PSG, Zagreb, Brest and Hansen top the group phase lists

180 matches - more than ever - have been played so far to decide the participants of the VELUX EHF Champions League’s knockout stage. 4 qualification matches, 112 matches in Groups A/B, 60 matches in Groups C/D and four play-off matches.

Two teams - Paris Saint Germain from Group A and Barcelona from Group B - have  directly qualified for the quarter-finals, which will be carried out end of April/beginning of May, 12 teams clinched their berth for the Last 16, ten from Groups A and B and two from C and D.

Between 16 and 27 March, 12 Last 16 matches will decide the six undecided participants of the quarter-finals, which then confirm the teams to fight for the trophy at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 IN Cologne (28/29 May), leaving just 24 matches left to find the champions.

Here are the most important facts and figures:

0 pairings of teams from the same nation will occur in the Last 16.

0 team won or lost all their respective matches.

2 points from 14 matches is the lowest return in the group phase, by Besiktas.

3 times Kielce (in 14 rounds) and Baia Mare (in 10 rounds) tied a match to be the “draw kings” of the group phase.

4 former or current EHF Champions League winners - representing 13 titles - still have the chance to win the trophy again: FC Barcelona (eight-time winner), THW Kiel (three), Flensburg and Montpellier (one each). Two former Champions League finalists - Veszprem and Zagreb – have also made it to the knockout stage.

6 of those 14 teams still involved in the competition have been part of at least one VELUX EHF FINAL4 (inaugurated in 2010): Barcelona, Kiel (five participations and two trophies each), Veszprem, Kielce (two participations each), Löwen and Flensburg (one participation each, one trophy for Flensburg).

8 times, 70 or more goals were scored in a group match, including Group C/D playoffs.

9 nations, one more than last season, are represented by the 14 teams still in the competition - including three German teams, two French each, Hungarian and Polish sides and each one club from Spain, Belarus, Croatia, FYR Macedonia and Ukraine. So nearly 50% of all 20 nations involved in the group phase are still present.

10 rounds including 60 matches had been played in groups C and D to confirm those four top ranked teams, which fought for the Last 16 berth. Zaporozhye and Brest qualified from those teams.

11 of 14 possible away points were taken by Barcelona. The defending champions lead the away ranking ahead of PSG (10), Veszprem (9), Flensburg and Kielce (8 each).

12 of the 14 teams still in the competition were part of the Last 16 in the previous season - the only new arrivals are the C/D playoff winners Brest and Zaporozhye.

12 of 176 matches of the group phase (including playoffs) ended in draws (3 in Group A, 4 in Groups B and D, 1 in playoffs, 0 in Group C).

13 times less than 45 goals were scored in the group phase matches. In five of those 13 matches, Metalurg were involved.

14 rounds including 112 matches were played in the groups A and B, in which Celje, Besiktas, Kristianstad and Kolding failed on the way to the knockout stage.

14 points on home court - which means the maximum from seven matches - were taken by Paris and Veszprem. Kielce took 13 points and are ahead of Barcelona, Kiel, Flensburg and Vardar, having 12 home points each on their account. Motor Zaporozhye have the same clean home record as PSG and Veszprem, as the Ukrainians won all five group matches and the playoff on home ground.

15 goals scored by Vojvodina in the 15:37 defeat at Porto was the lowest number of goals by a team in a single match.

16 group phase and playoff matches ended with a difference of ten or more goals.

22 goals was the biggest gap in the competition so far, when Porto beat Vojvodina by 37:15.

24 points, earned by PSG were the highest number of all teams, ahead of 23 (Veszprem and Barcelona), 21 (Kielce) and 20 (Flensburg).

28 teams - more than ever before - had been part of the group phase.

33 group matches (all in Groups A and B) were attended by 5,000 or more spectators, 23 in Group A, 10 in Group B.

39 goals was the lowest-score in the group phase, occurred in the match Skjern vs Metalurg (20:19).

55 times more than 60 goals were scored in the group matches including playoffs - in 16 matches in Group A, 20 matches in Group B, 8 matches each in Groups C and D and 3 play-off matches.

59 of 176 matches of the group phase (including playoffs) were won by the away teams - 20 in Group A, 17 in Group B, 11 in Group C, 10 in Group D and 1 in the playoffs.

+61 is the impressive goal difference of Brest after 12 matches to top this ranking.

76 goals was the high score in this season so far, when Zaporozhye beat La Rioja by 39:37 in the Group C/D playoffs.

105 of 176 matches of the group phase (including playoffs) were won by the home teams - 33 in Group A, 35 in Group B, 19 in Group C, 16 in Group D and 2 in the playoffs.

107 goals were scored by PSG left back Mikkel Hansen in the group phase to be on top of the top scorer ranking to be ahead of Macedonian Kiril Lazarov (Barcelona/98) and Slovenian Dean Bombac (Szeged/90).

353 goals were conceded by Rhein-Neckar Löwen to have the best defence by 25.2 goals per match in average. The best average of all teams was taken by Metalurg by 24.1 goals per match.

442 goals were scored by PSG to have the best attack of all teams.

8,200 fans at the match against Istanbul was the lowest attendance of a THW Kiel home match. Three times (against Flensburg, PSG  and Zagreb) the arena was sold-out with more than 10,000 fans.

10,428 fans in average attended the seven home matches of Zagreb to be ahead of THW Kiel (9,625) in this ranking.

15,200 fans each were at Zagreb’s home matches against PSG and Veszprem to have the highest attendance of all.

Group Phase lists:

High score:

76 goals: Zaporozhye vs La Rioja (39:37)

74 goals: Vardar vs Kristianstad (38:36)

72 goals: Celje vs Besiktas 43:29

72 goals: Skjern vs Zaporozhye 36:36 goals

72 goals: Besiktas vs Veszprem (34:38)

Low score:

39 goals: Skjern vs Metalurg (20:19)

40 goals: Presov vs La Rioja (19:21)

41 goals: Celje vs Zagreb (20:21)

41 goals: Zagreb vs Veszprem (20:21)

41 goals: Metalurg vs Elverum (22:19)

41 goals: Baia Mare vs Metalurg (21:20)

Biggest gaps:

22 goals: Porto vs Vojvodina (37:15)

14 goals: Plock vs Kiel (23:37)

14 goals: Celje vs Besiktas (43:29)

14 goals: Elverum vs Skjern (23:37)

12 goals: Paris vs Besiktas (40:28)

12 goals: Kolding vs Löwen (18:30)

12 goals: Brest vs Vojvodina (34:22)

Best attack (A/B in 14 matches):

442 goals: Paris (31.5 on average)

429 goals: Flensburg

425 goals: Kielce

423 goals: Barcelona

416 goals: Vardar

Best attack (C/D in 10 matches):

321 goals: Brest (32.1 on average)

298: La Rioja

296: Porto and Zaporozhye

Best attack (C/D including playoffs):

379 goals: Brest

366 goals: Zaporozhye

Best defence (A/B in 14 matches):

353 goals conceded: Löwen (25,2 in average)

364 goals conceded: Veszprem

367 goals conceded: Zagreb

372 goals conceded: Barcelona

373 goals conceded: Vardar

Best defence (C/D in 10 matches):

241 goals conceded: Metalurg (24.1 in average)

264 goals conceded: Brest

265 goals conceded: Porto

268 goals conceded: Baia Mare

270 goals conceded: Schaffhausen

Best goal difference:

+61: Brest

+53: Paris

+51 Barcelona

+49: Flensburg

+43: Vardar

Top scorers:

107 goals: Mikkel Hansen (PSG)

98 goals: Kiril Lazarov (Barcelona)

90 goals: Dean Bombac (Szeged)

87 goals: Darko Djukic (Besiktas)

86 goals: Barys Pukhouski (Zaporozhye)

Biggest attendance:

15,200: Zagreb vs PSG

15,200: Zagreb vs Veszprem

10,400: Kiel vs PSG

10,285: Kiel vs Flensburg

10,285: Kiel vs Zagreb

10,000: Zagreb vs Plock

10,000: Zagreb vs Celje