2014–15 EHF Champions League

The 2014–15 VELUX EHF Champions League was the 55th edition of Europe's premier club handball competition and the 22nd edition under the current EHF Champions League format. SG Flensburg-Handewitt were the defending champions.

EHF Champions League

2014–15
The Lanxess Arena hosts the final
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	2014–2015
Teams	33 (Qualification stage) 24 (Group stage) 16 (Knockout stage)
Final positions
Champions	Barcelona
Runner-up	MKB Veszprém
Tournament statistics
Matches played	148
Goals scored	7932 (53.59 per match)
Attendance	691,601 (4,673 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Momir Ilic (114 goals)
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

FC Barcelona Handbol defeated MKB Veszprém KC 28–23 in the final to win their eighth EHF Champions League title. The record winners of the European top flight also claimed one trophy of the Champions Cup (the EHF Champions League forerunner) in 1991.^[1]

Overview

Team allocation

League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders). 21 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.^[2]

Group stage
Flensburg-Handewitt^TH (3rd)	Paris Saint-Germain (2nd)	Pick Szeged (2nd)	Vive Targi Kielce (1st)
THW Kiel (1st)	Montpellier (3rd)	Chekhovskiye Medvedi (1st)	Wisła Płock (2nd)
Rhein-Neckar Löwen (2nd)	KIF Kolding København (1st)	Kadetten Schaffhausen (1st)	Alingsås HK (1st)
Barcelona (1st)	Aalborg (2nd)	Zagreb (1st)
Logroño (2nd)	Celje (1st)	Metalurg Skopje (1st)
Dunkerque (1st)	MKB Veszprém (1st)	Vardar (2nd)
Qualification tournament
Meshkov Brest (1st)	Haslum HK (CW)	Beşiktaş (1st)	Targos Bevo HC (1st)
HCM Constanța (1st)	Vojvodina (1st)	Tatran Prešov (1st)	Initia Hasselt (1st)
Porto (1st)	Motor Zaporozhye (1st)	Alpla HC Hard (1st)	Junior Fasano (1st)

Round and draw dates

Draws were held at the European Handball Federation headquarters in Vienna, Austria and the only exception was the VELUX EHF FINAL4 draw in the Botanic Garden of Cologne, Germany.

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	Qualification tournaments	26 June 2014	5–7 September 2014
Group stage	Matchday 1	27 June 2014	24–28 September 2014
	Matchday 2		1–5 October 2014
	Matchday 3		8–12 October 2014
	Matchday 4		15–19 October 2014
	Matchday 5		12–16 November 2014
	Matchday 6		19–23 November 2014
	Matchday 7		26–30 November 2014
	Matchday 8		3–6 December 2014
	Matchday 9		11–15 February 2015
	Matchday 10		18–22 February 2015
Knockout stage	Last 16	24 February 2015	11–15 March 2015	18–22 March 2015
	Quarter Final	24 March 2015	8–12 April 2015	15–19 April 2015
Final Four (Cologne)	Semifinals	21 April 2015	30 May 2015 at Lanxess Arena
	Final		31 May 2015 at Lanxess Arena

Qualification stage

Main article: 2014–15 EHF Champions League qualifying

Twelve teams took part in the qualification tournaments. They were drawn into three groups of four teams, where they played a semifinal and a final or third place match. The winners of the qualification tournaments, played on 6–7 September 2014, qualified for the group stage, while the eliminated teams were transferred to the 2014–15 EHF Cup. The draw took place on 26 June 2014, at 14:00 local time, in Vienna, Austria.^[2][3]

Seedings

The seedings were published on 23 June 2014.^[4]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Motor Zaporozhye   Meshkov Brest   HCM Constanța	Vojvodina   Porto   Haslum HK	Tatran Prešov   Alpla HC Hard   Beşiktaş	Targos Bevo HC   Initia Hasselt   Junior Fasano

Qualification tournament 1

	Semifinals				Final
	6 September
	Meshkov Brest	36
					7 September
	Targos Bevo HC	23
					Meshkov Brest	26
	6 September
					Tatran Prešov	24
	Vojvodina	21
	Tatran Prešov	25
					Third place game
					7 September
					Targos Bevo HC	25
					Vojvodina	30

Qualification tournament 2

	Semifinals				Final
	5 September
	Motor Zaporozhye	36
					6 September
	Junior Fasano	20
					Motor Zaporozhye	30
	5 September
					Porto	26
	Porto	29
	Alpla HC Hard	25
					Third place game
					6 September
					Junior Fasano	26
					Alpla HC Hard	35

Qualification tournament 3

	Semifinals				Final
	6 September
	HCM Constanța	29
					7 September
	Initia Hasselt	20
					HCM Constanța	25
	6 September
					Beşiktaş	34
	Haslum HK	22
	Beşiktaş	29
					Third place game
					7 September
					Initia Hasselt	26
					Haslum HK	35

Group stage

 

 

Kiel

 

Rhein-Neckar

 

Flensburg

 

Barcelona

 

Logroño

 

Dunkerque

 

PSG

 

Montpellier

 

KIF

 

Aalborg

 

Celje

 

Veszprém

 

Szeged

 

Chekhov

 

Kadetten

 

Zagreb

 

Vardar

 

Metalurg

 

Kielce

 

Płock

 

Brest

 

Alingsås

 

Motor

 

Beşiktaş

class=notpageimage|

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

Main article: 2014–15 EHF Champions League group stage

24 teams were drawn into four groups of six teams, where they played each other twice. The top four teams advanced to the knockout stage. The draw took place on 27 June 2014, at 18:00 local time, in Vienna, Austria.^[2][5]

Seedings

The seedings were published on 23 June 2014.^[4]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
THW Kiel   Barcelona   MKB Veszprém   Vive Targi Kielce	KIF Kolding København   Metalurg Skopje   Celje   Dunkerque	Zagreb   Chekhovskiye Medvedi   Kadetten Schaffhausen   Alingsås HK

Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Rhein-Neckar Löwen   Logroño   Pick Szeged   Wisła Płock	Flensburg-Handewitt   Aalborg   Vardar   Paris Saint-Germain	Montpellier   Meshkov Brest   Motor Zaporozhye   Beşiktaş

Key to colours in group tables
Top four placed teams advanced to the last 16

Group A

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		KIE	PSG	ZAG	LOG	MSH	MET
THW Kiel	10	9	0	1	322	259	+63	18		—	33–29	34–27	34–32	33–22	35–16
Paris Saint-Germain	10	6	0	4	297	266	+31	12		25–27	—	27–22	32–25	36–25	35–24
Zagreb	10	6	0	4	241	248	−7	12		27–25	25–24	—	31–30	25–23	19–17
Logroño	10	4	1	5	305	305	0	9		30–34	35–33	22–21	—	39–31	31–26
Meshkov Brest	10	2	2	6	267	293	−26	6		24–25	28–29	26–22	33–33	—	28–24
Metalurg Skopje	10	1	1	8	233	294	−61	3		27–42	22–27	20–22	29–28	27–27	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		BAR	KOL	PŁO	FLE	ALI	BJK
Barcelona	10	8	1	1	338	280	+58	17		—	33–27	30–25	36–27	42–29	35–25
KIF Kolding København	10	6	2	2	292	273	+19	14		27–27	—	30–30	35–21	34–33	34–31
Wisła Płock	10	6	1	3	288	280	+8	13		34–31	28–29	—	31–29	28–25	28–19
Flensburg-Handewitt	10	6	0	4	288	277	+11	12		33–37	27–20	35–28	—	31–21	31–27
Alingsås HK	10	1	0	9	252	298	−46	2		28–38	19–23	22–23	22–27	—	27–24
Beşiktaş	10	1	0	9	253	303	−50	2		25–29	24–33	30–33	20–27	28–26	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group C

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		VES	VAR	RNL	MON	CEL	CHE
MKB Veszprém	10	9	0	1	300	262	+38	18		—	32–24	27–24	30–29	29–26	38–31
Vardar	10	7	1	2	313	289	+24	15		23–24	—	28–25	30–26	34–32	39–28
Rhein-Neckar Löwen	10	6	0	4	302	282	+20	12		32–25	28–35	—	35–24	31–27	34–29
Montpellier	10	3	2	5	293	317	−24	8		20–34	34–34	29–33	—	35–29	32–32
Celje	10	3	0	7	284	293	−9	6		21–24	26–27	32–28	27–30	—	29–25
Chekhovskiye Medvedi	10	0	1	9	300	349	−49	1		32–37	34–39	26–32	33–34	30–35	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Group D

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		KSK	SZE	DUN	AAL	ZAP	KAD
Vive Targi Kielce	10	10	0	0	312	271	+41	20		—	37–32	36–32	33–26	30–26	33–24
Pick Szeged	10	6	1	3	276	264	+12	13		26–27	—	23–21	23–23	27–26	34–24
Dunkerque	10	4	0	6	257	263	−6	8		25–28	24–25	—	21–26	31–29	29–25
Aalborg	10	2	3	5	256	269	−13	7		25–27	25–28	25–28	—	30–36	23–23
Motor Zaporozhye	10	3	0	7	283	284	−1	6		27–28	25–29	21–23	25–28	—	31–26
Kadetten Schaffhausen	10	2	2	6	264	297	−33	6		28–33	32–29	25–23	25–25	32–37	—

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Knockout stage

Main article: 2014–15 EHF Champions League knockout stage

The top four placed teams of each group advance to the knockout stage. In the round of 16 and the quarterfinals, the teams will play a home-and away series to determine the four participants of the final four, which then determines the winner.

Last 16

The draw was held on 24 February 2015 at 12:30 in Vienna, Austria. The first legs were played on 11–15 March and the second legs on 18–22 March 2015.^[6]

Seedings

The seedings were published on 23 February 2015.^[7]

A team from Pot 1 will face a team from Pot 4, a Pot 2 team will play against a team from Pot 3.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
THW Kiel   Barcelona   MKB Veszprém   Vive Targi Kielce	Paris Saint-Germain   KIF Kolding København   Vardar   Pick Szeged	Zagreb   Wisła Płock   Rhein-Neckar Löwen   Dunkerque	Logroño   Flensburg-Handewitt   Montpellier   Aalborg

Matches

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Logroño	54–68	MKB Veszprém	23–31	31–37
Montpellier	58–60	Vive Targi Kielce	25–29	33–31
Aalborg	33–60	Barcelona	11–31	22–29
Flensburg-Handewitt	49–63	THW Kiel	21–30	28–33
Dunkerque	43–46	Paris Saint-Germain	21–23	22–23
Wisła Płock	52–57	Vardar	32–26	20–31
Rhein-Neckar Löwen	59–65	Pick Szeged	30–34	29–31
Zagreb	43–40	KIF Kolding København	22–17	21–23

Quarterfinals

The draw was held on 24 March 2015 at 11:30 in Vienna, Austria. The first legs were played on 8–12 April and the second legs on 15–19 April 2015.^[8][9]

Seedings

The seedings were published on 23 March 2015.^[8]

Pot 1	Pot 2
THW Kiel   Barcelona   MKB Veszprém   Vive Targi Kielce	Paris Saint-Germain   Zagreb   Pick Szeged   Vardar

Matches

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Zagreb	44–68	Barcelona	23–25	21–43
Vardar	51–55	Vive Targi Kielce	20–22	31–33
Paris Saint-Germain	52–58	MKB Veszprém	24–24	28–34
Pick Szeged	54–60	THW Kiel	31–29	23–31

Final four

The draw was held on 21 April 2015.^[10][11]

The final four will be held on 30–31 May 2015 at the Lanxess Arena, Cologne.

	Semi-finals				Final
	30 May
	Barcelona	33
					31 May
	Vive Targi Kielce	28
					Barcelona	28
	30 May
					MKB Veszprém	23
	THW Kiel	27
	MKB Veszprém	31
					Third place
					31 May
					Vive Targi Kielce	28
					THW Kiel	26

Top goalscorers

Statistics exclude qualifying round.^[12]

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Momir Ilić	Veszprém	114
2	Kiril Lazarov	Barcelona	106
3	Mikkel Hansen	Paris	103
4	Karol Bielecki	Kielce	92
5	Timur Dibirov	Vardar	78
6	Zsolt Balogh	Szeged	76
	Marko Vujin	Kiel
8	Nikola Karabatić	Barcelona	75
9	Igor Karačić	Vardar	74
10	Alex Dujshebaev	Vardar	73

Awards

The All-star team of the Champions League 2014/15:^[13] Position Player Goalkeeper   Roland Mikler (MKB-MVM Veszprém) Right wing   Víctor Tomás (Barcelona) Right back   Kiril Lazarov (Barcelona) Centre back   Mikkel Hansen (Paris Saint-Germain) Left back   Nikola Karabatić (Barcelona) Left wing   Uwe Gensheimer (Rhein-Neckar Löwen) Pivot   Renato Sulić (MKB-MVM Veszprém) Best defender   Rene Toft Hansen (THW Kiel) Best coach   Talant Dujshebaev (Vive Kielce)

Mikler   Gensheimer   Sulić   Tomás   Karabatić   Hansen   Lazarov Best Defender :   Rene Toft Hansen Best Coach:   Talant Dujshebaev

See also

• 2014–15 EHF Cup
• 2014–15 EHF Challenge Cup

References

1. "FC Barcelona claim eighth title". ehfcl.com. 31 May 2015.
2. "New season line-up for the VELUX EHF Champions League". ehfcl.com. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
3. "Junior to test Motor after qualification draw". ehfcl.com. 2014-06-26.
4. "Seeding for Qualification and Group Phase draws confirmed". ehfcl.com. 2014-06-23.
5. "Draw reunites Flensburg with Barcelona". ehfcl.com. 2014-06-27.
6. "Last 16 draw reunites the finalists: Flensburg vs Kiel". ehfcl.com. 24 February 2015.
7. "Defending champions lurk in the fourth pot before the Last 16 draw". ehfcl.com. 23 February 2015.
8. "Last eight await Tuesday's quarter-final fate". ehfcl.com. 23 March 2015.
9. "Barcelona take on Zagreb, Kiel meet Szeged". ehfcl.com. 24 March 2015.
10. "Four favourites face the FINAL4 fate". ehfcl.com. 20 April 2015.
11. "Barcelona vs Kielce, Kiel vs Veszprem". ehfcl.com. 21 April 2015.
12. . Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
13. "All-star team vote reaches new heights with 44,000 fans". ehfcl.com. 29 May 2015.

External links

• Official website