2020–21 Women's EHF Champions League

This article is about the women's competition. For the men's competition, see 2020–21 EHF Champions League.

The 2020–21 Women's EHF Champions League was the 28th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament, running from 12 September 2020 to 30 May 2021.

Women's EHF Champions League

2020–21
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	12 September 2020–30 May 2021
Teams	16
Website	ehfcl.com
Final positions
Champions	Vipers Kristiansand
Runner-up	Brest Bretagne Handball
Tournament statistics
Matches played	127
Goals scored	6963 (54.83 per match)
Attendance	58,183 (458 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ana Gros (135 goals)
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

There was no defending champion, after the season before was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vipers Kristiansand defeated Brest Bretagne Handball to win their first title.^[1]

Because of this pandemic, each local health department allowed a different number of spectators.

Format

The competition began with a group stage featuring 16 teams divided in two groups. Matches were played in a double round-robin system with home-and-away fixtures. In Groups A and B, originally the top two teams would have qualified for the quarterfinals, with teams ranked third to sixth entering the playoffs. After a decision by the EHF, all teams advanced.

The knockout stage included four rounds: the round of 16, quarterfinals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. The teams were paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches, with the aggregate winners qualifying to the next round.

In the final four tournament, the semifinals and the final were played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue.^[2]

Team allocation

A total of 21 teams from 15 countries submitted their application for a place in the competition's group stage before the deadline of 10 June 2020.^[3] The final list of 16 participants was revealed by the EHF Executive Committee on 19 June.^[4]

Podravka Vegeta	Team Esbjerg	Odense Håndbold	Metz Handball
Brest Bretagne Handball	Borussia Dortmund	SG BBM Bietigheim	Győri Audi ETO KC
FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	ŽRK Budućnost	Vipers Kristiansand	SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea
CSM Bucureşti	Rostov-Don	CSKA Moscow	Krim Mercator

Wildcard rejection

DHK Baník Most	ŽRK Kumanovo	Storhamar Håndball Elite	H 65 Höör
Kastamonu Bld. GSK

Group stage

Main article: 2020–21 Women's EHF Champions League group stage

The draw was held on 1 July 2020 at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria.^[4][5] The 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight, with the restriction that teams from the same national association could not be drawn into the same group.^[6]

In each group, teams play against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches. After completion of the group stage matches, the top two teams from each group would have qualified directly for the quarterfinals, and the four teams ranked 3rd–6th advance to the playoffs, but on 10 February 2021, it was announced that all 16 teams advance from the group stage.^[7]

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		ROS	MET	BUC	FER	VIP	ESB	KRI	BIE
1	Rostov-Don	14	10	1	3	331	308	+23	21		—	30–26	0–10	26–24	10–0	28–24	23–23	27–21
2	Metz Handball	14	10	0	4	389	354	+35	20		27–26	—	25–22	30–29	28–29	31–29	33–27	36–27
3	CSM Bucureşti	14	8	1	5	331	309	+22	17		22–27	31–26	—	25–19	22–29	28–26	22–22	10–0
4	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	14	8	0	6	386	378	+8	16^[a]		25–26	32–30	31–27	—	30–28	24–28	32–25	24–35
5	Vipers Kristiansand	14	7	2	5	327	320	+7	16^[a]		23–24	0–10	30–25	26–31	—	28–28	37–30	10–0
6	Team Esbjerg	14	5	2	7	374	351	+23	12		24–25	25–28	29–30	21–24	27–27	—	33–23	37–29
7	RK Krim Mercator	14	2	3	9	325	375	−50	7		28–27	22–26	23–25	26–32	26–27	0–10	—	28–26
8	SG BBM Bietigheim	14	1	1	12	318	386	−68	3		31–32	25–33	22–32	25–29	29–33	26–33	22–22	—

Source: EHF
Notes:

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

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		GYO	MOS	BRE	ODE	BUD	VAL	DOR	KOP
1	Győri Audi ETO KC	14	10	4	0	457	353	+104	24		—	31–24	27–27	32–25	34–29	38–31	38–25	43–28
2	CSKA Moscow	14	11	1	2	404	350	+54	23		27–27	—	25–24	27–23	27–23	30–20	35–28	30–26
3	Brest Bretagne Handball	14	6	5	3	384	349	+35	17		25–25	28–30	—	32–21	28–28	28–21	33–33	32–25
4	Odense Håndbold	14	6	1	7	384	370	+14	13		32–32	26–25	24–31	—	30–21	25–26	32–27	35–20
5	Budućnost	14	5	2	7	363	377	−14	12		21–26	22–25	22–22	27–24	—	29–28	31–27	33–26
6	SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea	14	5	0	9	263	319	−56	10		20–37	24–34	10–0	21–30	25–23	—	0–10	0–10
7	Borussia Dortmund	14	4	1	9	347	391	−44	9		24–34	28–29	29–41	32–24	26–28	0–10	—	32–31
8	HC Podravka Vegeta	14	2	0	12	326	419	−93	4		15–33	20–26	29–33	17–33	29–26	25–27	25–26	—

Source: EHF

Note All matches ending with a 10–0 results were assessed by the EHF.^[8]

Knockout stage

Main article: 2020–21 Women's EHF Champions League knockout stage

Originally, the top six teams advanced but on 10 February 2021, after a decision by the EHF Executive Committee, it was announced that all 16 teams advance from the group stage.^[7]

Round of 16

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea	51–54	CSM Bucureşti	24–33	27–21
Team Esbjerg	54–63	Brest Bretagne Handball	27–33	27–30
ŽRK Budućnost	50–48	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	22–19	28–29
Vipers Kristiansand	65–62	Odense Håndbold	35–36	30–26
Podravka Vegeta	44–71	Rostov-Don	20–29	24–42
SG BBM Bietigheim	48–69	Győri Audi ETO KC	20–37	28–32
Borussia Dortmund	0–20^[note 1]	Metz Handball	0–10	0–10
Krim Mercator	46–47	CSKA Moscow	25–20	21–27

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CSM București	51–51 (a)	CSKA Moscow	32–27	19–24
Brest Bretagne Handball	60–50	Metz Handball	34–24	26–26
ŽRK Budućnost	40–54	Győri Audi ETO KC	19–30	21–24
Vipers Kristiansand	57–50	Rostov-Don	34–27	23–23

Final four

	Semi-finals				Final
	29 May
	Győri Audi ETO KC	23 (2)
					30 May
	Brest Bretagne Handball (Pen)	23 (4)
					Brest Bretagne Handball	28
	29 May
					Vipers Kristiansand	34
	Vipers Kristiansand	33
	CSKA Moscow	30
					Third place
					30 May
					Győri Audi ETO KC	32
					CSKA Moscow	21

Final

30 May 2021 18:00	Brest Bretagne Handball	28–34	Vipers Kristiansand	László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest Attendance: 2,300 Referees: Năstase, Stancu (ROU)
	Gros 8	(14–18)	Reistad 12
	1×  2×	Report	3×  6×

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[10]
1	Ana Gros	Brest Bretagne Handball	135
2	Cristina Neagu	CSM Bucureşti	115
3	Veronica Kristiansen	Győri Audi ETO KC	97
4	Jovanka Radičević	ŽRK Budućnost	94
5	Dejana Milosavljević	RK Podravka Koprivnica	88
	Henny Reistad	Vipers Kristiansand
7	Stine Bredal Oftedal	Győri Audi ETO KC	87
8	Lois Abbingh	Odense Håndbold	84
	Estelle Nze Minko	Győri Audi ETO KC
10	Mette Tranborg	Team Esbjerg	77

Awards

The all-star team was announced on 28 May 2021.^[11]

Position	Player
Goalkeeper	Amandine Leynaud (Győri Audi ETO KC)
Right wing	Viktória Lukács (Győri Audi ETO KC)
Right back	Nora Mørk (Vipers Kristiansand)
Centre back	Stine Bredal Oftedal (Győri Audi ETO KC)
Left back	Cristina Neagu (CSM Bucureşti)
Left wing	Majda Mehmedović (ŽRK Budućnost)
Pivot	Pauletta Foppa (Brest Bretagne Handball)
Final four MVP	Henny Reistad (Vipers Kristiansand)
Best defender	Eduarda Amorim (Győri Audi ETO KC)
Best young player	Henny Reistad (Vipers Kristiansand)
Best coach	Ole Gustav Gjekstad (Vipers Kristiansand)

See also

• 2020–21 Women's EHF European League

Notes

1. The matches, scheduled for 12 and 14 March 2021, were assessed by the EHF after Dortmund did not travel to France.^[9]

References

1. "Superb Vipers celebrate first Champions League title". eurohandball.com. 30 May 2021.
2. Competition system
3. "21 teams eye a place in the new season". ehfcl.com. 10 June 2020.
4. "EXEC finalises the list of teams for the DELO EHF Champions League 2020/21". ehfcl.com. 19 June 2020.
5. "Group phase draw sets the path for all teams". eurohandball.com. 1 July 2020.^{[permanent dead link]}
6. "Four pots for the group phase draw announced". ehfcl.com. 22 June 2020.
7. "EHF adapts playing schedule for EHF Champions League". eurohandball.com. 10 February 2021.
8. "DELO EHF Champions League: Assessment of non-played matches". eurohandball.com. 10 February 2021.
9. "Court of Handball rules on Dortmund vs Metz play-offs". eurohandball.com. EHF. 14 March 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
10. Goalscorers
11. "Fan favourite Oftedal leads Györ quartet in All-star Team". European Handball Federation. 28 May 2021.

External links

• Official website 2020-10-11 at the Wayback Machine