2015–16 EHF Champions League

EHF Champions League

2015–16
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	5 September 2015–29 May 2016
Teams	28 (group stage) 31 (total)
Website	ehfcl.com
Final positions
Champions	Vive Targi Kielce
Runner-up	MVM Veszprém
Tournament statistics
Matches played	201
Goals scored	11168 (55.56 per match)
Attendance	843,367 (4,196 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Mikkel Hansen (DEN) (141 goals)[1]
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 EHF Champions League was the 56th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 23rd edition under the current EHF Champions League format. FC Barcelona was the defending champion.

Vive Targi Kielce defeated MVM Veszprém in the final to capture their first title.

Overview

Team allocation

Twenty-seven teams were directly qualified for the group stage.^[2]

Groups A/B
Zagreb	KIF Kolding København	Montpellier	Paris Saint-Germain
Rhein-Neckar Löwen	Flensburg-Handewitt	THW Kiel	Pick Szeged
MVM Veszprém	Vardar	Vive Targi Kielce	Wisła Płock
Celje	BarcelonaTH	IFK Kristianstad	Beşiktaş
Groups C/D
Meshkov Brest	Skjern Håndbold	Metalurg Skopje	Porto
HC Baia Mare	Chekhovskiye Medvedi	Vojvodina	Tatran Prešov
Logroño	Kadetten Schaffhausen	Motor Zaporozhye
Qualification tournament
Alpla HC Hard	RK Banja Luka	Limburg Lions	Elverum Håndball

• ^{TH = Title holders}

Competition format

In March 2014, EHF introduced a new competition format.^[3]

Twenty-eight teams participated in the competition, divided in four groups. Groups A and B 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, the bottom two in each group dropped out of the competition and the remaining 10 teams qualified for the first knock-out phase.

In groups C and D, six teams played in each group in a round robin format, playing both home and away. The top two teams in each group then met in a ‘semi-final’ play-off, with the two winners going through to the first knock-out phase. The remaining teams dropped out of the competition.

Knock-out Phase 1 (Last 12)

12 teams played home and away in the first knock-out phase, with the 10 teams qualified from groups A and B and the two teams qualified from groups C and D.

Knock-out Phase 2 (Quarterfinals)

The six winners of the matches in the first knock-out phase joined with the winners of groups A and B to play home and away for the right to play in the VELUX EHF FINAL4.

Final four

The culmination of the season, the VELUX EHF FINAL4, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title.

Round and draw dates

All draws held at the European Handball Federation headquarters in Vienna, Austria.^[4]

Qualification stage

There was no draw held. The four teams played a semifinal and final to determine the last participant. Matches were played on 5 and 6 September 2015.^[4][5] RK Banja Luka organized the tournament.^[6]

Bracket

	Semifinals				Final
	5 September 2015
	Elverum Håndball	35
					6 September 2015
	Limburg Lions	30
					Elverum Håndball	28
	5 September 2015
					Alpla HC Hard	25
	Alpla HC Hard	35
	RK Banja Luka	33
					Third place
					6 September 2015
					Limburg Lions	33
					RK Banja Luka	29

All times are local (UTC+2).

Semifinals

5 September 2015 17:30	Elverum Håndball	35–30	Limburg Lions	Sportska dvorana Borik, Banja Luka Attendance: 500 Referees: Gasmi, Gasmi (FRA)
	Burud 9	(14–15)	Baart, Steins 7
	3× 3×	Report	4× 3×

5 September 2015 20:00	Alpla HC Hard	35–33	RK Banja Luka	Sportska dvorana Borik, Banja Luka Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Baranowski, Lemanowicz (POL)
	Zeiner 8	(17–14)	Trivundža 13
	7× 3× 1×	Report	11× 3× 1×

Third place game

6 September 2015 17:30	Limburg Lions	33–29	RK Banja Luka	Sportska dvorana Borik, Banja Luka Attendance: 400 Referees: Gasmi, Gasmi (FRA)
	Heijnen 7	(16–14)	Janković 8
	5× 3×	Report	3× 3×

Final

6 September 2015 20:00	Elverum Håndball	28–25	Alpla HC Hard	Sportska dvorana Borik, Banja Luka Attendance: 400 Referees: Baranowski, Lemanowicz (POL)
	Stegavik 10	(15–11)	Schlinger 8
	4× 3×	Report	4× 2×

Group stage

Kiel

RN Löwen

Flensburg

Barcelona

Logroño

PSG

Montpellier

Veszprém

Szeged

KIF

Skjern

Celje

Kielce

Płock

Vardar

Metalurg

Kristianstad

Brest

Kadetten

Minaur

Zagreb

Porto

Chekhov

Motor

Vojvodina

Tatran

Elverum

Beşiktaş

Location of teams of the 2014–15 EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B; Green: Group C; Yellow: Group D.

The draw for the group stage was held on 26 June 2015, 20:00 CEST, in the Vienna city centre.^[4][7] 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).^[4] The only restriction was that teams from the same national association could not face each other in the same group. Since Germany qualified three teams, the lowest seeded side (Flensburg-Handewitt) had necessarily to be drawn with one of the other two.^[8]

In each group, teams played against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches. The matchdays are 16–20 September, 23–27 September, 30 September–4 October, 7–11 October, 14–18 October, 21–25 October, 11–15 November, 18–22 November, 25–29 November and 2–6 December 2015. For Groups A and B, additional matchdays include 10–14 February, 17–21 February, 24–28 February and 2–6 March 2016.^[9]

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

• Groups A and B – the top team qualified directly for the quarter-finals, and the five teams ranked 2nd–6th advanced to the first knockout round.
• Groups C and D – the top two teams from both groups contested 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		PAR	VES	FLE	KIE	ZAG	PLO	CEL	BES
1	Paris Saint-Germain	14	12	0	2	442	389	+53	24	Advanced to quarterfinals		—	29–27	35–32	37–30	34–23	29–24	32–27	40–28
2	MVM Veszprém	14	11	1	2	402	364	+38	23	Advanced to first knockout round		28–20	—	28–24	29–27	27–25	27–25	34–28	33–25
3	Flensburg-Handewitt	14	10	0	4	429	380	+49	20			39–32	28–29	—	37–27	28–27	27–25	30–20	33–25
4	THW Kiel	14	8	1	5	400	388	+12	17			26–30	25–24	27–23	—	31–29	26–24	35–32	32–21
5	Zagreb	14	5	1	8	358	367	−9	11			23–25	20–21	23–30	29–22	—	29–25	24–23	32–26
6	Wisła Płock	14	3	2	9	372	397	−25	8			22–27	27–27	30–34	23–37	23–23	—	26–31	32–26
7	Celje	14	3	1	10	385	398	−13	7			30–32	27–30	26–30	23–23	20–21	25–28	—	43–29
8	Beşiktaş	14	1	0	13	382	487	−105	2			30–40	34–38	26–34	27–32	32–30	29–38	24–30	—

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAR	KIE	VAR	RNL	SZE	MON	KRI	KOL
1	Barcelona	14	11	1	2	423	372	+51	23	Advanced to quarter-finals		—	31–33	31–30	26–20	30–25	37–27	34–32	28–25
2	Vive Targi Kielce	14	9	3	2	425	399	+26	21	Advanced to first knockout round		30–30	—	23–20	28–27	27–26	30–23	35–27	33–31
3	Vardar	14	9	0	5	416	373	+43	18			25–27	34–24	—	25–19	27–23	34–26	38–31	34–24
4	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	14	8	1	5	369	353	+16	17			22–21	32–32	28–27	—	30–25	25–21	29–20	24–20
5	Pick Szeged	14	7	1	6	404	390	+14	15			28–30	31–30	29–31	30–24	—	28–27	35–28	34–23
6	Montpellier	14	3	1	10	372	413	−41	7[lower-alpha 1]			23–31	27–32	25–30	28–30	29–29	—	30–26	30–25
7	IFK Kristianstad	14	3	1	10	419	437	−18	7[lower-alpha 1]			24–31	35–35	25–30	32–29	32–34	29–30	—	33–26
8	KIF Kolding København	14	2	0	12	348	429	−81	4			28–36	25–33	33–31	18–30	22–27	27–26	21–30	—

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BRE	LOG	POR	MED	VOJ	PRE
1	Meshkov Brest	10	8	0	2	321	264	+57	16	Advanced to playoffs		—	31–33	34–27	32–26	34–22	32–26
2	Logroño	10	7	0	3	298	270	+28	14[lower-alpha 1]			28–32	—	30–23	30–26	31–22	37–29
3	Porto	10	7	0	3	296	265	+31	14[lower-alpha 1]			29–28	35–31	—	31–27	37–15	33–23
4	Chekhovskiye Medvedi	10	4	0	6	271	292	−21	8			27–33	27–26	30–29	—	34–30	29–28
5	Vojvodina	10	2	0	8	241	297	−56	4[lower-alpha 2]			26–35	26–31	23–27	26–24	—	24–25
6	Tatran Prešov	10	2	0	8	242	277	−35	4[lower-alpha 2]			20–30	19–21	24–25	27–21	19–27	—

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ZAP	SKJ	SCH	HCM	ELV	MET
1	Motor Zaporozhye	10	7	1	2	296	277	+19	15	Advanced to playoffs		—	31–26	31–23	25–23	33–30	30–24
2	Skjern Håndbold	10	6	2	2	293	270	+23	14			36–36	—	25–29	32–28	34–29	20–19
3	Kadetten Schaffhausen	10	5	1	4	270	270	0	11			30–27	24–30	—	24–23	30–31	27–17
4	HC Baia Mare	10	3	3	4	264	268	−4	9			35–30	28–28	31–31	—	24–29	21–20
5	Elverum Håndball	10	3	1	6	274	289	−15	7			29–30	23–37	27–28	28–28	—	29–23
6	Metalurg Skopje	10	2	0	8	209	241	−32	4			21–23	24–25	28–24	21–23	22–19	—

Playoffs

The top two teams from Groups C and D contest 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. The first leg will be played on 27–28 February 2016, and the second leg will be played on 5 March 2016.^[9]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Logroño	67–70	Motor Zaporozhye	30–31	37–39
Skjern Håndbold	54–58	Meshkov Brest	31–31	23–27

Knockout stage

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

Round of 16

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Motor Zaporozhye	52–70	MVM Veszprém	24–29	28–41
Meshkov Brest	58–65	Vive Targi Kielce	28–32	30–33
Montpellier	57–59	Flensburg-Handewitt	27–28	30–31
Wisła Płock	54–55	Vardar	30–30	24–25
Pick Szeged	62–65	THW Kiel	33–29	29–36
Zagreb	54–53	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	23–24	31–29

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Zagreb	52–60	Paris Saint-Germain	20–28	32–32
THW Kiel	59–57	Barcelona	29–24	30–33
Vardar	56–59	MVM Veszprém	26–29	30–30
Flensburg-Handewitt	56–57	Vive Targi Kielce	28–28	28–29

Final four

Drawing the final four in May in Cologne

The final four was held at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany on 28 and 29 May 2016. The draw was held on 3 May 2016 at 12:00.^[11][12]

Bracket

	Semifinals				Final
	28 May
	Vive Targi Kielce	28
					29 May
	Paris Saint-Germain	26
					Vive Targi Kielce (Pen)	39
	28 May
					MVM Veszprém	38
	THW Kiel	28
	MVM Veszprém (ET)	31
					Third place
					29 May
					Paris Saint-Germain	29
					THW Kiel	27

Final

29 May 2016 18:00	Vive Targi Kielce	39–38 (ET)	MVM Veszprém	Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,250 Referees: López, Ramírez (ESP)
	Reichmann 9	(13–17)	Ilić, Ugalde 6
	5× 3×	Report	6× 3×
	FT: 29–29 ET: 6–6 Pen: 4–3

Awards and statistics

Top goalscorers

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.^[13]

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Mikkel Hansen	Paris Saint-Germain	108
2	Momir Ilić	MVM Veszprém	97
3	Kiril Lazarov	Barcelona	94
4	Marko Vujin	THW Kiel	93
5	Dean Bombač	Pick Szeged	89
6	Domagoj Duvnjak	THW Kiel	87
	Michał Jurecki	Vive Targi Kielce
8	Anders Eggert	Flensburg-Handewitt	72
	Nikola Karabatić	Paris Saint-Germain
	Barys Pukhouski	Motor Zaporozhye

Awards

The all-star team was announced by EHF on 29 May 2015.^[14]

• Goalkeeper:  Niklas Landin Jacobsen (DEN)
• Right wing:  Gašper Marguč (SLO)
• Right back:  Kiril Lazarov (MKD)
• Centre back:  Dean Bombač (SLO)
• Left back:  Momir Ilić (SRB)
• Left wing:  Manuel Štrlek (CRO)
• Pivot:  Rastko Stojković (SRB)

Other awards

• Best Defender:  Timuzsin Schuch (HUN)
• Best Young player:  Darko Ðukić (SRB)
• Coach:  Xavier Sabate (ESP)

See also

• 2015–16 EHF Cup
• 2015–16 EHF Challenge Cup

References

External links

• Official website