The 2011–12 EHF Women's Champions League was the nineteenth edition of the EHF Women's Champions League, the top continental handball event for club teams in Europe, organized and supervised by the European Handball Federation. Larvik HK entered the competition as title holders after beating SD Itxako in past season's final.
Budućnost Podgorica won the title for the first time by defeating Győri Audi ETO KC in the big final.
Overview
Format change Following the decision of the Executive Committee of the European Handball Federation in April 2011, the system of the EHF Women's Champions League qualifying tournaments have changed. Starting from this season, the second qualification tournaments will be played under a final four format, with the semifinals held on a Saturday while the final on the following day. The winners of each tournaments will qualify for the group stage. The method of the first qualification round did not change. In addition, unlike in previous years, clubs that are eliminated during the qualifying phase will directly go to the EHF Women's Cup Winners' Cup.
Team allocation A total of 32 teams participated in the 2011–12 EHF Champions League from 23 federations. Places were distributed according to the EHF league coefficient, which took into account the performances in European competitions from 2007–08 to 2009–10. Norway have been awarded an additional entry as the title holder country.
Group matches Hypo Niederösterreich Podravka Koprivnica FC Midtjylland Håndbold Metz Handball Thüringer HC Győri Audi ETO KC Budućnost Podgorica Larvik HK (TH) CS Oltchim Rm. Vâlcea HC Dinamo Volgograd Krim Ljubljana Itxako Reyno de NavarraQualification Tournament 2 Randers HK Viborg HKViborg HK were guaranteed wild card following the withdrawal of HC Sparta Kryvyi Rih. Buxtehuder SV DVSC-Fórum Debrecen ŽRK Metalurg Tertnes HE Byåsen HE KGHM Metraco Zagłębie Lubin U Jolidon Cluj-Napoca Rostov-Don BM Elda Prestigio IK SävehofQualification Tournament 1 HC Veselí nad Moravou AC Ormi-Loux Patras MizuWaAi Dalfsen CDE Gil Eanes RK Zaječar HK IUVENTA Michalovce LC Brühl Handball Üsküdar Bld. SK
Round and draw dates All draws will be held at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria. PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingQualification Tournament 127 June 20112–4 September 2011Qualification Tournament 217–18 September 2011Group stageMatchday 128 June 20111–2 October 2011Matchday 28–9 October 2011Matchday 315–16 October 2011Matchday 429–30 October 2011Matchday 55–6 November 2011Matchday 612–13 November 2011Main roundMatchday 115 November 20114–5 February 2012Matchday 211–12 February 2012Matchday 318–19 February 2012Matchday 425–26 February 2012Matchday 53–4 March 2012Matchday 610–11 March 2012Knockout phaseSemifinals—31 March–1 April 20127–8 April 2012Finals10 April 20125–6 May 201212–13 May 2012
Qualifying rounds The draw for both qualifying tournaments took place on 27 June 2011 in Vienna. The rights to organize and host the group matches were also decided in this draw.
Qualification Tournaments 1 In the first stage of the qualifying process eight clubs were drawn into two groups of four. The sides played against each other once and the top two teams of each group advanced to the second qualifying phase, where they were classified automatically into the fourth pot. The four losing teams entered the 2011–12 EHF Cup Winners' Cup second round.
Seedings Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 AC Ormi-Loux Patras Üsküdar Bld. SK RK Zaječar MizuWaAi Dalfsen HK IUVENTA Michalovce LC Brühl Handball CDE Gil Eanes HC Veselí nad Moravou
Group A The tournament was organised by the Greek club AC Ormi-Loux Patras.
Group B The tournament was organised by the Slovakian side HK IUVENTA Michalovce.
Qualification Tournaments 2 Sixteen clubs were set to participate in the second qualifying stage, divided into four groups of four. For the first time in the competition's history, a final four format was used to determine the group winners, that were qualified for the Group matches. According to the seeding list, teams in Pot 1 were drawn together with Pot 4 sides, while clubs from Pot 2 met Pot 3 teams in the semifinals of the tournaments. However, as stated in the EHF regulations, clubs from the same federation enjoyed protection and could not be selected into the same group. Teams that finished bottom of their respective groups went to the second round of the 2011–12 EHF Cup Winners' Cup, while second and third placed teams joined that competition in the third round.
Seedings Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 Randers HK DVSC-Fórum Debrecen Byåsen HE U Jolidon Cluj-Napoca BM Elda Prestigio Rostov-Don Buxtehuder SV Tertnes HE IK Sävehof ŽRK Metalurg KGHM Metraco Zagłębie Lubin Viborg HK MizuWaAi Dalfsen RK Zaječar CDE Gil Eanes HC Veselí nad Moravou
Group 1 The tournament was organised by the Danish club Viborg HK.
Bracket
Semifinals
Third place match
Final
Group 2 The tournament was organised by the Macedonian club ŽRK Metalurg.
Bracket
Semifinals
Third place match
Final
Group 3 The tournament was organised by the Polish club Zagłębie Lubin.
Bracket
Semifinals
Third place match
Final
Group 4 The tournament was organised by the Swedish club IK Sävehof.
Bracket
Semifinals
Third place match
Final
Group matches
The draw of the group matches was held on June 28 at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in Vienna. A total of sixteen teams were concerned in the process, having divided into four pots of four. Similar to the qualifying phase, clubs from the same country could not be drawn into the same group, therefore, instead of direct draw, Pot 4 teams were allocated to the first possible position from Group A to Group D.
Seedings Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 Larvik HK FC Midtjylland Håndbold Győri Audi ETO KC CS Oltchim Rm. Vâlcea Budućnost Podgorica Hypo Niederösterreich Krim Ljubljana Itxako Reyno de Navarra HC Dinamo Volgograd Thüringer HC Metz Handball Podravka Koprivnica Viborg HK Byåsen HE Buxtehuder SV Randers HK
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Main round
The draw of the main round was held on November 15 at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in Vienna. A total of eight teams advanced from the group stage to the main round and were located in two pots, with the group winners being in Pot 1 and the runners-up in Pot 2. Teams from the same groups at the group stage were not able to be drawn together.
Seedings Pot 1Pot 2 Győri Audi ETO KC Budućnost Podgorica Larvik HK CS Oltchim Rm. Vâlcea FC Midtjylland Håndbold Itxako Reyno de Navarra Metz Handball Krim Ljubljana
Group 1
Group 2
Knockout stage
Semifinals
Final
Top scorers
Final statistics
RankNameTeamGoals 1 Anita Görbicz Győri Audi ETO KC 133 2 Bojana Popović Budućnost Podgorica 106 3 Katarina Bulatović Budućnost Podgorica 974 Alexandrina Cabral Itxako Reyno de Navarra78 Andrea Penezić Krim Ljubljana 6 Eduarda Amorim Győri Audi ETO KC 75 7 Heidi Løke Győri Audi ETO KC 72 8 Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren Larvik HK 699 Jovanka Radičević Győri Audi ETO KC62 Linn Jørum Sulland Larvik HK
Notes
References
External links