Eleven days after the final of the Men’s EHF EURO 2012 in Serbia, the VELUX EHF Champions League will resume with the first games in round 8 being held on Thursday. An analysis of the top-ranked teams and the top stars from EHF EURO 2012 show the importance of having VELUX EHF Champions League experience.

41 of the 64 players involved in the semi-finals and medal matches are contracted to clubs participating in the VELUX EHF Champions League. And all nine players picked to be in the EHF EURO All Star Team - and the EHF EURO top scorer - come from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs. And it is clear that AG Kobenhavn (Group D in the VELUX EHF Champions League) is the most successful club in this ranking, with six international players at the EHF EURO, three of whom were selected for the All-Star team.

This was the EHF EURO All Star Team:

Goalkeeper: Darko Stanic (Serbia, playing for Metalurg Skopje/MKD)
Left wing: Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson (Iceland, playing for AG Kobenhavn/DEN)
Left back: Mikkel Hansen (Denmark, playing for AG Kobenhavn/DEN)
Playmaker: Uros Zorman (Slovenia, playing for Vive Targi Kielce/POL)
Right back: Marko Kopljar (Croatia, playing for RK Zagreb/CRO)
Right wing: Christian Sprenger (Germany, playing for THW Kiel/GER)
Line player: Rene Toft Hansen (Denmark, playing for AG Kobenhavn/DEN)
Best defence player: Viran Morros (Spain, playing for FC Barcelona Intersport/ESP)
Most Valuable Player: Momir Ilic (Serbia, playing for THW Kiel/GER)
Top scorer: Kiril Lazarov (FYR Macedonia, playing for Atletico Madrid/ESP)

But it is not just the All Star Team nominations that show the importance of the VELUX EHF Champions League, but the number of other key players in the four semi-finalists: 13 of 16 players of the Croatian squad play for CL clubs, followed by Spain (12 of 16), EHF EURO Gold medallists Denmark (9 of 16) and Serbia (7 of 16).

Those 41 players are contracted with 15 separate VELUX EHF Champions League clubs. The Spanish clubs Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona Intersport lead in this ranking, each having six players involved from the semi-finals onwards, followed by RK Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb (Croatia, 5) and HSV Hamburg (Germany, 4). Polish CL participants Vive Targi Kielce had players in three of four semi-finalists (except Spain).

Nearly all key players from both teams in the final have current VELUX EHF Champions League experience: Aside from All-Star Team players Mikkel Hansen and Rene Toft Hansen, the best Danish player was goalkeeper Niklas Landin (Bjerringbro-Silkeborg, with four nominations as best player of the match). Young Rasmus Lauge (Bjerringbro-Silkeborg) was the fast climber for the Danes, and Kasper Nielsen (Bjerringbro, too) was the rock in the defence.

The Serbians could count on their top defender Darko Stanic (nominated four times as best player), MVP Ilic and line player Rastko Stojkovic (Kielce), sharp-shooting right back Marko Vujin (MKB Veszprem) or experienced Dalibor Cutura (Ademar Leon).

At the start of the EHF EURO, a total of 135 of 247 international players featured in the 16 participating nations were contracted to clubs participating in the current Group Phase of the VELUX EHF Champions League – a total of 54.6 per cent.

The VELUX EHF Champions League club with the highest number of EHF EURO 2012 players was Chekhovskie Medvedi with 13 players at the EHF EURO, all playing for the Russian team. Second ranked was THW Kiel (Germany) with 11 players from six nations, ahead of Atletico Madrid (Spain) with ten players from five nations.

Only one current participant of the Group Phase of the VELUX EHF Champions League – Bosna BH Gas Sarajevo (Bosnia Herzegovina) – didn’t have any EHF EURO participant.

Füchse Berlin had the highest numbers of different nations in their EHF EURO participants with eight players from seven countries.

The club ranking at the start of the EHF EURO:

1. Chekhovskie Medvedi (Russia): 13 players from 1 nation (RUS)
2. THW Kiel (Germany): 11 players from six nations (GER/2, SRB/1, SWE/3, CZE/2, FRA/2, ISL/1)
3. Atletico Madrid (Spain): 10 players from five nations (ESP/5, FRA/2, POL, MKD, DEN each 1)
4. Vive Targi Kielce (Poland): 9 players from six nations (POL/4, DEN, SRB, CRO, ISL, SLO/each 1)
4. MKB Veszprem (Hungary): 9 players from three nations (HUN/7, SRB and CRO/each 1)
4. Metalurg Skopje (FYR Macedonia): 9 players from 2 nations (MKD/8, SRB/1)
4. FC Barcelona (Spain): 9 players from 3 nations (ESP/6, SWE/2, RUS/1)
8. Füchse Berlin (Germany): 8 players from 7 nations (GER and ISL/each 2, POL, SWE, CZE, ESP, CRO/each 1)
9. HSV Hamburg (Germany): 7 players from 4 nations (CRO/3, FRA/2, GER and DEN/each 1)
10. Bjerringbro-Silkeborg (Denmark): 6 players from 4 nations (DEN/3, SWE, NOR, SLO/each 1)
10. AG Kobenhavn (Denmark): 6 players from 3 nations (DEN/3, ISL/2, SWE/1)
10. MAHB Montpellier (France): 6 players from 3 nations (FRA/3, SLO/2, SLK/1)
10. RK Zagreb (Croatia): 6 players from 2 nations (CRO/5, SLO/1)
14. Cimos Koper (Slovenia): 5 players from 2 nations (SLO/4, HUN/1)
15. Wisla Plock (Poland): 4 players from 1 nation (POL)
15. Pick Szeged: 4 players from 2 nations (HUN/3, SRB/1)
15. Chambery Savoie (France): 4 players from 3 nations (FRA/2, TCH and CRO/each 1)
18. Ademar Leon (Spain): 3 players from 3 nations (SRB, SLK, CRO/each 1)
19. Kadetten Schaffhausen (Switzerland): 2 players from 2 nations (CZE/SLK/each 1)
20. Partizan Beograd (Serbia): 1 player from 1 nation (SRB)
20. IK Sävehof (Sweden): 1 player from 1 nation (SWE)
20. HCM Constanta (Romania): 1 player from 1 nation (MKD)
20. HC St. Petersburg (Russia): 1player from 1 nation (RUS)
24. Bosna BH Gas Sarajevo (Bosnia) - None

With almost all their roster coming from Chekhovskie Medvedi, the Russians – eliminated after the Preliminary Round - led the starting nation’s ranking with 15 out of 16 players with the VELUX EHF Champions League side.

Second in the nations ranking was bronze medallist Croatia with 13 CL players, followed by semi-finalist Spain (12). All EHF EURO 2012 participants had at least one player contracted by a VELUX EHF Champions League Group Phase participant in their rosters.

The nation’s ranking – at the start of the EHF EURO:

1. Russia: 15 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
2. Croatia: 13 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
3. Spain: 12 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
4. Hungary: 11 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
4. France: 11 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
6. Poland: 10 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
6. FYR Macedonia: 10 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
8. Denmark: 9 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
8. Sweden: 9 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
8. Slovenia: 9 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
11. Serbia. 7 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
12. Germany: 5 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
12. Czech Republic: 5 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
12. Iceland: 5 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
15. Slovakia: 3 players from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs
16. Norway: 1 player from VELUX EHF Champions League clubs