might face in the quarter-final, as there is no country protection in the draw. Last season it was only five nations: Germany (three teams), FYR Macedonia (two), Spain, Hungary and France, this year it is Hungary (two), Germany, Spain, France, Poland, FYR Macedonia and Croatia.

11 consecutive matches won by Kielce, ten in the group phase and the opener of the Last 16 against Montpellier, before they were defeated for the first time in this season in the second leg. But thanks to the aggregate goal difference the Polish champions made their way through.

11 wins in 12 matches so far were not only achieved by Kielce, but also by Kiel (after their opening defeat at Zagreb) and Veszprem.

16 times FC Barcelona and THW Kiel are part of a quarter-final of the EHF Champions League, for Veszprem it is the 14^th time.

20 goals in the 31:11 of Barcelona against Aalborg was the biggest margin in all VELUX EHF Champions League 2014/15 matches so far. Before, the 19-goal difference of Kiel against Metalurg (35:16) was the record.

20 goals were scored by Uwe Gensheimer in the two Last 16 matches Rhein Neckar Löwen against Szeged, but were not enough to proceed. Momir Ilic (Veszprem), Mikkel Hansen (PSG) and Alex Dujshebajev (Vardar) scored 19 goals in their respective Last 16 matches.

27 goals was the aggregate advance of Barcelona after the two duels against Aalborg (31:11 and 29:22). It is the biggest gap since the implementation of the Last 16, before it was 22 goals in the duels Chekhovskie Medvedi vs Sarajevo (31:22, 30:17) in 2010.

33 goals Barcelona conceded in both Last 16 matches against Aalborg, while Zagreb had the second best defensive record with 38 conceded goals against Kolding.

39 goals in the match Zagreb vs Kolding (22:17) was the second lowest scoring of the season below the group match Zagreb vs Metalurg (19:17/36 goals) and just ahead of the 42 goals of Aalborg vs Barcelona (11:31).

43 goals in two Last 16 matches were enough for Zagreb to clinch the quarter-final berth – compared to 68 goals Veszprem netted in their games against La Rioja.

49 matches of the whole season so far (group phase and Last 16) ended with away wins.

78 matches of the whole season so far (group phase and Last 16) ended with home wins.

86 goals were scored by Momir Ilic (Veszprem) in twelve matches so far. The Serb – top scorer of the previous Champions League season – tops the list again ahead of Kiril Lazarov (Barcelona/85), Mikkel Hansen (PSG/80), Timur Dibirov (Vardar/75) and Dragan Gajic (Montpellier/71).

850 goals were scored in the 16 Last 16 matches, which means an average of 53.1 per match. In the group phase the average was 56.8.

14,500 spectators attended the Last 16 match of Zagreb vs Kolding, topping the all-season spectators list, previously topped by two other group matches of the Croatian champions against PSG (13,000) and Kiel (11,000).

The top lists – all Last 16 matches marked in bold

Biggest winning margins in the whole season:

+20: Aalborg vs Barcelona (11:31)
+19: Kiel vs Metalurg (35:16)
+15: Metalurg vs Kiel (27:42)
+14: Kolding vs Flensburg (35:21)
+14: Montpellier vs Veszprem (20:34)
+13: Barcelona vs Alingsas (42:29)
+11: Vardar vs. Medvedi (39:28)
+11: PSG vs. Metalurg (35:24)
+11: Kiel vs Brest (33:22)

Highest goal totals in a match:

73 goals: Medvedi vs Vardar (34:39)
71 goals: Barcelona vs Alingsas (42:29)
70 goals: Flensburg vs Barcelona (33:37)
70 goals: La Rioja vs Brest (39:31)
69 goals: Metalurg vs Kiel (27:42)
69 goals: Kielce vs Szeged (37:32)
69 goals: Schaffhausen vs Zaporozhye (32:37)
69 goals: Medved vs Veszprem (32:37)
69 goals: Veszprem vs Medvedi (38:31)
68 goals: La Rioja vs PSG (35:33)
68 goals: Kielce vs Dunkerque (36:32)
68 goals: Montpellier vs Vardar (34:34)
68 goals: La Rioja vs Veszprem (31:37)

Lowest number of goals in a match:

36 goals: Zagreb vs. Metalurg (19:17)
39 goals: Zagreb vs. Kolding (22:17)
42 goals: Aalborg vs. Barcelona (11:31)
42 goals: Alingsas vs. Kolding (19:23)
42 goals: Metalurg vs Zagreb (20:22)
43 goals: La Rioja vs. Zagreb (22:21)
43 goals: Szeged vs. Dunkerque (23:21)
44 goals: Dunkerque vs. PSG (21:23)
44 goals: Kolding vs Zagreb (23:21)
44 goals: Zaporozhye vs. Dunkerque (21:24)
45 goals: Celje vs Veszprem (21:24)
45 goals: Alingsas vs Plock (22:23)
45 goals: PSG vs. Dunkerque (23:22)

Spectators:

14,500: Zagreb vs. Kolding
13,000: Zagreb vs PSG
11,000: Zagreb vs Kiel
10,285: Kiel vs Flensburg
10,170: Kiel vs Paris
9,500: Zagreb vs Metalurg
8,700: Kiel vs Metalurg
8,487: Kiel vs Zagreb
8,000: Kiel vs La Rioja
8,000: Zagreb vs La Rioja
7,270: Löwen vs Veszprem
7,100: Kiel vs Brest
6,963: Metalurg vs Paris
6,300: Flensburg vs Barcelona
6,000: Besiktas vs Kolding
6,000: Zagreb vs Brest
6,000: Montpellier vs Kielce
6,000: Flensburg vs Kiel