The 2013–14 EHF Cup was the 33rd edition of the EHF Cup and the second edition since the merger of the EHF Cup with the EHF Cup Winners' Cup. In the present format, the tournament began in early September with three knockout qualifying rounds, which concluded by late November. The 16 surviving teams were then allocated into four groups of four, where teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The four group winners and four runners-up qualified to the quarter-finals, with each of the quarter-final winners proceeding to the Final 4 tournament played in May 2014.[1] However, because the hosts of the Final 4 tournament, Füchse Berlin, finished the group stage among the group winners, they have clinched the direct ticket to the final weekend and decided that only three quarter-finals were played for the remaining spots in the final tournament as only the top three second-placed teams qualified to the quarter-finals.[2] The final tournament was won by Hungarian side Pick Szeged.

EHF Cup
2013–14
The Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, venue of the Final four tournament
Tournament information
SportHandball
Dates7 September 201318 May 2014
Teams63 (qualification stage)
16 (group stage)
7 (knockout stage)
Final positions
ChampionsHungary Pick Szeged (1st title)
Runner-upFrance Montpellier AHB
Tournament statistics
Matches played58
Goals scored3249 (56.02 per match)
Attendance167,304 (2,885 per match)
Top scorer(s)Slovenia Dragan Gajić (72 goals)

Bids for the Final 4 venue edit

There were a total of seven bids submitted to the EHF for hosting the 2013–14 EHF Cup final four tournament that will take place in May 2014.[1] The list of bidders consists of five clubs participating in the 2013–14 EHF Cup and two external stakeholders.[1] In order to host the final four tournament a venue must fulfill a set of criteria that reflects the nature of a high-profile international club event such as the EHF Cup Finals.[1] The decision who will host the tournament was decided by the EHF and its marketing arm EHF Marketing GmbH.[1]

On 5 December 2013 in Vienna, Austria the EHF President Jean Brihault signed an official contract with Füchse Berlin's manager Bob Henning for organization of the final four tournament, which will take place between 17–18 May 2014.[3] The four games of the finals will be organized in the Max-Schmeling-Halle in the German capital Berlin.[3] The German organizers expect at least 10,000 people for each day of the final weekend.[3]

Final four venue †
Team Venue City Capacity
AEK Athens Olympic Hall Athens, Greece 18,500
Meshkov Brest Minsk Arena Minsk, Belarus 15,000
Montpellier Park&Suites Arena Montpellier, France 9,000
Füchse Berlin Max-Schmeling-Halle Berlin, Germany 8,700
Porsche Arena Stuttgart, Germany 6,500
London GD Copper Box Arena London, United Kingdom 6,000
Coque Arena Luxembourg, Luxembourg 5,400

Overview edit

Team allocation edit

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[4]

  • 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
  • ECL: Transferred from the EHF Champions League
    • QS: Losers from the qualification tournaments
    • WC: Losers from the wildcard matches
Round 3
  TSV Hannover-Burgdorf (5th)   Tatran Prešov (ECL QS)   Alpla HC Hard (ECL QS)   Füchse Berlin (ECL WC)
  Ademar León (4th)   AEK Athens (ECL QS)   HCM Constanța (ECL QS)   Pick Szeged (ECL WC)
  Aarhus (3rd)   Vojvodina (ECL QS)   Elverum (ECL QS)   Montpellier (ECL WC)
Round 2
  Aragón (5th)   Kaustik Volgograd (6th)   Benfica (2nd)   SKA Minsk (2nd)
  Chambéry (4th)   Csurgó (3rd)   Sporting (3rd)   Diomidis Argous (2nd)
  Nantes (5th)   Kadetten Schaffhausen (2nd)   IFK Kristianstad (2nd)   Handball Esch (ECL QS)
  Skjern (4th)   Pfadi Winterthur (3rd)   Lugi HF (3rd)   Beşiktaş (ECL QS)
  Mors-Thy (5th)   Nexe Našice (2nd)   Strumica (3rd)   Borac Banja Luka (ECL QS)
  Maribor Branik (4th)   Poreč (3rd)   Partizan (2nd)   KRAS/Volendam (ECL QS)
  SKIF Krasnodar (3rd)   SMD Bacău (2nd)   Portovik (2nd)
  GK Permskie Medvedi (4th)   Caraș Severin Reșița (3rd)   ØIF Arendal (2nd)
Round 1
  Tatabánya (4th)   Maccabi Tel Aviv (1st)   Handball Käerjeng (2nd)   Põlva Serviti (1st)
  TSV St. Otmar St. Gallen (4th)   Maccabi Rishon LeZion (2nd)   Lovćen (1st)   HC Dobrudja (1st)
  Fyllingen Håndball (3rd)   HC Sporta Hlohovec (2nd)   Haukar (1st)   Prishtina (1st)
  Meshkov Brest (3rd)   Ankaraspor (2nd)   Ronal Jičín (1st)   London GD (1st)
  Bregenz (2nd)   OCI-Lions (2nd)   HC Achilles Bocholt (CW)   Dragūnas Klaipėda (1st)

Qualification stage edit

Round 1 edit

Teams listed first played the first leg at home. Some teams agreed to play both matches in the same venue. Highlighted teams qualified into the second round.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Meshkov Brest   59–43   Maccabi Rishon LeZion 25–19 34–24[A]
HC Sporta Hlohovec   57–52   TSV St. Otmar St. Gallen 29–21 28–31
OCI-Lions   51–66   Haukar 33–36[B] 18–30
Ronal Jičín   72–30   HC Dobrudja 35–15 37–15[C]
Handball Käerjeng   56–57   Dragūnas Klaipėda 30–30 26–27
Tatabánya   65–52   HC Achilles Bocholt 30–22 35–30
London GD   32–82   Ankaraspor 14–44[D] 18–38
Maccabi Tel Aviv   67–64   Lovćen 37–35 30–29[E]
Põlva Serviti   49–62   Fyllingen Håndball 27–30 22–32
Prishtina   50–63   Bregenz 22–28 28–35
Notes
  1. ^
    The second leg match between Meshkov Brest and Maccabi Rishon LeZion was played in Brest, Belarus, with Maccabi Rishon LeZion being the official hosts.[5]
  2. ^
    The first leg match between OCI-Lions and Haukar was played in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland, with OCI-Lions being the official hosts.[6]
  3. ^
    The second leg match between Ronal Jičín and Dobrudja was played in Jičín, Czech Republic, with Dobrudja being the official hosts.[7]
  4. ^
    The first leg match between London GD and Ankaraspor was played in Ankara, Turkey, with London GD being the official hosts.[8]
  5. ^
    The second leg match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Lovćen was played in Ra'anana, Israel, with Lovćen being the official hosts.[9]

Round 2 edit

Teams listed first played the first leg at home. Some teams agreed to play both matches in the same venue. Highlighted teams qualified into the third round.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
IFK Kristianstad   62–47   Handball Esch 32–19 30–28
Csurgói   58–52   Aragón 30–27 28–25
Kaustik Volgograd   57–54   Caraș Severin Reșița 31–26 26–28[F]
Beşiktaş   59–56   Pfadi Winterthur 29–29 30–27
HC Sporta Hlohovec   63–49   Borac Banja Luka 36–23 27–26[G]
Ronal Jičín   42–67   Skjern 21–38 21–29
Permskie Medvedi   51–59   Meshkov Brest 26–30 25–29
Nexe Našice   54–53   Diomidis Argous 26–22 28–31
Lugi HF   51–47   Tatabánya 27–27 24–20
SMD Bacău   65–49   Dragūnas Klaipėda 36–21 29–28
SKIF Krasnodar   47–58   Poreč 25–29 22–29
Benfica   68–41   Haukar 34–19 34-22
Chambéry   66–46   Ankaraspor 34–26 32–20[H]
Kadetten Schaffhausen   66–54   Portovik 33–28 33–26[I]
Mors-Thy   54–45   Fyllingen Håndball 26–18 28–27
SKA Minsk   53–55   ØIF Arendal 27–30[J] 26–25
Sporting   65–50   KRAS/Volendam 30–18 35–32
Maccabi Tel Aviv   49–56   Strumica 26–26 23–30
Partizan   39–50   Nantes 15–22 24–28
Bregenz   49–62   Maribor Branik 26–25 23–37
Notes
  1. ^
    The second leg match between Kaustik Volgograd and Caraș Severin Reșița was played in Volgograd, Russia, with Caraș Severin Reșița being the official hosts.[10]
  2. ^
    The second leg match between Sporta Hlohovec and Borac was played in Hlohovec, Slovakia, with Borac being the official hosts.[11]
  3. ^
    The second leg match between Chambéry Savoie and Ankaraspor was played in Chambéry, France, with Ankaraspor being the official hosts.[12]
  4. ^
    The second leg match between Kadetten Schaffhausen and Portovik was played in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, with Portovik being the official hosts.[13]
  5. ^
    The first leg match between SKA Minsk and ØIF Arendal was played in Arendal, Norway, with SKA Minsk being the official hosts.[14]

Round 3 edit

Before the draw, which took place on 22 October 2013 at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, 32 teams from 20 countries were divided into two pots without the country protection rule, meaning that two teams from the same country could face each other.[15] The first legs were played on 23–24 November and the second legs one week later.[15]

Teams listed first played the first leg at home. Highlighted teams qualified into the group stage.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
ØIF Arendal   47–52   HC Sporta Hlohovec 20–26 27–26
Füchse Berlin   43–40   Meshkov Brest 22–20 21–20
Chambéry   56–55   Alpla HC Hard 31-30 25–25
Mors-Thy   52–59   HCM Constanța 26–27 26–32
Poreč   49–54   Sporting 24–24 25–30
Aarhus   53–59   Strumica 29–26 24–33
Skjern   55–42   Vojvodina 31–24 24–18
Nantes   52–44   Elverum 28–21 24–23
Benfica   49–56   Pick Szeged 24–25 25–31
Beşiktaş   54–65   Csurgói 29–31 25–34
IFK Kristianstad   63–52   SMD Bacău 40–25 23–27
Nexe Našice   62–62 (a)   Ademar León 34–29 28–33
Kadetten Schaffhausen   55–69   TSV Hannover-Burgdorf 28–28 27–41
Tatran Prešov   62–56   Maribor Branik 34–26 28–30
Kaustik Volgograd   55–73   Montpellier 26–38 29–35
AEK Athens   45–49   Lugi HF 22–24 23–25

Group stage edit

Location of teams of the 2013–14 EHF Cup group stage.
  Red: Group A;   Blue: Group B;   Green: Group C;   Yellow: Group D.

Draw and format edit

The draw of the EHF Cup group phase was carried out on 5 December 2013 in Vienna, Austria. The teams were positioned into four pots, with the country protection rule applied: two clubs from the same country may not face each other in the same group.[16]

The group stage features 16 teams, which were allocated four groups of four. In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays are 8–9 February, 15–16 February, 22–23 February, 15–16 March, 22–23 March, and 29–30 March 2014. The top two teams from each group qualified for the quarter-finals, which were scheduled in April 2013.[17]

If Füchse Berlin, as the organiser of the Final 4 tournament, win their group or finish among top three second-ranked teams, they will receive a direct qualification to the Final 4 tournament. If the German side wins their group then the other three group winners and the three best second ranked team will qualify for the quarter-finals. If the Germans finish among the top three second-ranked teams, the quarter-finals will consist of four group winners and two best second-ranked teams. If Füchse Berlin finish as the worst second-ranked team, they will have to play the quarter-final match. Should the German club rank on the third or fourth position in their group, they will be out of the competition, but they will still organize the Final 4 tournament.

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings (in descending order):[18]

  1. number of points in matches of all teams directly involved;
  2. goal difference in matches of all teams directly involved;
  3. greater number of plus goals in matches of all teams directly involved;
  4. goal difference in all matches of the group;
  5. greater number of plus goals in all matches of the group;

If no ranking can be determined, a decision shall be obtained by drawing lots. Lots shall be drawn by the EHF, if possible in the presence of a responsible of each club.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
  Pick Szeged   Tatran Prešov   Lugi HF   IFK Kristianstad
  Montpellier   Skjern   Chambéry   Csurgó
  Füchse Berlin   Constanța   Nantes   HC Sporta Hlohovec
  Hannover   Ademar León   Strumica   Sporting
Key to colours in group tables
Teams that have qualified to the next phase of the competition

Group A edit

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts LHF ADE CSK HAN
  Lugi HF 6 3 1 2 171 169 +2 7 30–30 28–26 32–28
  Ademar León 6 2 2 2 173 164 +9 6 32–27 28–19 30–30
  Csurgó 6 3 0 3 163 160 +3 6 25–22 31–27 36–28
  TSV Hannover-Burgdorf 6 2 1 3 168 182 −14 5 28–32 27–26 27–26
Source: [citation needed]

Group B edit

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts MON SPO SKJ STR
  Montpellier 6 6 0 0 192 147 +45 12 36–31 27–25 41–22
  Sporting 6 4 0 2 195 165 +30 8 27–30 30–28 39–22
  Skjern 6 2 0 4 156 158 −2 4 23–26 25–32 31–20>
  Strumica 6 0 0 6 130 203 −73 0 19–32 24–36 23–24
Source: [citation needed]

Group C edit

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts SZE NAN TAT IFK
  Pick Szeged 6 5 0 1 174 159 +15 10 28–27 37–31 29–18
  Nantes 6 4 0 2 176 154 +22 8 31–23 37–27 25–23
  Tatran Prešov 6 2 0 4 181 198 −17 4 29–31 30–29 37–30
  IFK Kristianstad 6 1 0 5 151 171 −20 2 23–26 23–27 34–27
Source: [citation needed]

Group D edit

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts BER CON CHA HLO
  Füchse Berlin[a] 6 4 2 0 181 164 +17 10 28–26 30–27 34–28
  Constanța 6 3 2 1 173 160 +13 8 31–31 29–25 31–22
  Chambéry 6 2 2 2 162 158 +4 6 25–25 29–29 27–21
  HC Sporta Hlohovec 6 0 0 6 147 181 −34 0 27–33 25–27 24–29
Source: [citation needed]
Notes:
  1. ^ Füchse Berlin finished the group stage among the group winners and has qualified directly to the final four tournament.

Ranking of the second-placed teams edit

The ranking of the second-placed teams is carried out on the basis of the team's results in the group stage. Because the German side Füchse Berlin, the organizers of the Final 4 tournament, finished on top of their group they qualified directly to the final tournament and only the top three second-placed teams qualified to the quarter-finals.

Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
B   Sporting 6 4 0 2 195 165 +30 8
C   Nantes 6 4 0 2 176 154 +22 8
D   Constanța 6 3 2 1 173 160 +13 8
A   Ademar León 6 2 2 2 173 164 +9 6
Source: [citation needed]

Knockout stage edit

Quarter-finals edit

Draw and format edit

Because the hosts of the Final 4 tournament, Füchse Berlin, finished the group stage among the group winners, they have clinched the direct ticket to the final weekend and decided that only three quarter-finals will be played for the remaining spots in the final tournament.[2] The draw of the EHF Cup quarter-finals was carried out on Tuesday 1 April 2014 at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria.[2][19] Six teams were positioned into two pots with the country protection rule not applied: two clubs from the same country could face each other in the quarter-finals.[2] However, teams from the same group cannot face each other in the quarter-finals.[2] The first pot contained the three group winners and the second pot contained the top three second-placed teams.[2]

In the quarter-finals, teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis, with the teams from second pot playing the first leg at home.[19] The first leg matches were played over 19–21 April, and the second leg matches were played over 26–27 April.[2]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Constanța   59–55   Lugi HF 31–21 28–34
Sporting   51–56   Pick Szeged 29–27 22–28
HBC Nantes   49–59   Montpellier 25–26 24–33

Final four edit

The tournament was played at the 8,700 capacity Max-Schmeling-Halle in the German capital Berlin, the home of Füchse Berlin.[3]

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
17 May
 
 
  Constanța32
 
18 May
 
  Montpellier 36
 
  Montpellier28
 
17 May
 
  Pick Szeged29
 
  Füchse Berlin22
 
 
  Pick Szeged24
 
Third place
 
 
18 May
 
 
  Constanța28
 
 
  Füchse Berlin29

Top goalscorers edit

Rank Name Team Goals
1   Dragan Gajić   Montpellier 72
2   Alexandru Șimicu   Constanța 66
3   Pedro Portela   Sporting 60
4   Zsolt Balogh   Pick Szeged 57
5   Alexandru Csepreghi   Constanța 52
6   Jonas Erik Larholm   Pick Szeged 49
7   Pedro Solha   Sporting 48
  Laurențiu Toma   Constanța 48
9   Jure Dolenec   Montpellier 45
10   Jorge Maqueda-Peño   Nantes 43

See also edit

References edit

General
  • "2013–14 EHF Cup statistics and results". EHF official website. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
Specific
  1. ^ a b c d e "Seven organisers bid for the EHF Cup Finals". European Handball Federation official website. 13 September 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Pots for the EHF Cup Quarter-final draw confirmed". EHF official website. 30 March 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d "Official contract for EHF Cup Finals signed". European Handball Federation official website. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  4. ^ "2013/14 list of participants". europeancup.eurohandball.com. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  5. ^ "Maccabi Rishon Lezion vs Meshkov Brest". European Handball Federation official website. 8 September 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  6. ^ "OCI-Lions vs Haukar". European Handball Federation official website. 13 September 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  7. ^ "Dobrudja vs Ronal Jicin". European Handball Federation official website. 8 September 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  8. ^ "London GD vs Ankaraspor". European Handball Federation official website. 14 September 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  9. ^ "Lovcen vs Maccabi Tel Aviv". European Handball Federation official website. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  10. ^ "Caras Severin vs Kaustik". European Handball Federation official website. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  11. ^ "Sporta Hlohovec vs Borac". European Handball Federation official website. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  12. ^ "Ankaraspor vs Chambery". European Handball Federation official website. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  13. ^ "Portovik vs Kadetten Schaffhausen". European Handball Federation official website. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  14. ^ "SKA Minsk vs OIF Arendal". European Handball Federation official website. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  15. ^ a b "Seeding for the EHF Cup Qualification Round 3 draw". European Handball Federation official website. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  16. ^ "Statements from the EHF Cup Group Phase draw". European Handball Federation official website. 5 December 2013. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
  17. ^ "Foxes go hunting in Romania, France and Slovakia after group phase draw". European Handball Federation official website. 5 December 2013. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013.
  18. ^ "Regulations" (PDF). European Handball Federation official website. p. 21. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  19. ^ a b "Montpellier face Nantes in all-French quarter-final". EHF official website. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.