Györ the spectator magnet, Rostov top of the points

Following six rounds and 48 games, the group match stage of the Women’s EHF Champions League has come to an end with the final whistle of the postponed match between Fleury and Thüringer HC on Wednesday night (27:21), in which Fleury’s star Alexandrina Barbosa took the second position in the top scorer ranking. Both sides had already clinched the berth for the main round, which will begin on Friday, but they now know the exact number of points they carry to the next stage.

ehfCL.com has analysed the group matches and has composed a selection of the most important facts and figures of this stage. Through this analysis, this year shows that not one dominating team tops all departments, but the ‘victory’ is split as Rostov have the largest number of points, Vardar the best attack, Buducnost the best defence and Györ the highest number of spectators.

One team finished the group with a clear record of six victories from six matches, Rostov-Don, to earn 12 points. Additionally, FTC and Buducnost (11 points each) remained undefeated.

Two nations are represented by two teams in the main round: Hungary (Györ, FTC) and Romania (Baia Mare, Bucuresti)

Two teams made it from qualification to main round: Baia Mare and Györ.

Two teams start their main round campaign with zero points on their account: Romanian runner-up Baia Mare (same as in the previous season, but later they made it to the quarter-finals) and Sävehof.

Three teams failed to accumulate a single point in the group phase: Krim, Hypo and Lublin. Podravaka also remain winless, but had one point on their account.

Three times Fleury managed to tie in the group matches, once against each of their opponents. Therefore, the French champions had more draws on their account than all three remaining groups.

Three group matches ended with 40 goals or less. The lowest number of combined goals was 36 in the match between Fleury and Podravka (19:17).

Three former or current Champions League winners are part of the main round: Györ (2013, 2014), Buducnost (2012, 2015) and Larvik (2011). Three former Champions League winners were eliminated on their way from the group stage to the main round: Krim, Hypo and Podravka.

Nine group matches ended with 60 goals or more overall, all of them in groups A and C - topped in the match of Krim vs Rostov (31:36) with 67 goals.

Five of the total 48 group matches ended with a draw, including the three draws of Fleury.

Five goals scored in one half was the lowest of all matches, when Podravka were down 5:13 at FTC at the break. In addition, Podravka only scored six goals in the first half, as did Hypo against Györ.

Seven teams, which have been part of the 2014/15 main round are again part of this stage: Vardar, Thüringer HC, Sävehof, Györ, Buducnost, Larvik and Baia Mare. Volgograd, Viborg, Metz, Leipzig did not even qualify for the group matches, while Krim were eliminated.

Ten nations are represented by the 12 main round participants, compared to 11 in the previous season. The only nation missing is Slovenia, whereas all other nations are identical.

Eleven matches were attended by 3000 or more spectators.

Twelve group matches ended with a goal difference of ten or more goals. The biggest margin in one match was 19 goals, when Györ beat Hypo by a final score of 37:16.

After 60 minutes, 15 goals in one match was the lowest score, from Midtjylland in their 15:25 loss against Vardar.

21 away victories were among those 48 group matches.

22 times the home teams took the victory.

36 main round matches are ahead to decide the participants for the quarter-finals.

+38 is the best overall goal differential of all teams involved in the group phase – achieved by Vardar and Buducnost

45 goals were scored by Allison Pineau (Baia Mare) to top the top scorers’ list after the group stage, followed by Fleury’s Alexandrina Barbosa (39) and the Buducnost’s top strikers Katarina Bulatovic (38) and Cristina Neagu (37).

67 goals were scored in the match Krim vs Rostov, with the highest number of strikes.

76 goals were scored in both group games between Fleury and Podravka to be the overall lowest scoring match-up.

117 goals were scored by Podravka to have the weakest attack of all 16 participants.

Only 131 goals were conceded by Buducnost to have the best defence of all participants.

182 goals were attained by Vardar in their six group matches to give them the best attack of all 16 participants.

2,517 goals were scored in the group phase, with an average of 52,4 goals per match. Groups A (671) and C (634) were the groups with the highest number of goals, ahead of D (611) and B (601) which were nearly equal.

An average of 4,732 spectators attended Györ’s home matches.

5,089 spectators saw the match of Györ vs Vardar, as the fan highlight.

The Top 3s of the Group Phase:

Best attack:

182 goals: Vardar

181 goals: FTC

173 goals: Larvik

173 goals: Rostov

Weakest attack:

117 goals: Podravka

135 goals: Hypo

138 goals: Sävehof

Best defence:

131 goals conceded: Buducnost

134 goals conceded: Györ

138 goals conceded: Bucuresti

Weakest defence:

208 goals conceded: Krim

207 goals conceded: Hypo

184 goals conceded: Lublin

Best overall goal differential after the group matches:

+38 goals: Vardar

+38 goals: Buducnost

+35 goals: FTC

Highest number of goals in a single match:

67 goals: Krim – Rostov 31:36

63 goals: Baia Mare - Krim 35:28

63 goals: Hypo - Vardar 25:38

Lowest number of goals in a single match:

36 goals: Fleury - Podravka 19:17

40 goals: Podravka - Fleury 20:20

40 goals: Midtjylland – Vardar 15:25

Biggest gaps:

+19 goals: Györ – Hypo 37:16

+16 goals: Krim - Larvik 21:37

+13 goals: Lublin - Sävehof 21:34

+13 goals: Hypo - Vardar 25:38

+13 goals: FTC - Fleury 36:23

The best home teams:

6:0 points: FTC, Rostov

5:1 points: Buducnost, Fleury

The best away teams:

6:0 points: Rostov, Buducnost

5:1 points: FTC, Bucuresti, Györ

Spectators:

5,089: Györ – Vardar

4,617: Györ  – Midtjylland

4,500: Bucuresti - Buducnost

Top scorers:

45 goals: Allison Pineau (Baia Mare)

39 goals: Alexandrina Barbosa (Fleury)

38 goals: Katarina Bulatovic (Buducnost)

37 goals: Cristina Neagu (Buducnost)

35 goals: Isabelle Gullden (Bucuresti)