Facts and figures for the Men s EHF Cup Group Phase

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2 Facts and figures for the Men s EHF Cup Group Phase For the first time in the history of the competition a Group Phase was played in the Men s EHF Cup. 16 teams from 12 countries played 48 matches in four groups. Six teams qualified for the quarter-finals, while HBC Nantes directly made it to the EHF Cup Finals on home ground on 18/19 May, as the French team were among the three best second ranked teams. Four group winners and the two best second ranked teams clinched their berth for the three quarter-final pairings, which will be played 20/21 and 27/28 April. The three aggregate winners of those pairings qualify for the EHF Cup Finals. Here are the most important facts and figures about the Group Phase and the quarterfinalist: The six quarter-finalist come from only three countries Germany is represented by three teams, which all became group winners: SC Magdeburg, Rhein Neckar Löwen and the defending champions of the old EHF Cup format Frisch Auf Göppingen. Denmark is represented by the fourth group winner Team Tvis Holstebro and KIF Kolding. Additionally Branik Maribor from Slovenia qualified for the quarter-finals as best second ranked team. KIF Kolding and Maribor Branik made it all the way, as they are the only teams to arrive in the quarterfinal, which had been part of the competition since first qualification stage. Team Tvis Holstebro started in the second qualification stage, as the three German clubs and Nantes started in the third qualification stage. Points, points, points: SC Magdeburg are the only unbeaten team of the group stage with five victories and one draw against EHF Cup Finals host HBC Nantes. Rhein Neckar Löwen and Frisch Auf Göppingen also took five victories, but each were once beaten in the Group Phase. Swedish side Eskilstuna Guif were the only team which remained with zero points in the end. Only three draws occurred in the 48 matches of the Group Phase, one in the top duel of group D SC Magdeburg vs. HBC Nantes (26:26), two of Danish side Team Tvis Holstebro in group C (Holstebro vs. Maribor 26:26, Elverum vs. Holstebro 28:28). In total 29 times the home finished the matches victorious, 16 times the away teams were the winners. Overall statistics: 29 home victories 3 draws 16 away victories Göppingen, La Rioja, Rhein Neckar Löwen, and Maribor have won all their home matches, Magdeburg won all away matches.

3 Goals, goals, goals Attack: Frisch Auf Göppingen were the best team concerning the attacking performance and were the only participant to reach the mark of 200 goals in six matches (an average of 33,3 goals). Rhein Neckar Löwen had the second best attack by 185 goals, followed by RK Cimos Koper (181) and SC Magdeburg (176). Turkish champions Besiktas Istanbul are on the bottom of this ranking by 129 scored goals. Defence: Former EHF Champions League winner SC Magdeburg had the best defence of all 16 teams, conceding only 135 goals in six matches, an average of 22,5 goals. Second ranked in this department are EHF Cup Finals host HBC Nantes (143 goals), followed by KIF Kolding (145) and Rhein Neckar Löwen (150). Koper are on the bottom by 189 conceded goals. Goal difference: Finally SC Magdeburg was the best team regarding the goal difference by +41, ahead of Rhein Neckar Löwen (+35) and Frisch Auf Göppingen (+25). Besiktas (-35), Eskilstuna (-33) and Motor Zaporozhye (-31) are on the bottom of this ranking. Matches with the biggest number of goals: The spectators of both legs of the encounter Frisch Auf Göppingen vs. Cimos Koper could not complaint to see less goals, as in total 145 goals were scored in both matches. And those encounters clearly lead the ranking in this department. Five of those eight matches with the highest number of goals happened in group A. 75 goals: Cimos Koper vs. Frisch Auf Göppingen 36:39 70 goals: Frisch Auf Göppingen vs. Cimos Koper 38:32 67 goals: Tatran Presov vs. Rhein Neckar Löwen 33:34 64 goals: Tatran Presov vs. Motor Zaporozhye 36:28 63 goals: Maribor Branik vs. Elverum Handball Herrer 34:29 63 goals: Frisch Auf Göppingen vs. Eskilstuna Guif 37:26 63 goals: Naturhouse La Rioja vs. Cimos Koper 35:28 63 goals : Frisch Auf Göppingen vs. Naturhouse La Rioja 32:31 Matches with the lowest number of goals: Only 39 goals were scored in the first round encounter of Stiinta Municipal Bacau vs. HBC Nantes, the only match with less than 40 goals in the Group Phase. 39 goals: Stiinta Municipal Bacau vs. HBC Nantes 18:21 44 goals: Besiktas Istanbul vs. SC Magdeburg 17:27 45 goals: Besiktas Istanbul vs. HBC Nantes 21:24 48 goals: Besiktas Istanbul vs. Stiinta Municipal Bacau 25:23 48 goals: KIF Kolding vs. Rhein Neckar Löwen 25:23 49 goals: Maribor Branik vs. Orlen Wisla Plock 26:23

4 Matches with the biggest difference: Six of 48 matches ended with a difference of more than ten goals with the encounter KIF Kolding vs. Tatran Prešov on top with the huge margin of 20 goals. 20 goals: KIF Kolding vs. Tatran Prešov 37:17 16 goals: Rhein Neckar Löwen Tatran Prešov 36:20 15 goals: SC Magdeburg vs. Besiktas Istanbul 33:18 15 goals: Team Tvis Holstebro vs. Elverum Handball Herrer 33:18 13 goals: Rhein Neckar Löwen vs. Motor Zaporozhye 35:22 10 goals: Besiktas Istanbul vs. SC Magdeburg 17:27 Top scorers after the Group Phase: Andre Lindboe (Elverum Handball Herrer) 76 Patrick Larsen (Team Tvis Holstebro) 68 Sergii Burka (Motor Zaporozhye) 61 Nikola Spelic (Maribor Branik) 61 Kim Andersson (KIF Kolding) 60 Miha Zarabec (Maribor Branik) 58 Simon Razgor (Maribor Branik) 57 Ramazan Döne (Besiktas Istanbul) 55 Radoslav Antl (Tatran Presov) 52 Radu Cristian Ghita (Bacau) 52 Top 12 of spectators: The Danish-German top duel KIF Kolding, played at the Brondby Arena Kobenhavn, was the number 1 regarding spectators, as 4749 fans attended this match. In total, HBC Nantes was the team with the highest number of spectators in their three home matches by an average of 4433 fans at their games, followed by Naturhouse La Rioja (3500 in average). In total 12 matches were attended by 3000 or more spectators. 4749: KIF Kolding vs. Rhein Neckar Löwen 4600: HBC Nantes vs. Besiktas Istanbul 4500: HBC Nantes vs. Bacau 4200: HBC Nantes vs. SC Magdeburg 4000: Naturhouse La Rioja vs. Cimos Koper 3800: Wisla Plock vs. Team Tvis Holstebro 3600: Frisch Auf Göppingen vs. Naturhouse La Rioja 3500: Naturhouse La Rioja vs. Frisch Auf Göppingen 3350: Tatran Prešov vs. Rhein Neckar Löwen 3120: Tatran Prešov vs. Motor Zaporozhye 3100: Orlen Wisla Plock vs.maribor Branik 3000: Naturhouse La Rioja vs. Eskilstuna Guif

5 TOP SCORERS OF THE GROUP PHASE

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7 FRISCH AUF GÖPPINGEN (GER) Coach: Velimir Petković Key players: Michael Haaß, Pavel Horák Top scorer of Group Phase: Žarko Marković 43 goals Qualification to quarter-finals: Group A winners Road to the quarter-finals: The winners of last year s old EHF Cup, have certainly shown their intention to win the first edition of the reformed competition by topping a fiercely contested Group 1 with 10 points. Bouncing back from their early setback against Naturhouse La Rioja, the German side won their four remaining games and claimed their place in the quarter-finals, knocking the Spanish club out of the competition in the process, with a 32:31 win against La Rioja in the final game. Club achievements: EHF Cup: 4 participations winners 2011/12, 2010/11, finalists 2005/06, quarterfinalists 2009/10 Champions Cup: winners 1960 and 1962 German champions: outdoor handball: 1954 and 1957; indoor: 1954, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1970, 1972 Potential opponents: Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN), RK Branik Maribor (SLO), Rhein Neckar Lôwen (GER), KIF Kolding (DEN), SC Magdeburg (GER)

8 RHEIN-NECKAR LÖWEN (GER) Coach: Gudmundur Gudmundsson Key players: Alexander Petersson, Andre Schmid Top scorer of Group Phase: Andre Schmid 32 goals Qualification to quarter-finals: Group B winners Road to the quarter-finals: Löwen joined their fellow German teams as group winners and won with the largest margin in the Group Phase, finishing four points ahead of KIF Kolding in second place. With five wins from six matches, their only loss was away to KIF Kolding in the third round. However they retaliated quickly, winning the return game the following weekend 28:25 and finished the group with further wins against TATRAN Presov and Motor Zaporozhye. Club achievements: EHF Champions League: 4 appearances semi-finalists 2010/11 and 2008/09, quarterfinalists 2009/10, qualification 2011/12 EHF Cup: 2 appearances semi-finalists 2011/12, quarter-finalists 2006/07 Cup Winners Cup: 1 appearance finalists 2007/08 Potential opponents: Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER), Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN), RK Branik Maribor (SLO), SC Magdeburg (GER)

9 TEAM TVIS HOLSTEBRO (DEN) Coach: Klavs Bruun Jørgensen Key players: Mads Christiansen, Patrick Wiesmach Larsen Top scorer of Group Phase: Patrick Wiesmach Larsen 33 goals Qualification to quarter-finals: Group C winners Road to the quarter-finals: Holstebro were the group winners with the lowest points total in the EHF Cup Group Phase, with eight points, edging out Maribor and Wisla Plock in a tight Group C. After a steady but unspectacular first half of the group (one win and two draws), a defeat in the penultimate game left their qualification hopes going to the wire. But a final day victory against Plock and a surprise win for Elverum over Branik gave the Danish side top spot and a place in pot 1. Club achievements: Cup Winners Cup: 1 appearance quarter-finalists 2009/10 EHF Challenge Cup: 1 appearance Round /02 Danish Cup: Winners 2008 Potential opponents: Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER), Rhein Neckar Lôwen (GER), KIF Kolding (DEN), SC Magdeburg (GER)

10 SC MAGDEBURG (GER) Coach: Frank Carstens Key players: Bartosz Jurecki, Stefan Kneer Top scorer of Group Phase: Robert Weber 33 goals Qualification to quarter-finals: Group D winners Road to the quarter-finals: Magdeburg ended up with the highest points total with 11 points, a home draw against HBC Nantes proving to be the only game they did not win. The German club won their opening three games with ease and although the reverse fixtures against Nantes and Bacau were more fiercely contested, their win against Besiktas in the penultimate game made them the first club in the competition to secure their quarter-final place. Club achievements: EHF Champions League: winners 2001/02 EHF Cup: 6 appearances - winners 1998/99, 2000/01, 2006/07, finalists 2004/05 Cup Winners Cup: winners 2001/02, EHF Champions Trophy: winners 1998/99, 2004/05, 2006/07 German Bundesliga: winners 2000/01 German Cup: winners 1995/06 Potential opponents: Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER), Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN), RK Branik Maribor (SLO), Rhein Neckar Lôwen (GER), KIF Kolding (DEN)

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12 KIF KOLDING (DEN) Coach: Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen Key players: Kim Andersson, Bo Spellerberg Top scorer of Group Phase: Bo Spellerberg 28 goals Qualification to quarter-finals: third best second ranked team Road to the quarter-finals: Kolding certainly had a group of two halves as they stumbled into the quarter-finals. After winning their opening three games, all looked well for the Danish club, but three losses, including a surprise defeat at home to Zaporozhye, put them in danger of making an early exit from the competition. With HBC Nantes direct qualification to the EHF Cup Finals, Kolding were forced to wait and see if they would qualify as the seventh best team overall. Naturhouse La Rioja s narrow defeat in Göppingen gave Kolding their place in the draw, where they will face either a German club or fellow Danish side Holstebro. Club achievements: EHF Champions League: 10 appearances 2001/02: semi-finalists, 2002/03 quarterfinalists, six times Last 16 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011) EHF Cup: 1 appearance Last /96 Cup Winners Cup: 3 appearances semi-finalists 1999/00, quarter-finalists 2007/08, Last /09 Danish league: 12 times winners Danish Cup: 7 times winners Potential opponents: Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER), Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN), SC Magdeburg (GER)

13 RK BRANIK MARIBOR (SLO) Coach: Marko Šibila Key players: Simon Razgor, Nikola Špelić Top scorer of Group Phase: Nikola Špelić 37 goals Qualification to quarter-finals: best second ranked team Road to the quarter-finals: Branik looked strong from the beginning with an away draw against Holstebro and two home victories. Two losses in the return fixtures prevented them from holding on to their group lead and they will be forced to face a German side in the quarter-finals. The Slovenian side finished with seven points from their six games, one behind Holstebro and one ahead of Wisla Plock in third. Club achievements: Cup Winners Cup: 1 appearance quarter-finalists 2010/11 Challenge Cup: 1 appearance quarter-finalists 2011/12 Slovenian Cup: finalists 2010 Potential opponents: Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER), Rhein Neckar Lôwen (GER), SC Magdeburg (GER)

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