The 2017–18 EHF Champions League was the 58th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 25th edition under the current EHF Champions League format.
Montpellier defeated HBC Nantes in the final to win their second title.
Competition format Group Stage Twenty-eight teams participated in the competition, divided in four groups. Groups A and B were 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 16) 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 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, will continue in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title.
Team allocation 28 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.
Groups A/B Meshkov Brest Zagreb Aalborg Håndbold HBC Nantes Paris Saint-Germain Flensburg-Handewitt THW Kiel Rhein-Neckar Löwen MOL-Pick Szeged Telekom Veszprém Vardar PGE Vive Kielce Wisła Płock Celje Barcelona Lassa IFK Kristianstad Groups C/D Skjern Håndbold Montpellier Handball Metalurg Skopje Elverum Håndball Dinamo București Chekhovskiye Medvedi RK Gorenje Velenje CB Ademar León Kadetten Schaffhausen Beşiktaş Motor ZaporizhzhiaQualifierQualification tournament Alpla HC Hard Riihimäki Cocks Sporting CP Tatran Prešov
Round and draw dates The qualification draw was held in Vienna, Austria and the group stage draw in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
PhaseDraw dateQualification tournaments29 June 2017Group stage30 June 2017Knockout stageFinal Four(Cologne)2 May 2018
Qualification stage The four teams played a semifinal and final to determine the last participant. Matches were played on 2 and 3 September 2017.
Tatran Prešov hosted the tournament.
Bracket
Semifinals
Third place game
Final
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 30 June 2017 at 21:00 in the Ljubljana castle. 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). The only restriction is 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 (Kiel) were drawn with one of the other two.
In each group, teams played against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches.
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 quarterfinals, and the five teams ranked 2nd–6th advanced to the first knockout round. Groups C and D – the top two teams from both groups contest a playoff to determine the last two sides joining the 10 teams from Groups A and B in the first knockout round.
TiebreakersIn 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
Group B
Group C
Group D
Playoffs
Knockout stage
The first-placed team from the preliminary groups A and B advanced to the quarterfinals, while the 2–6th placed teams advanced to the round of 16 alongside the playoff winners.
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Final four
Final
Statistics and awards Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals1 Uwe Gensheimer Paris Saint-Germain922 Markus Olsson Skjern Håndbold883 Andy Schmid Rhein-Neckar Löwen834 Nedim Remili Paris Saint-Germain805 Alex Dujshebaev PGE Vive Kielce79 Eduardo Gurbindo HBC Nantes7 Nicolas Tournat HBC Nantes768 Máté Lékai Telekom Veszprém759 Vuko Borozan Vardar74 Michał Jurecki PGE Vive Kielce Bjarte Myrhol Skjern Håndbold
Awards The all-star team was announced on 25 May 2018.
Goalkeeper: Right wing: Right back: Centre back: Left back: Left wing: Pivot:
Other awards MVP of the Final four: Best Defender: Best Young player: Coach:
References
External links Official website