EHF Champions League
2018–19
Tournament information
SportHandball
Dates12 September 2018–2 June 2019
Teams28
Websiteehfcl.com
Final positions
ChampionsNorth Macedonia RK Vardar
Runner-upHungary Telekom Veszprém
Tournament statistics
Matches played200
Goals scored11395 (56.98 per match)
Attendance738,682 (3,693 per match)
Top scorer(s)Spain Alex Dujshebaev
(99 goals)

The 2018–19 EHF Champions League was the 59th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 26th edition under the current EHF Champions League format.[1]

RK Vardar defeated Telekom Veszprém 27–24 in the final to win their second title.[2]

Competition format

Twenty-eight teams, divided into four groups, participated in the competition. Groups A and B were played with eight teams each, in a round robin, home and away format. The top team in each group qualified directly for the quarter-finals, while the bottom two in each group dropped out of the competition. The remaining 10 teams qualified for the first knockout phase.

In Groups C and D, six teams played in each group in a round robin format, with both home and away games. The top two teams in each group then met in an elimination play-off, with the two winners proceeding to the first knockout phase. The remaining teams were eliminated from the competition.

Knockout phase 1 (last 16)

12 teams played home and away in the first knockout phase, with the 10 teams qualified from Groups A and B and the two teams qualified from Groups C and D.

Knockout phase 2 (quarter-finals)

The six winners of the matches in the first knockout phase were joined by the winners of Groups A and B to play home and away for the right to contest the VELUX EHF FINAL4.

VELUX EHF FINAL4

The culmination of the season, the VELUX EHF FINAL4, continued in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title over one weekend in LANXESS arena, Cologne.

Team allocation

28 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.[3]

Groups A/B
Belarus Meshkov Brest Croatia PPD Zagreb Denmark Skjern Håndbold France Montpellier Handball
France HBC Nantes France Paris Saint-Germain Germany Flensburg-Handewitt Germany Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Hungary MOL-Pick Szeged Hungary Telekom Veszprém North Macedonia RK Vardar Poland PGE Vive Kielce
Spain Barça Lassa Sweden IFK Kristianstad Slovenia Celje Pivovarna Laško Ukraine Motor Zaporizhzhia
Groups C/D
Denmark Bjerringbro-Silkeborg Finland Riihimäki Cocks North Macedonia Metalurg Skopje Norway Elverum Håndball
Poland Wisła Płock Portugal Sporting CP Romania Dinamo București Russia Chekhovskiye Medvedi
Slovakia Tatran Prešov Spain Ademar León Switzerland Wacker Thun Turkey Beşiktaş

Round and draw dates

Phase Draw date
Group stage 29 June 2018
Knockout stage
Final Four
(Cologne)
7 May 2019

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 29 June 2018 at 12:30 at the Erste Campus in Vienna, Austria. The 28 teams were drawn into four groups, two containing eight teams (Groups A and B) and two containing six teams (Groups C and D). The only restriction was that teams from the same national association could not face each other in the same group. The only exception was HBC Nantes, who play against one of the two French rivals in the group.[4]

In each group, teams will play against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches.

After completion of the group stage matches, the teams advancing to the knockout stage will be determined in the following manner:

  • Groups A and B – the top team will qualify directly for the quarterfinals, and the five teams ranked 2nd–6th will advance to the first knockout round.
  • Groups C and D – the top two teams from both groups contest a playoff to determine the last two sides joining the 10 teams from Groups A and B in the first knockout round.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BAR VES VAR KIE RNL BRE MON KRI
1 Spain Barça Lassa 14 12 0 2 486 391 +95 24 Quarterfinals 31–28 34–26 31–27 30–25 41–32 35–27 43–26
2 Hungary Telekom Veszprém 14 10 0 4 410 382 +28 20 First knockout round 29–26 24–27 29–27 28–29 28–20 25–19 36–27
3 North Macedonia RK Vardar 14 9 1 4 406 390 +16 19 26–30 27–29 28–27 29–27 30–23 33–27 33–25
4 Poland PGE Vive Kielce 14 7 0 7 439 430 +9 14[lower-alpha 1] 36–42 35–36 31–27 35–32 33–31 27–28 33–31
5 Germany Rhein-Neckar Löwen 14 7 0 7 418 410 +8 14[lower-alpha 1] 35–34 25–29 27–30 30–29 33–27 37–27 36–27
6 Belarus Meshkov Brest 14 4 1 9 379 419 40 9 21−29 28–29 31–31 26–35 27–24 26–23 32–23
7 France Montpellier 14 3 1 10 377 414 37 7 28–36 29–30 24–27 26–29 31–26 29–23 30–31
8 Sweden IFK Kristianstad 14 2 1 11 396 475 79 5 25–44 32–29 30–31 33–34 27–32 30–32 29–29
Source: EHF
Notes:
  1. 1 2 Vive Kielce 64–62 Rhein-Neckar Löwen

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification PAR SZE FLE NAN ZAP ZAG SKJ CEL
1 France Paris Saint-Germain 14 13 0 1 455 385 +70 26 Quarterfinals 33–31 29–28 35–34 31–25 33–28 38–28 33–21
2 Hungary MOL-Pick Szeged 14 9 2 3 411 397 +14 20 First knockout round 33–32 30–28 30–28 30–29 26–26 33–33 33–24
3 Germany Flensburg-Handewitt 14 7 1 6 378 370 +8 15 20–27 27–25 29–29 31–24 29–31 26–22 27–26
4 France HBC Nantes 14 5 4 5 421 408 +13 14 31–35 29–26 31–34 23–27 23–20 35–27 38–27
5 Ukraine Motor Zaporizhzhia 14 5 1 8 389 381 +8 11[lower-alpha 1] 29–35 31–32 28–26 30–30 35–27 33–23 36–27
6 Croatia PPD Zagreb 14 4 3 7 382 420 38 11[lower-alpha 1] 21–32 23–24 21–22 27–27 27–24 32–29 24–22
7 Denmark Skjern Håndbold 14 3 2 9 398 439 41 8 24–26 26–29 24–31 32–34 37–33 31–31 35–32
8 Slovenia Celje Pivovarna Laško 14 3 1 10 380 416 36 7 32–36 28–29 23–20 29–29 33–28 30–21 26–27
Source: EHF
Notes:
  1. 1 2 Motor Zaporizhzhia 59–54 Zagreb

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BJE SPO PRE MED BES SKO
1 Denmark Bjerringbro-Silkeborg 10 8 0 2 323 273 +50 16 Playoffs 29–28 29–30 39–28 34–27 33–25
2 Portugal Sporting CP 10 7 0 3 304 277 +27 14[lower-alpha 1] 32–35 26–28 33–31 34–28 34–26
3 Slovakia Tatran Prešov 10 7 0 3 278 268 +10 14[lower-alpha 1] 26–24 27–30 27–28 27–23 30–24
4 Russia Chekhovskiye Medvedi 10 4 0 6 280 279 +1 8 24–30 22–23 38–26 22–24 33–25
5 Turkey Beşiktaş 10 3 0 7 255 289 34 6 24–37 27–33 22–28 27–30 23–22
6 North Macedonia Metalurg Skopje 10 1 0 9 246 300 54 2 29–33 24–31 24–29 25–24 22–30
Source: EHF
Notes:
  1. 1 2 Sporting 56–55 Prešov

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BUC PLO ELV LEO RII THU
1 Romania Dinamo București 10 7 0 3 293 280 +13 14[lower-alpha 1] Playoffs 24–21 26–24 35–30 24–22 35–34
2 Poland Wisła Płock 10 7 0 3 278 250 +28 14[lower-alpha 1] 29–28 30–28 25–23 34–18 34–24
3 Norway Elverum Håndball 10 6 1 3 278 272 +6 13 29–28 28–30 30–25 28–27 29–28
4 Spain Ademar León 10 5 2 3 252 251 +1 12 31–28 27–24 24–24 23–20 24–21
5 Finland Riihimäki Cocks 10 2 2 6 246 269 23 6 31–32 27–26 25–28 19–19 31–29
6 Switzerland Wacker Thun 10 0 1 9 268 293 25 1 29–33 23–25 29–30 25–26 26–26
Source: EHF
Notes:
  1. 1 2 Dinamo 52–50 Płock

Playoffs

The top two teams from Groups C and D contested a playoff to determine the two sides advancing to the knockout phase. The winners of each group will face the runners-up of the other group in a two-legged tie.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Sporting CP Portugal 59–57 Romania Dinamo București 32–31 27–26
Wisła Płock Poland 49–46 Denmark Bjerringbro-Silkeborg 22–26 27–20

Knockout stage

The first-placed team from the preliminary groups A and B advanced to the quarterfinals, while the 2–6th placed teams advanced to the round of 16 alongside the playoff winners.

Round of 16

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Sporting CP Portugal 57–65 Hungary Telekom Veszprém 28–30 29–35
Wisła Płock Poland 36–45 Hungary MOL-Pick Szeged 20–22 16–23
PPD Zagreb Croatia 48–59 North Macedonia RK Vardar 18–27 30–32
Meshkov Brest Belarus 48–60 Germany Flensburg-Handewitt 28–30 20–30
Motor Zaporizhzhia Ukraine 62–67 Poland PGE Vive Kielce 33–33 29–34
Rhein-Neckar Löwen Germany 61–62 France HBC Nantes 34–32 27–30

Quarterfinals

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
HBC Nantes France 51–61 Spain Barça Lassa 25–32 26–29
PGE Vive Kielce Poland 60–59 France Paris Saint-Germain 34–24 26–35
Flensburg-Handewitt Germany 47–57 Hungary Telekom Veszprém 22–28 25–29
RK Vardar North Macedonia 56–52 Hungary MOL-Pick Szeged 31–23 25–29

Final four

 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
1 June
 
 
Hungary Telekom Veszprém33
 
2 June
 
Poland PGE Vive Kielce30
 
Hungary Telekom Veszprém24
 
1 June
 
North Macedonia RK Vardar27
 
Spain Barça Lassa27
 
 
North Macedonia RK Vardar29
 
Third place
 
 
2 June
 
 
Poland PGE Vive Kielce35
 
 
Spain Barça Lassa40

Final

2 June 2019
18:00
RK Vardar North Macedonia 27–24 Hungary Telekom Veszprém Lanxess Arena, Cologne
Attendance: 19,250
Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
Ferreira 6 (16–11) Mahé 6
Yellow card number 2 in light blue rounded square Report Yellow card number 2 in light blue rounded square

Statistics and awards

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Club Goals[5]
1 Spain Alex Dujshebaev Poland PGE Vive Kielce 99
2 Latvia Dainis Krištopāns North Macedonia RK Vardar 94
3 Switzerland Andy Schmid Germany Rhein-Neckar Löwen 91
4 Belarus Barys Pukhouski Ukraine Motor Zaporizhzhia 87
France Melvyn Richardson France Montpellier
6 Croatia Zlatko Horvat Croatia PPD Zagreb 85
7 Spain Valero Rivera Folch France HBC Nantes 81
8 France Nedim Remili France Paris Saint-Germain 80
9 Germany Uwe Gensheimer France Paris Saint-Germain 79
Croatia Igor Karačić North Macedonia RK Vardar
Germany Jannik Kohlbacher Germany Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Serbia Petar Nenadić Hungary Telekom Veszprém

Awards

The all-star team was announced on 31 May 2019.[6]

Other awards

References

  1. "34 clubs apply for a place in the new season". ehfcl.com. 7 June 2018.
  2. "Vardar extend miracle story with second trophy". ehfcl.com. 2 June 2019.
  3. "Starting grid for the 2018/19 season confirmed". ehfcl.com. 19 June 2018.
  4. "Champions Montpellier drawn in Group A alongside three previous winners". ehfcl.com. 29 June 2018.
  5. "Goalscorers". Archived from the original on 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  6. "Vardar dominate VELUX EHF Champions league all-star team". ehfcl.com. 31 May 2019.
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