Facts and Figures of Group Matches

The Group Matches of the Women’s EHF Champions League has concluded on Sunday evening –with the final decisions regarding the qualification for the Main Round and those, who will continue in the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Thüringer HC in Group A and Buducnost Podgorica in Group B were the last ones to book their tickets for the next stage in this competition, while after Metz, also Hypo Niederösterreich, FTC Budapest and Podravka Koprivnica missed the Main Round, but still have remained present on international stage.

Defending champions Györ (HUN), last season’s finalist Larvik (NOR) and newcomer Vardar (MKD) were the first to clinch their berth for the Main Round after only four matches, while Krim (SLO), Sävehof (SWE) and Midtjylland (DEN) followed after Round 5.

The composition for the Main Round is highly interesting, as for the first time since years no country is represented by more than one team. This means eight nations compete for those four spots in the semi-finals in six rounds of the Main Round, starting in February.

Four teams, which have made it to the Main Round in the current season, again are part of those eight teams now: The three 2012/13 semi-finalists Györ, Larvik and Krim and Buducnost.

Three teams are Main Round debutants in the Women’s EHF Champions League: Vardar Skopje (brand new team in the competition), Sävehof and Thüringer HC.

Here are more facts and figures of the Group Matches of the 2013/14 Women’s EHF Champions League:

Points, points, points

In 48 matches of the first group stage 30 times the home team was victorious, 16 times the away team was the winner, while only two matches ended in a draw.

Defending champions Györ were the only team to finish the Group Matches with a clean record of 12 points, followed by Champions League debutants Vardar, who only gave one point away from their hand, the draw against Larvik in their home opener. Both were the only unbeaten teams.

Thüringer HC were the team to make it to the Main Round with the lowest number of points (4), after failing on the way to the next stage in the previous season with even two points more on their account. THC finally had five points less than the best second ranked team from Larvik.

Best home teams:

6 points: Györ, Midtjylland, Krim, Buducnost
5 points: Vardar, Sävehof

Best away teams:

6 points: Györ, Vardar
5 points: Larvik
4 points: Midtjylland

Goals, goals, goals

In 8 of 48 matches 60 or more goals were scored, in only two matches the number was lower than 40 goals. The biggest gap were 19 goals in the opener of defending champions Györ vs. record winner Hypo Niederösterreich. 11 matches ended with a margin of ten or more goals, but 7 matches finished with an only one goal distance.

The two legs of the encounter of Vardar vs. Podravka ended by a record margin of +31 goals in favour of the Macedonian team, in contrast, the spectators of the games Midtjylland vs. Buducnost only saw an overall of 77 goals in both close games.

Biggest gaps:

19 goals: Györ – Hypo 41:22
18 goals: Podravka – Vardar 17:35
16 goals: Larvik – Podravka 34:18

Highest number of goals in one match:

65 goals: Thüringer HC – Baia Mare 36:29
65 goals: Vardar – Podravka 39:26
65 goals: FTC – Lublin 40:25

Lowest number of goals in one match:

37 goals: Buducnost – Midtjylland 22:15
39 goals: Baia Mare- Thüringer HC 20:19
40 goals: Midtjylland – Buducnost 21:19

Best defence:

125 goals conceded: Buducnost
133 goals conceded: Larvik
138 goals conceded: Vardar and Krim

Best attack:

192 goals: Györ
185 goals: Vardar
170 goals: Larvik

Best overall goal difference:

+49 goals: Györ
+47 goals: Vardar
+37 goals: Larvik

Top scorers:

The two best scorers of the Group Matches will not add any more goals on their tally in the Champions League: Alexandra do Nascimento (Hypo) and last season’s EHF Champions League top scorer Zsuzsanna Tomori (FTC) failed on their way to the Main Round and will continue in the Cup Winners’ Cup. So the Györ duo Bulatovic/Görbicz now is aiming for the Golden Ball.

50 goals: Alxeandra do Nascimento (Hypo/BRA)
38 goals: Zsuzsanna Tomori (FTC/HUN)
37 goals: Katarina Bulatovic (Györ/MNE)
37 goals: Anita Görbicz (Györ/HUN)

Spectators

5,000 fans at the last of 48 Group matches, the crucial encounter of Buducnost vs. FTC for the last Main Round spot was the game with the highest audience (5,000). In total ten matches were attended by more than 3,000 spectators. Buducnost had an average of 4,000 fans in this ranking, like Metz (4,000). Debutants Vardar Skopje are also top in this ranking with an overall of 10,300 fans in three matches.

Top 10:
5,000: Buducnost – FTC
4,060: Metz - Sävehof
4,053: Metz – Krim
4,000: Buducnost – Midtjylland
3,800: Metz – Leipzig
3,800: Vardar – Podravka
3,691: Leipzig - Krim
3,500: Vardar – Bera Bera
3,100: Vardar – Larvik
3,000: Buducnost -Lublin