27.05.2015, 05:50
Jicha top of top FINAL4 scorers

FACTS AND FIGURES: A total of 1125 goals have been scored by 130 different players at the pinnacle event in Cologne since 2010.

Jicha top of top FINAL4 scorers

Since the VELUX EHF FINAL4 was implemented as the highlight of the VELUX EHF Champions League season in 2010, 1125 goals have been scored by 130 different players in 20 matches across five events.

The match with the highest number of goals so far was the 2014 Flensburg vs. Barcelona semi-final. 20,000 fans in LANXESS arena saw 80 goals (including extra-time and penalty shoot-out), with the German side winning 41:39. 

Runners-up for the biggest scoring match is the 2013 Hamburg vs Kiel semi-final, with 72 goals (39:33). The final with the biggest number of goals was the premier at LANXESS arena in 2010, when Kiel beat Barcelona 36:34.

In contrast, the 2012 edition of the VELUX EHF FINAL saw a much lower number of goals: All four matches in the ranking of the lowest goal numbers occurred in this event. 

Both Sunday matches (final: Kiel vs. Madrid and bronze medal match AG Köbenhavn vs. Füchse Berlin) ended with a score of 26:21 (47 goals total), while the semi-finals Madrid vs. Kobenhavn (25:23/48) and Kiel vs Berlin (25:24/49) had only a few more goals.

Looking at individual top scorers, Kiel team captain Filip Jicha tops the list. In his four appearances at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 (2010, 2012-2014) he has scored 51 goals. Jicha has twice scored 17 goals – in 2010 and 2012, leading THW to the trophy those years. 

Second ranked is another top star who will be on court at the 2015 edition of the VELUX EHF FINAL4: Siarhei Rutenka (FC Barcelona). The Belarusian left back has scored 47 times. 

Four more former or current Barcelona players come next in this ranking: Juanin Garcia (44 goals, including an incredible 22 goals during the 2010 event), Kiril Lazarov (35), Jesper Nöddesbo (31) and Victor Tomas (30).

Lazarov, Nöddesbo and Tomas can all add more strikes to their tally this year, along with seventh ranked Momir Ilic (26). Ilic can become top scorer of the VELUX EHF Champions League season again this year, as he did in 2014. 

Garcia still holds the record for the highest ever number of goals in a single VELUX EHF FINAL4 match with 13 strikes in the 2010 final, when Barcelona lost against Kiel. 

The top 20 scorers in VELUX EHF FINAL4 history:

Filip Jicha (THW Kiel): 51 goals

Siarhei Rutenka (FC Barcelona): 47 goals

Juanin Garcia (FC Barcelona): 44 goals

Kiril Lazarov (Ciudad Real, Atletico Madrid, FC Barcelona): 35 goals

Jesper Nöddesbo (FC Barcelona): 31 goals

Victor Tomas (FC Barcelona): 30 goals

Momir Ilic (THW Kiel/MKB-MVM Veszprém): 26 goals

Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson (Rhein-Neckar Löwen, AG Kobenhavn, THW Kiel, FC Barcelona): 25 goals

Luc Abalo (Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid): 20 goals

Jonas Källman (Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid): 19 goals

Alberto Entrerrios (Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid): 19 goals

Olafur Stefansson (Rhein-Neckar Löwen/AG Kobenhavn): 19 goals

Domagoj Duvnjak (HSV Hamburg/THW Kiel): 19 goals

Niklas Ekberg (AG Kobenhavn/THW Kiel): 19 goals

Aron Palmarsson (THW Kiel): 18 goals

Daniel Narcisse (THW Kiel): 18 goals

Hans Lindberg (HSV Hamburg): 18 goals

Christian Sprenger (THW Kiel): 17 goals

Laszlo Nagy (FC Barcelona/MKB-MVM Veszprém): 16 goals

Julen Aguinagalde (Atletico Madrid, Ciudad Real, KS Vive Tauron Kielce): 16 goals

TEXT: Björn Pazen / cg