Three former winners on the bench, two debutants at Kiel

Just four matches remain in the Men’s EHF Cup 2018/19 before we know which team will lift the trophy this season.

On Sunday, the last participants of the AKQUINET EHF Cup Finals were confirmed as defending champions Füchse Berlin beat TSV Hannover-Burgdorf in the decisive quarter-final leg.

Hosts THW Kiel, FC Porto Sofarma and TTH Holstebro will also be in the pot for the semi-final draw on Tuesday at 11:00 hrs. All information about the draw and how to follow it is available here.

Facts, figures and numbers on the Men’s EHF Cup 2018/19:

0 clubs from Portugal and Denmark have won the EHF Cup. While no Portuguese team has yet to make the final, two Danish teams did (under the old format) - but lost: Viorum Sorgenfri in 1997 (against Flensburg) and FC Copenhagen in 2008 (against Nordhorn).

0 French male teams have ever won the EHF Cup. That series will continue this year as 2018 finalists Saint-Raphaël have been eliminated in the quarter-finals by Porto.

1 AKQUINET EHF Cup Finals participant started their journey in Qualification Round 1: Porto.

1 team under the current format won the title two seasons in a row: Frisch Auf Göppingen won in 2016 and 2017. Füchse can match that feat this season.

1 non-German team has won the EHF Cup in its current form: Pick Szeged in 2014 (final in Berlin against Montpellier HB).

1 team only - hosts THW Kiel - arrive at the finals with a 100% record (eight wins from eight matches). Porto have been unbeaten as well since the start of the group phase but had one draw - in the quarter-final against Saint-Raphaël.

1 team only is back at the finals after also taking part in the 2018 event in Magdeburg: title holders Füchse Berlin.

1 winner of the EHF Cup in its current form is among the four participants: Füchse Berlin (2015 and 2018). Kiel won the competition three times under the old format - in 1998, 2002 and 2004.

1 former EHF Champions League winner is still in the race for the EHF Cup trophy: THW Kiel (Champions League winners in 2007, 2010 and 2012). So far, no former Champions League winners have raised the EHF Cup.

1 team that finished second in their group made it to Kiel: TTH Holstebro.

1 team arriving from the quarter-finals won both knock-out matches: defending champions Füchse Berlin, against TSV Hannover-Burgdorf.

2 all-German finals have been played since the competition was merged: in 2015, it was Berlin vs Hamburg and in 2017, Göppingen vs Berlin.

2 Danish teams have been part of the EHF Cup Finals since 2013: Holstebro in 2013 and Skjern in 2015. Both lost in the semi-finals.

2 of the four AKQUINET EHF CUP FINALS participants were part of previous EHF Cup Final tournaments: TTH Holstebro (2013, 2019) and Füchse Berlin (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019).

2 hosts of the EHF Cup Finals took the trophy so far: Berlin in 2015 and Göppingen in 2017. Füchse were eliminated in the 2014 semi-finals on home ground; Nantes failed twice in the final, against Löwen (2013) and Göppingen (2016); Magdeburg lost the semi-final against Saint-Raphael in 2018.

2 – German teams which qualified for the AKQUINET EHF CUP FINALS, have won the EHF Cup more than once: Berlin (2015, 2018) and Kiel (1998, 2002, 2004).

2 of 54 matches since the start of the group phase ended with 45 or fewer goals.

3 coaches of the AKQUINET EHF CUP FINALS participants have won the EHF Cup as a coach - Füchse coach Velimir Petkovic (2011 and 2012 with Frisch Auf Göppingen, 2018 with Berlin). Porto’s coach Magnus Andersson (2016 and 2017 with Göppingen)  and THW coach Alfred Gislason (2001 with SC Magdeburg).

3 of 54 matches since the start of the group phase ended with a draw, one in the quarter-finals (Saint-Raphael vs Porto 30:30).

3 participants of the EHF Cup Finals had finished on top of their groups: Berlin (group A), Porto (Group C) and Kiel (Group D).

3 times, THW Kiel had been part of the EHF Cup, three times, the Zebras won the trophy.

4 nations are represented by the origin of the coaches of the previous EHF Cup Finals winners: Iceland (Gudmundur Gudmundsson/2013 and Dagur Sigurdsson/2015), Spain (Juan Carlos Pastor/2014), Sweden (Magnus Andersson/2016 and 2017) and Germany (Velimir Petkovic/2018).

4 times Göppingen have won the EHF Cup, each twice in the old format (2011, 2012) and the new format (2016, 2017) to be record holders ahead of SC Magdeburg (1999, 2001, 2007) and THW Kiel (1998, 2002, 2004) with three titles each. Therefore, Kiel can match Göppingen this year.

6 times – like in all previous  EHF Cup Finals - at least one German team has been present: in 2013 it was Göppingen and Löwen, 2014 Berlin, 2015 Berlin and Hamburg, 2016 Göppingen, 2017 and 2018 Göppingen, Berlin and Füchse, 2019 Kiel and Berlin.

7 - which means all - times the host of the EHF Cup Finals qualified directly from the group phase, skipping the quarter-finals (Nantes and Berlin each twice, Göppingen, Magdeburg and now Kiel).

8 nations have been represented by the clubs in the EHF Cup Finals since 2013: Germany (14 teams), France (6), Denmark (4), Spain (1), Hungary (1), Romania (1), Slovenia (1) and Portugal (1).

9 of 54 matches since the start of the group phase ended with a difference of ten or more goals.

10 goals difference was the highest aggregate margin in the quarter-finals (Berlin vs Hannover -  64:54).

11 points from ten matches including qualification were enough for TTH Holstebro to qualify for the AKQUINET EHF CUP FINALS.

12 points from six group matches - the optimum – were collected by Kiel and Porto.  

14 of 54 matches since the start of the group phase were attended by more than 3,000 fans, including both all-German quarter-final matches.

14 goals was the biggest margin since the start of the group phase, when Kiel beat GOG 37:23. In the quarter-finals the match Hannover vs Berlin (26:34) was the clearest one.

17 away wins were among the 54 matches since the start of the group phase.

19 times a German team has won the old (14) and the new (5) version of the EHF Cup since the implementation of the competition in the 1993/94 season. Five times the winner came from Spain, each once from Croatia and Hungary.

21 of 54 matches since the start of the group phase ended with 60 or more goals scored, including three quarter-final duels.

21 victories from 21 home matches in the EHF Cup since 1998 is the impressive series of AKQUINET EHF CUP FINALS host THW Kiel. Their first EHF Cup home match was against FC Porto (35:23 in the Last 32 round of the 1997/98 season).

23 EHF Cup matches in a row Göppingen were unbeaten in the EHF Cup until the 2018 semi-final defeat against Berlin, their record was 22 victories, one draw.

34 times in the 54 matches since the start of the group phase, the home team was victorious in the end, including four home victories in the six quarter-finals.

41 goals, scored in the group match Nexe vs Eurofarm (23:18) was the lowest group phase score.

52 goals in two quarter-final matches against Tatabanya were enough for Holstebro to qualify for the AKQUINET EHF CUP FINALS.

+76 is the impressive goal difference of THW Kiel after only eight matches so far.

70 goals scored in the group match GOG vs Pulawy (41:29) is the highest score so far.

89 goals were scored by Magnus Bramming (Holstebro) to clearly top the top scorer list so far. Second is 2016/17 and 2017/18 EHF Cup top scorer Hans Lindberg (Berlin) with 71 goals.

344 goals were scored in the six quarter-final matches.

3,073 goals were scored since the start of the group phase.

9,006 fans is the highest attendance of this season so far, for the group phase match Kiel vs Granollers, almost the same number of fans saw the matches Berlin vs Balatonfüred. The biggest attendance in the quarter-finals was 7,165 fans in Berlin.

10,250 fans will attend the four matches of the AKQUINET EHF CUP FINALS, which will set a new record for the final weekend of this competition.

25,232 fans is the overall attendance of Kiel’s three home matches in the group phase, a new competition record with an average of 8,410.

Most goals:

70 goals: Holstebro vs Pulawy (41:29/GP)
69 goals: Balatonfüred vs La Rioja (35:34/GP)
68 goals: Pulawy vs Granollers (34:34/GP)

Fewest goals:

41 goals: Nexe vs Bitola (23:18/GP)
45 goals: Hannover vs Bitola (24:21/GP)
46 goals: Bitola vs Hannover (17:29/GP)

Biggest winning margin:

+14 goals: Kiel vs GOG (37:23/GP)
+13 goals: Berlin vs Balatonfüred (36:23/GP)
+12 goals: Holstebro vs Cuenca (34:22/GP)

Spectators:

9,006: Kiel vs Granollers (GP)
9,000: Berlin vs Balatonfüred (GP)
8,619: Kiel vs GOG (GP)

Top scorers:

89 goals: Magnus Bramming (Holstebro)
71 goals: Hans Lindberg (Füchse Berlin)
62 goals: Raphael Caucheteux (Saint-Raphael)
61 goals: Milos Vujovic (Tatabanya)
60 goals: Adrian Figueras (Granollers)
60 goals: Timo Kastening (Hannover)

Top scorers still in competition:

89 goals: Magnus Bramming (Holstebro)
71 goals: Hans Lindberg (Füchse Berlin)
47 goals: Antonio Rodrigues (Porto)
38 goals: Niklas Ekberg (Kiel)
38 goals: Fabian Wiede (Belrin)
38 goals: Bjarki Elisson (Berlin)
38 goals: Victor Östlund (Holstebro)

Season record of the four participants of the AKQUINET EHF CUP FINALS:

THW Kiel:
8 matches - 8 victories - 0 draws - 0 defeats - 16 points
261:185 goals
goal difference: +76

FC Porto:
14 matches - 11 victories - 1 draw - 2 defeats - 23 points
443:380 goals
goal difference: +63

Füchse Berlin:
10 matches - 8 victories - 0 draws - 2 defeats - 16 points
313:274 goals
goal difference: +39

TTH Holstebro:
10 matches - 5 victories - 1 draws - 4 defeats - 11 points
280:260 goals
goal difference: +20