11.04.2016, 04:50
1 debutant, 2 former champions and 3 national team coaches

FACTS AND FIGURES: All you need to know about the Women's EHF Champions League Quarter-finals and the FINAL4 participants.

1 debutant, 2 former champions and 3 national team coaches

Four different nations with players from 19 different countries, coached by three national team coaches - here are just a few facts and figures prior to the Women's EHF FINAL4 draw in Budapest on Friday at 11:00 CET.

The facts below will point out, among other things, that HC Vardar have the best attacking record of the four teams which made it to Papp László Arena, while defending champions Buducnost have the best defensive record.

0 Scandinavian team, for the first time, qualified for the Women's EHF FINAL4 after FC Midtjylland in 2014 and Larvik in 2015.

0 country is represented in the squads of all four semi-finalists. Croatia is the only country represented in three teams: Vardar, CSM Bucuresti and Buducnost.

1 team made it from the qualification phase to the FINAL4: Györi Audi ETO KC, as they finished the Hungarian league 2014/15 as runners-up behind FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria.

1 EHF Champions League debutant made it to Budapest: Romanian champions CSM Bucuresti, but they are not the first debutant to go that far. In 2014, Vardar did the same. In the 2007/08 season, a debutant even won the title: Zvezda Zvenigorod.

1 nation is represented for the first time in Budapest: Romania. It is the seventh nation to produce a FINAL4 participant after Hungary, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia, Russia, Denmark and Norway.

2 former or current EHF Champions League winners made it to the FINAL4: Györ (2013, 2014) and Buducnost (2012, 2015). Thus, both previous FINAL4 winners are back at Budapest.

2 teams made it to their third straight appearance in the Papp Laszlo Arena: Vardar and Buducnost - in both previous events, both clashed already in the semi.-finals, both matches won by Buducnost.

2 FINAL4 participants each were part of Groups C and D in the group matches, groups A and B are not represented anymore, which means all teams faced eachother either in the group matches or the main round already.

2 goals was the closest margin of all quarter-final pairings - 55:53 in Bucuresti vs Rostov-Don.

3 teams won both legs of the quarter-finals: Buducnost, Györ and Bucuresti.

3 FINAL4 participants have coaches, who also coach national teams: Bucuresti (Kim Rasmussen, Poland), Buducnost (Dragan Adzic, Montenegro), Györ (Ambros Martin, Hungary).

4 nations are - like in both FINAL4 tournaments before - represented in the semi-finals: Montenegro, Hungary, FYR Macedonia and Romania. Last year it was Montenegro, FYR Macedonia, Norway and Russia.

4 coaches from four different countries - another fact speaking for the international atmosphere at Budapest. The coaches are from Spain (Martin/Györ), FYR Macedonia (Kastratovic/Vardar), Montenegro (Adzic/Buducnost) and Denmark (Rasmussen/Bucuresti).

10 times in the EHF Champions League Semi-finals is the milestone reached by Buducnost this year. Györ have made it to their ninth semi-final, Vardar to their third and Bucuresti to their first.

12 straight unbeaten matches in this season was the record before Rostov-Don were defeated twice by Bucuresti in the quarter-finals.

18 goals by Cristina Neagu (Buducnost) against Baia Mare (8 and 10) was the highest individual score bý a player in both quarter-final legs. Behind her was Ekaterina Ilina with 17 (9 and 8) goals against Bucuresti.

19 different countries are represented in the squads of the four FINAL4 participants. Eight nations are part of the Vardar squad, seven at both Buducnost and Bucuresti and only five at Györ.

27 points in 16 matches (including four from qualification) were taken by Györ on their way to the FINAL4. Buducnost had the same number from group phase to quarter-finals (23), while Vardar took 20 points and Bucuresti 17.

30 goals was the impressive winning margin in the all-Hungarian quarter-final between Györ and FTC (71:41).

97 goals were scored by Ekaterin Ilina (Rostov) to top the top scorers list so far. The best scorer still in the competition is Isabelle Gulldén (Bucuresti / 89 goals).

307 goals (one less than Györ) were conceded by Buducnost to have the best defensive record of all FINAL4 participants.

405 goals were scored by Vardar to have the best attacking record of all four FINAL4 participants.

5,027 fans attended the match Györ vs FTC - the highest attendance in the quarter-finals.

Best attacking record (in all matches from group matches to quarter-finals):
405 goals: HC Vardar
389 goals: Györi Audi ETO KC
385 goals: Buducnost
360 goals: CSM Bucuresti

Best defensive record (in all matches from group matches to quarter-finals):
307 goals conceded: Buducnost
308 goals conceded: Györi Audi ETO KC
340 goals conceded: CSM Bucuresti
344 goals conceded: HC Vardar

Best goal difference (in all matches from group matches to quarter-finals):
+81: Györi Audi ETO KC
+78: Buducnost
+61: HC Vardar
+20: CSM Bucuresti

Biggest number of points (14-16 respective matches):
27: Györi Audi ETO KC (13 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats in 16 matches)
23: Buducnost (11 wins- 1 draw - 2 defeats in 14 matches)
20: HC Vardar (10 wins - 0 draws - 4 defeats in 14 matches)
17: CSM Bucuresti (8 wins - 1 draw - 5 defeats in 14 matches)

Number of different nations in the official squad lists:
8: HC Vardar (MKD/2, GER/1, RUS/4, CRO/3, SRB/”, FRA/2, MNE/3, SLO/1)
7: CSM Bucuresti (ROU/9, BRA/4, DEN/2, SWE/2, ESP/1, RUS/1, CRO/1)
7: Buducnost (MNE/15, SRB/2, POL/1, SLO/1, ROU/1, CRO/2, TUN/1)
5: Györi Audi ETO KC (HUN/15, BRA/1, NED/2, CZE/1, NOR/3)

Top scorers:
97 goals: Ekaterina Ilina (Rostov-Don)
93 goals: Nora Mørk (Larvik)
89 goals: Allison Pineau (HCM Baia Mare)
89 goals: Isabelle Gulldén (CSM Bucuresti)
80 goals: Cristina Neagu (Buducnost)

Top scorers still in the competition:
89 goals: Isabelle Gulldén (CSM Bucuresti)
80 goals: Cristina Neagu (Buducnost)
78 goals: Katarina Bulatovic (Buducnost)
71 goals: Andrea Penezic (HC Vardar)
64 goals: Andrea Lekic (HC Vardar)

Highest quarter-final attendance:
5,027: Györi Audi ETO KC vs FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria
4,500: CSM Bucuresti vs Rostov-Don
3,500: Buducnost vs HCM Baia Mare
3,500: HC Vardar vs Larvik
3,400: Rostov-Don vs CSM Bucuresti

TEXT: Björn Pazen / es, cor