11,276 goals so far, 1 FINAL4 debutant and 11 multiple winners in Cologne

Exactly 200 matches since the start of the qualification - more than ever - have been played in the VELUX EHF Champions League so far – and the last four will decide everything in Cologne on 28/29 May, which team will follow the now dethroned champions FC Barcelona Lassa.

Here are the most important facts and figures on the 2015/16 season of the competition, prior to the VELUX EHF FINAL4 draw.

The draw for this pinnacle event will be staged in Cologne on Tuesday, 12:00 hrs, streamed live on ehfTV.com.

0 teams have defended their title since the implementation of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne in the 2009/10 season, and this story will continue as Barcelona had been eliminated by Kiel in the quarter-finals.

0 teams won both legs of the quarter-finals.

0 Spanish teams in the VELUX EHF FINAL4 for the first time.

1 team will have their debut in Cologne: Paris Saint Germain qualified for the first time for this pinnacle event, after the French champions were eliminated twice in a row by Veszprem in the 2014 and 2015 quarter-finals.

1 former EHF Champions League winner only has made it to Cologne: THW Kiel (2007, 2010, 2012). So the mathematical chances for a maiden winner are at 75 per cent.

1 nation makes its debut at the VELUX EHF FINAL4: Dener Jaanimaa (Kiel) is the first ever Estonian to come so far in the Champions League.

1 player can defend his personal title won in 2015: Nikola Karabatic. PSG’s top scorer led FC Barcelona to the trophy one year ago and even was awarded MVP of the 2015 VELUX EHF FINAL4.

1 coach has won the EHF Champions League with two different clubs so far: Alfred Gislason (2002 with SC Magdeburg, 2010 and 2012 with Kiel). If Kielce take the trophy in 2016, Talant Dujshebaev would be the second in history.

1 Croat will win the trophy in Cologne, as in every team at least one player comes from Croatia. Vori (PSG), Brozovic, Duvnjak (both Kiel), Buntic, Cupic, Sego, Strlek (all Kielce) Alilovic, Sliskovic and Sulic (all Veszprem) are on court.

1 man has won the EHF Champions League as a player (1994 with Santander) and as a coach (2006, 2008, 2009 with Ciudad Real): again Talant Dujshebaev.

1 pair of brothers fight for the trophy in Cololgne: Nikola and Luka Karabatic.

1 pair of brothers will fight for two different EHF trophies in May: Joan Canellas is part of the THW Kiel squad at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne, Marc Canellas has qualified with Fraikin Granollers for the EHF Cup Finals at Nantes.

1 Icelandic coach – at least – had been involved in all six VELUX EHF FINAL4 so far: Besides Alfred Gislason (now sixth times with Kiel) it were Dagur Sigurdsson with Füchse Berlin (2012) and Gudmundur Gudmundsson with Rhein-Neckar Löwen (2011).

1 team turned a draw in the first quarter-final leg in a ticket to Cologne – Kielce against Flensburg. Veszprem tied in the second leg against Vardar like PSG against Zagreb.

2 Spanish coaches are part of the FINAL4 though no Spanish team made it to Cologne: Javier Sabate (Veszprem) and Talant Dujshebaev (Kielce). Two more Spanish coaches (Xavi Pascual/Barcelona and Raul Gonzalez/Vardar) had been eliminated in the quarter-finals, two more (Juan Carlos Pastor/Szeged and Manuel Cadenas/Plock) in the Last 16.

2 players of the FINAL4 participants have scored more than 100 goals so far – the same as last season: Mikkel Hansen (PSG/121) and Momir Ilc (Veszprem/105). Besides, Kiril Lazarov (Barcelona, 109) and Dean Bombac (Szeged, 101) have netted in more than 100 times.

3 former or current top scorers of the EHF Champions League are on court in Cologne: Nikola Karabatic (2006/07 – 89 goals for Kiel) Mikkel Hansen (2011/12 - 98 goals for Kobenhavn) and Momir Ilic (2013/14 – 103 goals for Veszprem, 2014/15 - 114 goals for Veszprem).


3 straight times Veszprem made it to Cologne, while Kielce are part of the event for the third time too.

3 times the defending Champions League champions had been eliminated in the quarter-finals now: Kiel (2011) and Barcelona (2012 and 2016).

3 of the four VELUX EHF FINAL4 2016 participants had been part of the 2015 event: Kielce, Kiel and Veszprem.

4 nations are represented by 22 Men’s EHF Champions League winner’s titles: Spain (14 titles, including all from 1994 to 2001), Germany (6 titles, including four from five in Cologne), France (Montpellier) and Slovenia (Celje).

4 different nations are (for the second time in a row) represented by the four VELUX EHF FINAL4 participants: France, Germany, Poland and Hungary. Seven nations had been represented by the eight quarter-finalist including two German teams.

4 times Thierry Omeyer has won the EHF Champions League so far to be the most successful participants of the 2016 VELUX EHF FINAL4 – 2003 with Montpellier and 2007, 2010, 2012 with Kiel.

5 straight times THW Kiel has now qualified for the VELUX EHF FINAL4. Being at Cologne for the sixth time; the German record champions are record participants.

6 times now Alfred Gislason will coach Kiel at Cologne. Javier Sabate (as head coach of Veszprem) and Noka Serdarusic (PSG) are new on the benches in Cologne, while Talant Dujshebaev (Kielce) will have his fifth participation.

6 former or current IHF World Handball Players of the Year will be on court in Cologne: Nikola Karabatic (PSG, 2007 & 2014), Thierry Omeyer (PSG, 2009), Daniel Narcisse (PSG, 2012), Mikkel Hansen (PSG, 2011), Slawomir Szmal (Kielce, 2010), Domagoj Duvnjak (Kiel, 2013). In addition, Kielce coach Talant Dujshebaev was awarded twice in 1994 and 1996.

6 times has the LANXESS-Arena been the venue for the VELUX EHF FINAL4, and five times the event received the “Sold-out award”. The contract with Cologne had been extended until 2020.

7 nations so far had been represented in the VELUX EHF FINAL4 tournaments since 2010: Germany (eleven participants in total including 2015), Spain (8), Poland and Hungary (each 3), Russia, Denmark, France (each 1).

11 players, who are part of the 2016 VELUX EHF FINAL4, have won the Champions League at least two times. Omeyer (4) tops this ranking ahead of Dominik Klein (Kiel), Christian Zeitz (Veszprem), both won the title three times with Kiel, Uros Zorman (Celje 2004, Ciudad Real 2008 and 2009), Nikola Karabatic (Montpellier 2003, Kiel 2007, Barcelona 2015). Six more players (Nagy, Palmarsson, Sprenger, Ilic, Reichmann and Narcisse) have two titles each on their tally.

12 times (including 2016) Kiel have been part of an EHF Champions League semi-final and lead this statistic ahead of Veszprem (6) and Kielce (3) and PSG (1, all including 2015).

12 different clubs since 2009 have qualified for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 since 2010: Kiel (6 times) Barcelona (5), Ciudad Real/Madrid, Veszprem, Kielce (each 3), Hamburg (2), Berlin, Löwen, Flensburg, Kobenhavn, Chekhovskie, Paris (each 1).

15 matches since the start of the group phase ended with a draw, three of them in the quarter-finals.

16 different nations are represented in the squads of the four FINAL4 participants: GER, ESP, HUN, POL, CRO, NOR, SWE, DEN, ISL, SRB, FRA, SLO, BIH, EST, MNE, UKR - 9 different at Kiel and Veszprem, 7 at Paris and 6 at Kielce.

17 matches since the start of the group phase had ended by a margin of +10 or more goals.

22 goals was the biggest margin in one match of this Champions League season when Porto beat Vojvodina in the group phase 37:15.

30 points were taken by Veszprem in 18 matches to have the highest number of all FINAL4 participants.

31 teams representing 20 countries have been part of the 2015/16 VELUX EHF Champions League season including the qualification tournaments.

39 goals in one match was the season’s lowest score so far, when Skjern beat Metalurg 20:19.

65 times, more than 60 goals were scored in all matches since the start of the group phase.

68 matches since the start of the group phase had been attended by 5000 or more spectators, seven in the Last 16.

65 times in all matches since the start of the group phase, were the away teams the victors, two times it occurred in the quarter-finals.

76 goals in one match was the season’s highest score so far, when Zaporozhye beat La Rioja 39:37.

116 times in all matches since the start of the group phase, were the home teams the victors, three times it occurred in the quarter-finals.

121 goals were scored by Mikkel Hansen (PSG) so far.

441 goals have been conceded by PSG with the best defence of all FINAL4 participants.

547 goals were scored so far by Kielce with the best attack of all FINAL4 participants.

11,276 goals have been scored in all 200 VELUX EHF Champions league matches so far. 248 in the qualification, 9,619 in the group phase, 249 in the play-off matches of Groups C+D, 704 in the Last 16 matches and 456 in the quarter-finals. On average 56.38 goals were scored in every match.

15,200 fans attended Zagreb’s two matches against PSG in group phase, quarter-final and the group phase match against Veszprem to be the season’s highest attendance so far.

19,750 will attend each of the four matches of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in the sold-out LANXESS Arena in Cologne.

FINAL4 teams – points overall:

30 (14 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats): MVM Veszprem (18 matches)
28 (12 wins, 4 draws, 2 defeat): Vive Tauron Kielce (18 matches)
27 (14 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeat): Paris Saint Germain (16 matches)
21 (10 wins, 1 draws, 7 defeats): THW Kiel (18 matches)

Best defence of the four FINAL4 participants:

441 goals conceded: Paris Saint Germain
472 goals conceded: MVM-MKB Veszprem
507 goals conceded: THW Kiel
513 goals conceded: Vive Tauron Kielce  

Best attack of the four FINAL4 participants:

547 goals scored: Vive Tauron Kielce
531 goals scored: MVM Veszprem
524 goals scored: THW Kiel
502 goals scored: Paris Saint Germain

Best goal difference of the four FINAL4 participants:

+61: Paris Saint Germain
+59: MVM-MKB Veszprem
+34: Vive Tauron Kielce
+17: THW Kiel

Top scorers:

121 goals: Mikkel Hansen (PSG)
109 goals: Kiril Lazarov (Barcelona)
105 goals: Momir Ilic (Veszprem)
101 goals: Dean Bombac (Szeged)
92 goals: Marko Vujin (Kiel)

Top scorers still in competition:

121 goals: Mikkel Hansen (PSG)
105 goals: Momir Ilic (Veszprem)
92 goals: Marko Vujin (Kiel)
89 goals: Nikola Karabatic (PSG)
85 goals: Michal Jurecki (Kielce)

Season figures:

High score:

76 goals: Zaporozhye vs La Rioja (39:37)
74 goals: Vardar vs Kristianstad (38:36)
72 goals: Celje vs Besiktas (43:29)
72 goals: Skjern vs Zaporozhye (36:36)
72 goals: Istanbul vs Veszprem (34:38)

Low score:

39 goals: Skjern vs Metalurg (20:19)
40 goals: Presov vs La Rioja (19:21)
41 goals: Celje vs Zagreb (20:21)
41 goals: Zagreb vs Veszprem (20:21)
41 goals: Metalurg vs Elverum (22:19)
41 goals: Baia Mare vs Metalurg (21:20)

Biggest gaps:

22 goals: Porto vs Vojvodina (37:15)
14 goals: Plock vs Kiel (23:37)
14 goals: Celje vs Besiktas (43:29)
14 goals: Elverum vs Skjern (23:37)
13 goals: Veszprem vs Zaporozhye (41:28)
12 goals: Paris vs Besiktas (40:28)
12 goals: Kolding vs Löwen (18:30)
12 goals: Brest vs Vojvodina (34:22)

Biggest attendance of all matches:

15,200: Zagreb vs PSG (group phase)
15,200: Zagreb vs PSG (quarter-final)
15,200: Zagreb vs Veszprem (group phase)
13,800: Zagreb vs Löwen (Last 16)
10,521: Löwen vs Zagreb (Last 16)
10,400: Kiel vs PSG (group phase)
10,285: Kiel vs Barcelona (quarter-final)
10,285: Kiel vs Flensburg (group phase)
10,285: Kiel vs Zagreb (group phase)
10,000: Zagreb vs Plock (group phase)
10,000: Zagreb vs Celje (group phase)
10,000: Kiel vs Szeged (Last 16)