Facts and figures of the quarter-finals

Four teams representing three nations have reached the final destination of the VELUX EHF Champions League, the VELUX EHF FINAL4, taking place in Cologne on 1 and 2 June.

Two giants, one debutant and one qualifier have made it all the way to the LANXESS Arena.

The defending champions have qualified for the tournament for the first time and the winners of the three previous competitions are among the four teams: THW Kiel (2010, 2012) and FC Barcelona Intersport (2011).

Both teams account for ten EHF Champions League titles, with record winner Barcelona on top with seven trophies, while Kiel have won the flagship competition of club handball three times.

Vive Targi Kielce have made history, as the first Polish team to qualify for the quarter-finals and now are part of the VELUX EHF FINAL4.

HSV Hamburg had been part of the party in 2011, and they had the “longest trip” to Cologne, as they had to go all the way through the qualification as the winner of the wildcard tournament.

After Rhein Neckar Löwen in 2011, they are the second team in VELUX EHF FINAL4 history to go all the way from the qualifiers to reach Cologne.

By looking upon the current four and the previous 12 teams to have played in Cologne since 2010, two nations are in clear lead by their represented teams: Germany and Spain.

Including the upcoming event, seven German teams had qualified (Kiel/3, HSV/2, Rhein Neckar Löwen and Füchse Berlin/1 each). Two Spanish sides are on this list with an overall of six participations: Barcelona and Atletico Madrid (loser of the quarter-finals against their old enemy) three times each.

The only other nations which had been represented before were Russia (Medvedi in 2011) and Denmark (AG Kobenhavn/2012), now Poland (Kielce) is on the list.

As it can be expected by this German-Spanish dominance, only teams from those nations had made it to the finals and only three teams had been involved in the three previous finals: Barcelona and Kiel in 2010, Barcelona and Madrid in 2011 and Kiel and Madrid in 2012.

Here is another interesting fact before the draw on Thursday 11:30 hrs. local times in the German Sport Museum in Cologne (live on ehfTV.com):

After three pairings of the quarter-finals had already been played in the Group Phase, none of the four participating teams have faced each other in this season’s competition.

Each of the four groups from the Group Phase is represented by one team – including the three group winners Hamburg, Kielce and Barcelona.

Defending champions THW Kiel are the only non-group winner to be on the court in Cologne after eliminating Veszprém in the quarter-finals.

Here are the most important facts and figures of the quarter-finals and the current season:

Double winners:
Only Vive Targi Kielce (against HC Metalurg Skopje) and THW (against MKB Veszprem) managed to win both quarter-final legs. In the case of Barcelona vs. Madrid and Hamburg vs. Flensburg, the aggregate score was needed to decide the winner after each team had won one match.

Winning margins:
On aggregate Kielce beat Metalurg by 13 goals (53:40) followed by Hamburg – Flensburg (55:51) and Barcelona – Madrid (52:49). Kiel vs. Veszprem was the closest encounter with two one-goal-victories for THW (61:59).

Barcelona turned a five goals deficit from the first leg (20:25) around by winning the rematch 32:24. The biggest ever deficit to be closed in a quarter-final since 2009/10 was twelve goals by Füchse Berlin against Ademar Leon last season.

In the 16 quarter-final pairings since 2010, only five teams, made it to Cologne after losing the first leg.

This was achieved twice by Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid: In 2010 against Hamburg (22:26, 35:27) and in 2012 against Cimos Koper (23:26, 31:24) – but this year the opposite happened after their first leg victory against Barcelona.

Besides Füchse Berlin (2012 against Leon), Rhein Neckar Löwen were the second German team to go to Cologne despite losing the first quarter-final leg against Montpellier in 2011.

Points, points, points:
Vive Targi Kielce are the most successful team of all eight participants before the VELUX EHF FINAL4 – with 13 victories in 14 matches.

The Polish champions had only been defeated by Pick Szeged in the first leg of the Last 16.

After beating Madrid, Barcelona take second place with 12 victories. Veszprém and Kiel have the same amount wins points, but the Hungarians are eliminated, while Kiel proceeded. All three Veszprém defeats were at the hands of Kiel.

The overall results of the quarter-final participants:
Vive Targi Kielce: 13 victories – 0 draws – 1 defeat
FC Barcelona Intersport: 12– 0–2
MKB Veszprem: 11–0–3
THW Kiel: 11-0-3
HSV Hamburg: 9-2-3
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: 9-3-2
Metalurg Skopje: 9-0-5
Atletico Madrid 7-1-6

Home and away victories and draws:
Only eight of 144 matches of this season ended with a draw, none of them in the quarter-finals and only one in the Last 16.

The overall statistics of this season’s 144 matches of Group Phase, Last 16 and quarter-finals: 86 home victories – 8 draws – 50 away victories.

Goals, goals, goals:

The biggest number of goals:
None of the eight quarter-final matches made it to the top of this ranking, though THW Kiel and MKB Veszprem scored 63 goals in their duel followed by Flensburg – Hamburg (58).

Matches with the highest number of goals in the current season:
77 goals: THW Kiel – Sävehof IK 43:34 (GP)
75 goals: Kadetten Schaffhausen – Füchse Berlin 35:40 (GP)
74 goals: SG Flensburg-Handewitt – Montpellier MAHB 37:37 (GP)
72 goals: Chekhovskie Medvedi vs. THW Kiel 37:35 (L16)
69 goals: Sävehof IK – THW Kiel 29:40 (GP)
69 goals: Chekhovskie Medvedi – Partizan Beograd 38:31(GP)
68 goals: Partizan Beograd – SG Flensburg-Handewittt 31:37 (GP)
68 goals: HSV Hamburg – Montpellier MAHB 35:33 (GP)
68 goals: RK Zagreb – Kadetten Schaffhausen 38:30 (GP)

21 of 140 matches were won by a difference of ten and more goals, only one in the knock-out stage (Kielce – Metalurg 26:15 in the quarter-final).

The lowest number of goals in the current season:
Two quarter-final matches have made their way among the overall seven matches with the lowest number of goals in the whole competition. Like in their Group Phase duel Kielce and Metalurg only scored an overall of 41 goals in the second leg of the quarter-finals. The Spanish quarter-final duel of Atlético Madrid vs. FC Barcelona Intersport was the match with the sixth lowest number of goals in this season (45).

Matches with the lowest number of goals:
39 goals: HCM Constanta – RK Pivovarna Lasko Celje 22:17 (GP)
41 goals: Vive Targi Kielce  - Metalurg Skopje 21:20 (GP)
41 goals: Vive Targi Kielce  - Metalurg Skopje 26:15 (QF)
43 goals: Ademar Leon -  MKB Veszprem 20:23 (L16)
44 goals: Metalurg Skopje – Vive Targi Kielce 21:23 (GP)
45 goals: Atletico Madrid – FC Barcelona Intersport 25:20 (QF)
46 goals: Metalurg Skopje – Dinamo Minsk 24:22 (L16)

The best overall defence:

Despite being swept away by Vive Targi Kielce, Metalurg Skopje are still on top of the overall defence ranking of the current season by 313 goals conceded in 14 matches.

Kielce passed by Veszprem in this ranking after conceding only 15 goals in the second leg against Metalurg.

Metalurg Skopje: 313
Vive Targi Kielce: 342
MKB Veszprem: 348
FC Barcelona Intersport: 351
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: 352
THW Kiel: 361
Atlético Madrid: 376
HSV Hamburg: 383

The best overall attack:

Just like after the Group Phase and the Last 16, THW Kiel are number 1 with the best attack, as the defending champions have already scored 455 goals, ahead of HSV Hamburg and FC Barcelona – two potential opponents in Cologne. Metalurg Skopje – the team with the best defence clearly have the lowest number of goals in this ranking of the quarter-finalists.

THW Kiel: 455
HSV Hamburg: 434
FC Barcelona Intersport: 431
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: 416
Vive Targi Kielce: 415
MKB Veszprém: 410
Atlético Madrid: 373
Metalurg Skopje: 361

Goal difference:

THW Kiel: +94 (455:361)
FC Barcelona: +80 (431:351)
Vive Targi Kielce: +73 (415:342)
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: +64 (416:352)
MKB Veszprém: +62 (410:348)
HSV Hamburg: +51 (434:383)
Metalurg Skopje: +48 (361:313)
Atlético Madrid: -3 (373:376)

Top scorers of the quarter-finals:

Siarhei Rutenka (FC Barcelona Intersport) was the top scorer of the quarter-finals. The Belarusian, who is also topping the ranking in the EHF EURO 2014 qualification, struck 17 times, including 11 goals in the decisive second leg against Madrid.

While Rutenka can add more goals on his tally at the VELUX EHF FINAL4, Laszlo Nagy is out with MKB Veszprem. The Hungarian was second best scorer of the quarter-finals with 16 goals ahead of Marko Vujin (THW Kiel/15).

The top seven scorers of the quarter-finals:

Siarhei Rutenka (FC Barcelona Intersport) 17
Laszlo Nagy (MKB Veszprém) 16
Marko Vujin (THW Kiel) 15
Kiril Lazarov (Atlético Madrid) 13
Julen Aguinagalde (Atlético Madrid) 13
Michal Jurecki (Vive Targi Kielce) 11
Anders Eggert (SG Flensburg-Handewitt) 11

Top scorers of the first leg of the quarter-finals:
11 goals: Laszlo Nagy (MKB Veszprém)
8 goals: Marko Vujin (THW Kiel)
6 goals: Petar Djordjic (SG Flensburg-Handewitt)
6 goals: Pascal Hens (HSV Hamburg)
6 goals: Blanzenko Lackovic (HSV Hamburg)
6 goals: Domagoj Duvnjak (HSV Hamburg)
6 goals: Joan Canellas (Atlético Madrid)
6 goals: Kiril Lazarov (Atlético Madrid)
6 goals: Siarhei Rutenka (FC Barcelona)
6 goals: Naumce Mojsovski (Metalurg Skopje)
5 goals: Renato Sulic (MKB Veszprém)
5 goals: Renato Vugrines (Metalurg Skopje)

Top scorers of the first leg of the quarter-finals:
11 goals: Siarhei Rutenka (FC Barcelona)
11 goals: Julen Aguinagalde (Atlético Madrid)
8 goals: Michal Jurecki (Vive Targi Kielce)
7 goals: Kiril Lazarov (Atlético Madrid)
7 goals: Marko Vujin (THW Kiel)
7 goals: Filip Jicha (THW Kiel)
6 goals: Hans Lindberg (HSV Hamburg)
6 goals: Anders Eggert (SG Flensburg-Handewitt)
5 goals: Laszlo Nagy (MKB Veszprém)
5 goals: Renato Sulic (MKB Veszprém)
5 goals: Christian Ugalde (MKB Veszprém)
5 goals: Ivan Cupic (Vive Targi Kielce)
5 goals: Steffen Weinhold (SG Flensburg-Handewitt)

Overall top scorers:
Hans Lindberg (HSV Hamburg) remains on the top position after he had added six more strikes in the rematch against Flensburg. The Dane (88 goals) is ahead by nine goals of Siarhei Rutenka and Anders Eggert (79 goals each).

The VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne will decide, whether Lindberg becomes overall top scorer for the first time, or whether Rutenka will come out on top for the third time in his career.

1. Hans Lindberg (HSV Hamburg) 88 (2+6)
2. Anders Eggert (SG Flensburg-Handewitt) 79 (5+6)
2. Siarhei Rutenka (FC Barcelona) 79 (6+11)
4. Naumce Mojsovski (Metalurg Skopje) 77 (6+4)
4. Laszlo Nagy (MKB Veszprém) 77 (11+5)
6. Holger Glandorf (SG Flensburg-Handewitt) 73 (1+4)
7. Michal Jurecki (Vive Targi Kielce) 72 (3+8)
7. Gasper Marguc (RK Celje) 72
9. Renato Vugrinec (Metalurg Skopje) 70 (5+4)
10. Kiril Lazarov (Atlético Madrid) 69
11. Jure Dolenec (Gorenje Velenje) 64
11. Frantisek Sulc (Pick Szeged) 64
11. Marko Vujin (THW Kiel) 64 (8+7)

In bold = players still involved in the competition, in brackets = number of goals scored in the quarter-finals

Spectators:

Top 15 crowds:

All seven home matches of THW Kiel are among the spectator’s Top 15, but in this season the defending champions are below their German rivals Füchse Berlin. Their duel against FC Barcelona Intersport in the Group Phase is still the match with the highest number of spectators in the current season. Two quarter-finals (Madrid vs. Barcelona and Kiel vs. Veszprem) made it among the Top 4 of this ranking.

13.333: Füchse Berlin – FC Barcelona Intersport (GP)
11.267: Atletico Madrid – FC Barcelona (QF)
10.250: THW Kiel – MKB Veszprem (GP)
10.250: THW Kiel – MKB Veszprem (QF)
10.000: RK Zagreb – FC Barcelona Intersport
10.000: THW Kiel – Atletico Madrid (GP)
9800: THW Kiel – Sävehof IK (GP)
9800: THW Kiel – Chekhovskie Medvedi (L16)
9400: THW Kiel – HCM Constanta (GP)
9000: Füchse Berlin – Atletico Madrid (L16)
9000: RK Zagreb – Dinamo Minsk (GP)
8853: Atlético Madrid – THW Kiel (GP)
8250: THW Kiel – RK Celje (GP)
8000: Montpellier MAHB – Ademar Leon (GP)
8000: Montpellier MAHB – SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GP)

GP = Group Phase, L16 = Last 16, QF = quarter-finals