2018–19 Women's EHF Champions League

The 2018–19 Women's EHF Champions League was the 26th edition of the Women's EHF Champions League, the competition for top women's clubs of Europe, organized and supervised by the European Handball Federation.^[1]

Women's EHF Champions League

2018–19
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	7 September 2018–12 May 2019
Teams	16 (group stage) 8 (qualification)
Website	ehfcl.com
Final positions
Champions	Győri Audi ETO KC
Runner-up	Rostov-Don
Tournament statistics
Matches played	96
Goals scored	5229 (54.47 per match)
Attendance	289,808 (3,019 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Linn Jørum Sulland (89 goals)
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

Győri Audi ETO KC defended their title by defeating Rostov-Don 25–24 in the final, to win their fifth overall and third straight title.

Competition format

16 teams participated in the competition, divided in four groups who played in a round robin, home and away format. The top three teams in each group qualified for the main round.

Main round

The 12 qualified teams were divided in two groups who played in a round robin, home and away format. The points and the goal difference gained against the qualified teams in the first round were carried over. The top four teams in each group qualified for the quarterfinals.

Knockout stage

After the quarterfinals, the culmination of the season, the Women's EHF Final four, continued in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title.

Team allocation

14 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.^[2]

Group stage
København Håndbold	Odense Håndbold	Brest Bretagne Handball	Metz Handball
Thüringer HC	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	Győri Audi ETO KC	ŽRK Budućnost
Larvik HK	Vipers Kristiansand	CSM București	Rostov-Don
RK Krim	IK Sävehof
Qualification tournaments
Podravka Koprivnica	SG BBM Bietigheim	Jomi Salerno	MKS Lublin
SCM Craiova	ŽORK Jagodina	BM Bera Bera	Muratpaşa BSK

Round and draw dates

Phase	Draw date
Qualification tournaments	27 June 2018
Group stage	29 June 2018
Knockout stage
Final Four (Budapest)	16 April 2019

Qualification stage

Main article: 2018–19 Women's EHF Champions League qualifying

The draw was held on 27 June 2018. The two winners of the qualification tournaments advanced to the group stage. The second and third placed teams were translate to the third round of EHF Cup; the fourth places entered in the second round.^[3]

Qualification tournament 1

	Semifinals				Final
	8 September
	SG BBM Bietigheim	33
					9 September
	BM Bera Bera	27
					SG BBM Bietigheim	34
	8 September
					MKS Lublin	19
	MKS Lublin	28
	Jomi Salerno	17
					Third place
					9 September
					BM Bera Bera	40
					Jomi Salerno	20

Qualification tournament 2

	Semifinals				Final
	8 September
	SCM Craiova	31
					9 September
	ŽORK Jagodina	18
					SCM Craiova	21
	8 September
					Podravka Koprivnica	22
	Podravka Koprivnica	35
	Muratpaşa BSK	22
					Third place
					9 September
					ŽORK Jagodina	26
					Muratpaşa BSK	24

Group stage

Main article: 2018–19 Women's EHF Champions League group stage

The draw was held on 29 June 2018. In each group, teams play against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches.^[4]

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams are ranked according to points (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). After completion of the group stage, if two or more teams have scored the same number of points, the ranking will be determined as follows: Highest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved; Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved; Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved (or in the away match in case of a two-team tie); Superior goal difference in all matches of the group; Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group; If the ranking of one of these teams is determined, the above criteria are consecutively followed until the ranking of all teams is determined. If no ranking can be determined, a decision shall be obtained by EHF through drawing of lots. During the group stage, only criteria 4–5 apply to determine the provisional ranking of teams.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MET	BUD	ODE	LAR
1	Metz Handball	6	4	1	1	166	133	+33	9	Main round		—	25–24	41–26	31–20
2	ŽRK Budućnost	6	4	0	2	152	142	+10	8			23–19	—	31–28	26–25
3	Odense Håndbold	6	2	1	3	155	165	−10	5			19–19	22–26	—	27–23
4	Larvik HK	6	1	0	5	137	170	−33	2	EHF Cup		21–31	23–22	25–33	—

Source: EHF

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ROS	KOB	BRE	SÄV
1	Rostov-Don	6	5	1	0	178	146	+32	11	Main round		—	30–25	30–24	30–21
2	København Håndbold	6	3	1	2	175	157	+18	7			21–27	—	32–28	33–22
3	Brest Bretagne Handball	6	2	2	2	182	172	+10	6			29–29	28–28	—	34–26
4	IK Sävehof	6	0	0	6	144	204	−60	0	EHF Cup		26–32	22–36	27–39	—

Source: EHF

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GYO	KRI	THÜ	KOP
1	Győri Audi ETO KC	6	6	0	0	210	140	+70	12	Main round		—	39–23	31–28	37–17
2	RK Krim	6	2	2	2	153	164	−11	6			23–32	—	27–20	27–20
3	Thüringer HC	6	1	1	4	153	173	−20	3^[a]			22–38	26–26	—	26–28
4	Podravka Koprivnica	6	1	1	4	142	181	−39	3^[a]	EHF Cup		27–33	27–27	23–31	—

Source: EHF
Notes:

1. Thüringer HC 57–51 Podravka Koprivnica

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BUC	KRI	FER	BIE
1	CSM București	6	4	0	2	185	171	+14	8	Main round		—	26–31	36–31	32–24
2	Vipers Kristiansand	6	3	1	2	180	162	+18	7			27–29	—	35–27	27–27
3	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	6	3	0	3	174	186	−12	6			28–34	27–26	—	33–30
4	SG BBM Bietigheim	6	1	1	4	162	182	−20	3	EHF Cup		30–28	26–34	25–28	—

Source: EHF

Main round

Main article: 2018–19 Women's EHF Champions League main round

In each group, teams played against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches. Points against teams from the same group are carried over.

Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MET	ROS	BUD	ODE	KOB	BRE
1	Metz Handball	10	7	1	2	299	242	+57	15^[a]	Quarterfinals		—	29–25	25–24	41–26	36–24	39–26
2	Rostov-Don	10	7	1	2	261	241	+20	15^[a]			18–26	—	24–22	25–19	30–25	30–24
3	ŽRK Budućnost	10	5	1	4	245	248	−3	11			23–19	20–23	—	31–28	29–27	28–27
4	Odense Håndbold	10	3	2	5	246	267	−21	8^[b]			19–19	26–30	22–26	—	25–23	28–24
5	København Håndbold	10	3	2	5	271	280	−9	8^[b]			36–33	21–27	31–20	24–24	—	32–28
6	Brest Bretagne Handball	10	0	3	7	253	297	−44	3			21–32	29–29	22–22	24–29	28–28	—

Source: EHF
Notes:

1. Metz Handball 55–43 Rostov-Don
2. Odense Håndbold 49–47 København Håndbold

Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GYO	VIP	FER	BUC	KRI	THÜ
1	Győri Audi ETO KC	10	8	2	0	333	267	+66	18	Quarterfinals		—	33–29	32–32	36–27	39–23	31–28
2	Vipers Kristiansand	10	6	0	4	288	265	+23	12^[a]			26–33	—	35–27	27–29	29–21	31–24
3	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	10	5	2	3	298	306	−8	12^[a]			32–32	27–26	—	28–34	31–27	30–29
4	CSM București	10	5	1	4	292	282	+10	11			25–27	26–31	36–31	—	32–26	23–23
5	RK Krim	10	2	1	7	243	281	−38	5			23–32	24–25	23–25	23–22	—	27–20
6	Thüringer HC	10	0	2	8	255	308	−53	2			22–38	21–29	32–35	30–38	26–26	—

Source: EHF
Notes:

1. Vipers Kristiansand 61–54 FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria

Knockout stage

Main article: 2018–19 Women's EHF Champions League knockout stage

The top four placed teams from each of the two main round groups advanced to the knockout stage.

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CSM București	48–54	Metz Handball	26–31	22–23
Odense Håndbold	49–62	Győri Audi ETO KC	28–29	21–33
FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	48–62	Rostov-Don	26–29	22–33
ŽRK Budućnost	37–49	Vipers Kristiansand	19–24	18–25

Final four

	Semifinals				Final
	11 May
	Vipers Kristiansand	22
					12 May
	Győri Audi ETO KC	31
					Győri Audi ETO KC	25
	11 May
					Rostov-Don	24
	Metz Handball	25
	Rostov-Don	27
					Third place
					12 May
					Vipers Kristiansand	31
					Metz Handball	30

Final

12 May 2019 18:00	Rostov-Don	24–25	Győri Audi ETO KC	László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest Attendance: 12,000 Referees: Brehmer, Skowronek (POL)
	Abbingh 7	(11–15)	Amorim 7
	4×  6×	Report	3×  6×  2×

Awards and statistics

All-Star Team

The all-star team and awards were announced on 10 May 2019.^[5]

• Goalkeeper:   Katrine Lunde (NOR) (Vipers Kristiansand)
• Right wing:   Jovanka Radičević (MNE) (CSM București)
• Right back:   Anna Vyakhireva (RUS) (Rostov-Don)
• Centre back:   Stine Bredal Oftedal (NOR) (Győri Audi ETO KC)
• Left back:   Anne Mette Hansen (DEN) (Győri Audi ETO KC)
• Left wing:   Manon Houette (FRA) (Metz Handball)
• Pivot:   Crina Pintea (ROU) (Győri Audi ETO KC)

Other awards

• MVP of the Final Four:   Kari Aalvik Grimsbø (NOR) (Győri Audi ETO KC)
• Best coach:   Emmanuel Mayonnade (FRA) (Metz Handball)
• Best young player:   Noémi Háfra (HUN) (FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria)
• Best defence player:   Eduarda Amorim (BRA) (Győri Audi ETO KC)

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[6]
1	Linn Jørum Sulland	Vipers Kristiansand	89
2	Noémi Háfra	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	80
	Jovanka Radičević	CSM București
4	Ana Gros	Brest Bretagne Handball	76
5	Andrea Lekić	CSM București	73
	Nycke Groot	Győri Audi ETO KC
7	Iveta Luzumová	Thüringer HC	71
	Henny Reistad	Vipers Kristiansand
	Grâce Zaadi	Metz Handball
10	Nerea Pena	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	69

References

1. "EHF receives 26 registrations for the 26th season of Women's EHF Champions League". ehfcl.com. 7 June 2018.
2. "EXEC confirms participants for the 2018/19 season". ehfcl.com. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
3. "Draw opens road to group matches". ehfcl.com. 27 June 2018.
4. "Defending champions in group with Thüringer, Krim and qualifier 2". ehfcl.com. 29 June 2018.
5. "All-Star team gets fresh look in 2019". eurohandball.com. 10 May 2019.
6. . Archived from the original on 2020-02-06. Retrieved 2018-11-18.

External links

• Official website