Slovenia’s maiden voyage amid German dominance

Only four matches remain in the Men’s EHF Cup, which will decide the winner and Hungarian side Pick Szeged’s successor. Besides hosts Berlin, Hamburg, Skjern and Velenje have reached the final destination of the competition.

0 former winners, neither of the old nor the new version of the EHF Cup, are among the four participants of the 2015 EHF Cup Finals.

0 Danish or Slovenian men’s team has ever won the EHF Cup of the forerunners EHF Cup (old version) and Cup Winners’ Cup.

0 national champions arriving from the VELUX EHF Champions League qualification made it to the group phase or the quarter-finals.

1 team was part of the 2014 EHF Cup Finals: hosts Füchse Berlin.

1 team can complete their EHF European Cup competition cabinet: HSV Hamburg. In 2007 the German side won the Cup Winners’ Cup, in 2013 the VELUX EHF Champions League. The only trophy missing is that of the EHF Cup.

1 team – Füchse Berlin – have the full selection of trophies represented in their squad: Konstantin Igropoulo has won the Champions League with Barcelona (alongside Iker Romero) and the Cup Winners’ Cup with Chekhovkie Medvedi, while Silvio Heinevetter has won the EHF Cup with Magdeburg. In addition, Frederik Petersen was a Champions League winner with Hamburg.

1 coach of the four participants, Dagur Sigurdsson (Füchse), is also coach of a national team: Germany (since September 2014)

1 player on court in Berlin on 16/17 May has won the EHF Cup before: Silvio Heinevetter (Berlin) took the trophy in 2007 with SC Magdeburg.

2 – like in 2013 (Göppingen and eventual winners Rhein-Neckar Löwen) Germany is represented by two teams at the EHF Cup Finals.

2 – for the second time a former VELUX EHF Champions League winner is part of the EHF Cup Finals. After finalist Montpellier in 2014 (Champions League winner 2003), now it is HSV Hamburg (winner in 2013).

1 team turned a defeat in the first quarter-final leg into a ticket to Berlin: Hamburg.

2 – for the second straight time, Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin is the venue for the EHF Cup Finals.

3 nations are represented by the four teams: Germany (2), Slovenia and Denmark.

3 (all) hosts of EHF Cup Finals have skipped the quarter-finals and qualified directly from their ranking in the group phase: HBC Nantes (2013), Füchse Berlin (2014, 2015)

5 players can complete their EHF European Cup competition cabinet. Pascal Hens, Matthias Flohr, Torsten Jansen, Stefan Schröder had been part of the HSV squad to win the Cup Winners‘ Cup in 2007 and the Champions league in 2013. Konstantin Igropoulo (Füchse) won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 2006 with Chekhovskie Medvedi, in 2011 he became Champions League winner with FC Barcelona.

5 matches of the group phase and the quarter-finals ended in a draw.

6 nations have been represented by the clubs in all EHF Cup Finals: Germany (5 teams including 2015), France (2), Denmark (2), Hungary (1), Romania (1) and Slovenia (1).

12 matches were played by Skjern on their journey to Berlin. The Danes started their mission already in Qualification Round 2. Hosts Berlin only needed eight matches to qualify for the EHF Cup Finals, while Hamburg and Velenje have played ten matches so far.

13 nations represented by the player son court of the 2015 EHF Cup Finals: SLO, MNE, BIH, CRO, GER, SRB, SWE, FRA, DEN, ROU, CZE, RUS, ESP. Berlin have eight nations on their squad, Hamburg (7), Velenje (5) and Skjern (1).

15 times a German team has won the old (and once the new) version of the EHF Cup since the implementation of the competition in the 1993/94 season – but neither Hamburg nor Berlin have lifted the trophy.

19 matches of the group phase and the quarter-finals ended with a win for the away team.

30 matches of the group phase and the quarter-finals ended in victory for the home team.

37 goals was the highest number a team scored in a single match: Berlin, when beating Vojvodina by 37:22 in the group phase.

44 goals were scored in the match Granollers vs Constanta (23:21) in the lowest scoring match.

68 goals were scored in the match Constanta vs Holstebro (34:34) in the highest scoring match of the season so far.

339 goals were scored by Skjern in 12 matches to have the best attacking record of all teams.

5,894 fans in average saw the group matches of Füchse Berlin in the Max-Schmeling-Halle, the venue of the EHF Cup Finals.

6,453 fans saw the match Füchse vs Vojvodina to make it the one with the highest attendance in the group phase.

Matches with margins higher than ten goals:

+15: Berlin vs Vojvodina 37:22 (GP)
+13: Velenje vs Haslum 34:21 (GP)
+12: Balatonfüred vs Nexe 19:31 (GP)
+12: Haslum vs Velenje 22:34 (GP)

Matches with 60 or more goals:

68: Constanta vs Holstebro 34:34 (GP)
66: Haslum vs Hamburg 34:32 (GP)
65: Winterthur vs Haslum 31:34 (GP)
63: Velenje vs Hamburg 31:32 (GP)
62: St. Petersburg vs Constanta 35:27 (GP)
62: Holstebro vs Constanta 34:28 (GP)
62: St. Petersburg vs Holstebro 30:32
62: Hamburg vs Haslum 36:26 (GP)
61: Hamburg vs Velenje 33:28 (GP)
61: Winterthur vs Velenje 26:35 (GP)
60: Melsungen vs Nexe 34:26 (GP)
60: Skjern vs Berlin 32:28 (GP)

Lowest number of goals:

44: Granollers vs Constanta 23:21 (GP)
45: Berlin vs Porto 25:20 (GP)
45: Skjern vs Melsungen 25:20 (QF)
46: Porto vs Berlin 20:26 (GP)
47: Porto vs Skjern 23:24 (GP)
48: Vojvodina vs Skjern 23:25 (GP)
48: Skjern vs Porto 27:21 (GP)
48: Guif vs Balatonfüred 24:24 (GP)
48: Balatonfüred vs Guif 23:25 (GP)
48: Winterthur vs Hamburg 22:26 (GP)
49: Hamburg vs Eskilstuna 27:22 (QF)
49: St. Petersburg vs Granollers 22:27 (GP)

Defensive records of the finalists:

189 goals conceded in 8 matches: Füchse Berlin (23,62 on average)
275  goals conceded in 10 matches: HSV Hamburg (27,50 on average)
274 goals conceded in 12 matches: Skjern Handbold (22,83 on average)
280 goals conceded in 10 matches: RK Gorenje Velenje (28,0 on average)

Attacking records of the finalists:

221 goals scored in 8 matches: Füchse Berlin (27,62 on average)
297 goals scored in 10 matches: HSV Hamburg (29,7 on average)
327 goals scored in 10 matches: Gorenje Velenje  (32,7 on average)
339 goals scored in 12 matches: Skjern Handbold (28,25 on average)

Best goal difference:

+32: Füchse Berlin
+22: HSV Hamburg
+65: Skjern Handbold
+47: RK Gorenje Velenje

Spectators:

6,453: Berlin vs Vojvodina (GP)
6,316: Berlin vs Porto (GP)
4,915: Berlin vs Skjern (GP)
3,147: Melsungen v Skjern (QF)
2,253: Hamburg vs Eskilstuna (QF)
2,845: Constanta vs Granollers (GP)
2,136: Melsungen vs Guif (GP)