2011–12 EHF Women's Champions League

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.^[1]

2011–12 EHF Women's Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	2 September 2011–13 May 2012
Teams	20 (qualification stage) 16 (group stage) 8 (Main round) 4 (knockout stage)
Final positions
Champions	Budućnost Podgorica (1st title)
Runners-up	Győri Audi ETO KC
Tournament statistics
Matches played	76
Goals scored	3,968 (52.21 per match)
Attendance	182,790 (2,405 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Anita Görbicz (133 goals)
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

Budućnost Podgorica won the title for the first time by defeating Győri Audi ETO KC in the big final.^[2]

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.^[3]

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 Navarra
Qualification Tournament 2
Randers HK	Viborg HK[nb 1]	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 Sävehof
Qualification 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.^[4]

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	Qualification Tournament 1	27 June 2011	2–4 September 2011
	Qualification Tournament 2		17–18 September 2011
Group stage	Matchday 1	28 June 2011	1–2 October 2011
	Matchday 2		8–9 October 2011
	Matchday 3		15–16 October 2011
	Matchday 4		29–30 October 2011
	Matchday 5		5–6 November 2011
	Matchday 6		12–13 November 2011
Main round	Matchday 1	15 November 2011	4–5 February 2012
	Matchday 2		11–12 February 2012
	Matchday 3		18–19 February 2012
	Matchday 4		25–26 February 2012
	Matchday 5		3–4 March 2012
	Matchday 6		10–11 March 2012
Knockout phase	Semifinals	—	31 March–1 April 2012	7–8 April 2012
	Finals	10 April 2012	5–6 May 2012	12–13 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.^[5]

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.^[6] The four losing teams entered the 2011–12 EHF Cup Winners' Cup second round.^[4]

Seedings

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 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.^[7]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
MizuWaAi Dalfsen	3	3	0	0	103	74	+29	6
CDE Gil Eanes	3	1	0	2	87	88	−1	2
LC Brühl Handball	3	1	0	2	83	97	−14	2
AC Ormi-Loux Patras	3	1	0	2	76	90	−14	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

2 September 2011 18:00	AC Ormi-Loux Patras	27 – 26	LC Brühl Handball	PEAK Olympionikis D.Tofalos hall, Proastio, Patras Attendance: 100 Referees: Baranowski, Lemanowicz (POL)
	Penev 10	(10–12)	Mustafoska 7
	3× 3×	Report	3× 8× 1×

---

2 September 2011 20:00	MizuWaAi Dalfsen	31 – 25	CDE Gil Eanes	PEAK Olympionikis D.Tofalos hall, Proastio, Patras Attendance: 100 Referees: Brkic, Jusufhodzic (AUT)
	Malestein 7	(19–9)	Lopes 7
	3× 2×	Report	3× 4×

---

3 September 2011 18:00	LC Brühl Handball	25 – 40	MizuWaAi Dalfsen	PEAK Olympionikis D.Tofalos hall, Proastio, Patras Attendance: 100 Referees: Brkic, Jusufhodzic (AUT)
	Mustafoska 6	(11–19)	Van Dort 7
	3× 7×	Report	3× 3×

---

3 September 2011 20:00	CDE Gil Eanes	32 – 25	AC Ormi-Loux Patras	PEAK Olympionikis D.Tofalos hall, Proastio, Patras Attendance: 100 Referees: Baranowski, Lemanowicz (POL)
	Seabra 9	(14–13)	Karagiorga, Niparaviciene 5
	2× 3×	Report	3× 3×

---

4 September 2011 18:00	LC Brühl Handball	32 – 30	CDE Gil Eanes	PEAK Olympionikis D.Tofalos hall, Proastio, Patras Attendance: 100 Referees: Baranowski, Lemanowicz (POL)
	Bosshart 7	(16–13)	Pina 6
	3× 5×	Report	3× 2× 1×

---

4 September 2011 20:00	AC Ormi-Loux Patras	24 – 32	MizuWaAi Dalfsen	PEAK Olympionikis D.Tofalos hall, Proastio, Patras Attendance: 100 Referees: Brkic, Jusufhodzic (AUT)
	Strataki, Vafeiadou 6	(11–14)	Van Dort 7
	3× 4×	Report	2× 6×

Group B

The tournament was organised by the Slovakian side HK IUVENTA Michalovce.^[7]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
RK Zaječar	3	3	0	0	101	70	+31	6
HC Veselí nad Moravou	3	2	0	1	77	78	−1	4
HK IUVENTA Michalovce	3	1	0	2	85	94	−9	2
Üsküdar Bld. SK	3	0	0	3	81	102	−21	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

2 September 2011 15:30	RK Zaječar	31 – 17	HC Veselí nad Moravou	Chemkostav Arena, Michalovce Attendance: 400 Referees: Kaveshnikov, Plotnikov (RUS)
	Erić 7	(14–9)	Flekova 4
	1× 5×	Report	2× 4×

---

2 September 2011 18:00	Üsküdar Bld. SK	28 – 38	HK IUVENTA Michalovce	Chemkostav Arena, Michalovce Attendance: 900 Referees: Stark, Stefan (ROU)
	Yilmaz 8	(12–22)	Tobiasova 8
	3× 5×	Report	3× 7×

---

3 September 2011 15:30	HC Veselí nad Moravou	30 – 26	Üsküdar Bld. SK	Chemkostav Arena, Michalovce Attendance: 250 Referees: Stark, Stefan (ROU)
	Sukennikova 9	(13–13)	Sahin 7
	3× 6×	Report	3× 3×

---

3 September 2011 18:00	HK IUVENTA Michalovce	26 – 36	RK Zaječar	Chemkostav Arena, Michalovce Attendance: 1,200 Referees: Kaveshnikov, Plotnikov (RUS)
	Pollakova 9	(13–17)	Pop Lazić 7
	2× 5× 1×	Report	3× 5×

---

4 September 2011 15:30	Üsküdar Bld. SK	27 – 34	RK Zaječar	Chemkostav Arena, Michalovce Attendance: 500 Referees: Kaveshnikov, Plotnikov (RUS)
	Ilkova 5	(12–15)	Erić 9
	3× 4×	Report	2× 3×

---

4 September 2011 18:00	HK IUVENTA Michalovce	21 – 30	HC Veselí nad Moravou	Chemkostav Arena, Michalovce Attendance: 1,300 Referees: Stark, Stefan (ROU)
	Geric 5	(11–16)	Sukennikova 7
	3× 3×	Report	3× 6×

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.^[6] However, as stated in the EHF regulations, clubs from the same federation enjoyed protection and could not be selected into the same group.^[8] 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.^[4]

Seedings

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 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.^[9]

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	17 September 2011
	U Cluj-Napoca	33
					18 September 2011
	RK Zaječar	32
					U Cluj-Napoca	21
	17 September 2011
					Viborg HK	37
	Rostov-Don	17
	Viborg HK	24
					Third place
					18 September 2011
					RK Zaječar	27
					Rostov-Don	15

Semifinals

17 September 2011 14:30	Rostov-Don	17 – 24	Viborg HK	Grenaa Idrætscenter, Grenaa Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	three players 3	(11–10)	Fisker, Gulldén 6
	3× 4×	Report	2×

---

17 September 2011 17:00	U Jolidon Cluj-Napoca	33 – 32	RK Zaječar	Grenaa Idrætscenter, Grenaa Attendance: 500 Referees: Lorente, Serradilla (ESP)
	Dinca 8	(18–16)	Erić 8
	2× 3×	Report	2× 6×

Third place match

18 September 2011 14:30	RK Zaječar	27 – 15	Rostov-Don	Grenaa Idrætscenter, Grenaa Attendance: 500 Referees: Lorente, Serradilla (ESP)
	Vučković 8	(14–7)	Sen 5
	3× 5×	Report	3× 5×

Final

18 September 2011 16:50	U Jolidon Cluj-Napoca	21 – 37	Viborg HK	Grenaa Idrætscenter, Grenaa Attendance: 1,100 Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Ani Senocico 8	(14–17)	Fisker 8
	3×	Report	2× 2×

Group 2

The tournament was organised by the Macedonian club ŽRK Metalurg.^[9]

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	17 September 2011
	Byåsen HE	27
					18 September 2011
	HC Veselí nad Moravou	22
					Byåsen HE	20
	17 September 2011
					ŽRK Metalurg	17
	BM Elda Prestigio	22
	ŽRK Metalurg	27
					Third place
					18 September 2011
					HC Veselí nad Moravou	20
					BM Elda Prestigio	21

Semifinals

17 September 2011 18:00	BM Elda Prestigio	22 – 27	ŽRK Metalurg	Sportska Sala, Skopje Attendance: 600 Referees: Bounouara, Sami (FRA)
	Faria Servin 9	(9–14)	Bajramoska 7
	3× 3×	Report	3× 8×

---

17 September 2011 20:30	Byåsen HE	27 – 22	HC Veselí nad Moravou	Sportska Sala, Skopje Attendance: 300 Referees: Brehmer, Skowronek (POL)
	Alstad 9	(13–14)	Sukennikova 6
	2× 2×	Report	3× 7×

Third place match

18 September 2011 17:30	HC Veselí nad Moravou	20 – 21	BM Elda Prestigio	Sportska Sala, Skopje Attendance: 100 Referees: Bounouara, Sami (FRA)
	Rajnohova 5	(12–8)	Said Mohamed 6
	3× 5× 2×	Report	3× 3×

Final

18 September 2011 20:00	Byåsen HE	20 – 17	ŽRK Metalurg	Sportska Sala, Skopje Attendance: 500 Referees: Brehmer, Skowronek (POL)
	Tomac 8	(12–8)	Gjorgjijevska 5
	3× 4× 1×	Report	3× 5×

Group 3

The tournament was organised by the Polish club Zagłębie Lubin.^[9]

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	17 September 2011
	DVSC	35
					18 September 2011
	CDE Gil Eanes	22
					DVSC	26
	17 September 2011
					Buxtehuder SV	30
	Buxtehuder SV	27
	Zagłębie Lubin	26
					Third place
					18 September 2011
					CDE Gil Eanes	25
					Zagłębie Lubin	40

Semifinals

17 September 2011 17:00	Buxtehuder SV	27 – 26	MKS Zagłębie Lubin	Hala Widowiskowo, Głogów Attendance: 700 Referees: Crnojevic, Radic (CRO)
	Lamein 9	(11–13)	Byzdra 8
	2× 2×	Report	2× 2×

---

17 September 2011 19:30	DVSC-Fórum Debrecen	35 – 22	CDE Gil Eanes	Hala Widowiskowo, Głogów Attendance: 200 Referees: Guseva, Vartanyan (RUS)
	Csáki 6	(16–9)	Piña, Seabra 5
	3× 1×	Report	1×

Third place match

18 September 2011 12:30	CDE Gil Eanes	25 – 40	MKS Zagłębie Lubin	Hala Widowiskowo, Głogów Attendance: 200 Referees: Crnojevic, Radic (CRO)
	three players 5	(7–26)	Migala 7
	2×	Report	3× 1×

Final

18 September 2011 14:30	DVSC-Fórum Debrecen	26 – 30	Buxtehuder SV	Hala Widowiskowo, Głogów Attendance: 200 Referees: Guseva, Vartanyan (RUS)
	Sopronyi 9	(13–16)	Klein 6
	3× 2×	Report	2× 1×

Group 4

The tournament was organised by the Swedish club IK Sävehof.^[9]

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	17 September 2011
	Randers HK	34
					18 September 2011
	MizuWaAi Dalfsen	19
					Randers HK	26
	17 September 2011
					IK Sävehof	21
	Tertnes HE	25
	IK Sävehof	34
					Third place
					18 September 2011
					MizuWaAi Dalfsen	31
					Tertnes HE	32

Semifinals

17 September 2011 14:00	Randers HK	34 – 19	MizuWaAi Dalfsen	Partillebohallen, Partille Attendance: 100 Referees: Leandersson, Lindroos (FIN)
	Johansen 6	(18–9)	Schoenaker 4
	2× 4×	Report	2× 5×

---

17 September 2011 16:30	Tertnes HE	25 – 34	IK Sävehof	Partillebohallen, Partille Attendance: 500 Referees: Rakytina, Tkachuk (UKR)
	Reinkind 7	(12–13)	Alm 10
	3× 5×	Report	3× 2×

Third place match

18 September 2011 12:00	MizuWaAi Dalfsen	31 – 32	Tertnes HE	Partillebohallen, Partille Attendance: 50 Referees: Rakytina, Tkachuk (UKR)
	Malestein 8	(19–18)	Gosse 10
	3× 7× 1×	Report	3× 4×

Final

18 September 2011 14:30	Randers HK	26 – 21	IK Sävehof	Partillebohallen, Partille Attendance: 500 Referees: Leandersson, Lindroos (FIN)
	Dalby 7	(13–10)	Alm 7
	3× 3×	Report	3× 2×

Group matches

Main article: 2011–12 EHF Women's Champions League group stage and main round § Group matches

The draw of the group matches was held on June 28 at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in Vienna.^[5] 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.^[10][11]

Seedings

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 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

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		ZRK	FCM	BIL	THC
Budućnost Podgorica	6	5	0	1	172	149	+23	10		—	28–25	28–18	35–25
FC Midtjylland Håndbold	6	4	0	2	146	127	+19	8		34–20	—	18–21	23–20
Byåsen HE	6	2	1	3	131	149	−18	5		24–34	17–19	—	23–22
Thüringer HC	6	0	1	5	139	163	−24	1		23–27	21–27	28–28	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		LHK	RKK	VHK	RKP
Larvik HK	6	4	0	2	161	138	+23	8		—	31–19	19–20	37–25
Krim Ljubljana	6	2	2	2	143	151	−8	6		19–22	—	31–25	22–22
Viborg HK	6	2	2	2	161	161	0	6		34–28	28–28	—	27–27
RK Podravka Koprivnica	6	1	2	3	146	161	−15	4		21–24	23–24	28–27	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group C

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		GKC	MHB	RHK	HYÖ
Győri Audi ETO KC	6	4	0	2	183	154	+29	8		—	28–23	35–20	37–29
Metz Handball	6	3	0	3	154	156	−2	6		24–33	—	25–20	30–21
Randers HK	6	3	0	3	163	170	−7	6		29–23	26–27	—	39–32
Hypo Niederösterreich	6	2	0	4	167	187	−20	4		29–27	28–25	28–29	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group D

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		CSV	SDI	HCV	BSV
CS Oltchim Rm. Vâlcea	6	5	0	1	168	146	+22	10		—	30–22	31–26	28–22
Itxako Reyno de Navarra	6	4	0	2	163	158	+5	8		22–25	—	28–26	32–21
Dinamo Volgograd	6	3	0	3	170	160	+10	6		34–30	25–27	—	29–23
Buxtehuder SV	6	0	0	6	138	175	−37	0		20–24	31–32	21–30	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Main round

Main article: 2011–12 EHF Women's Champions League group stage and main round § 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.^[12] Teams from the same groups at the group stage were not able to be drawn together.^[13]

Seedings

Pot 1	Pot 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

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		GKC	LHK	SDI	FCM
Győri Audi ETO KC	6	4	1	1	173	156	+17	9		—	31–22	25–25	35–27
Larvik HK	6	2	2	2	142	147	−5	6		32–25	—	23–23	20–27
Itxako Reyno de Navarra	6	1	3	2	139	139	0	5		26–28	19–19	—	24–21
FC Midtjylland Håndbold	6	2	0	4	144	156	−12	4		24–29	22–26	23–22	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 2

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		ZRK	CSV	RKK	MHB
Budućnost Podgorica	6	6	0	0	182	149	+33	12		—	31–25	29–21	32–26
CS Oltchim Rm. Vâlcea	6	3	1	2	166	163	+3	7		24–34	—	30–26	30–21
Krim Ljubljana	6	2	0	4	147	161	−14	4		26–27	25–31	—	28–24
Metz Handball	6	0	1	5	144	166	−22	1		27–29	26–26	20–21	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Knockout stage

Main article: 2011–12 EHF Women's Champions League knockout stage

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CS Oltchim Rm. Vâlcea	58–62	Győri Audi ETO KC	35–31	23–31
Larvik HK	33–45	Budućnost Podgorica	20–22	13–23

Final

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Győri Audi ETO KC	54–54	Budućnost Podgorica	29–27	25–27

Top scorers

Final statistics^[14]

Rank	Name	Team	Goals
1	Anita Görbicz	Győri Audi ETO KC	133
2	Bojana Popović	Budućnost Podgorica	106
3	Katarina Bulatović	Budućnost Podgorica	97
4	Alexandrina Cabral	Itxako Reyno de Navarra	78
	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	69
9	Jovanka Radičević	Győri Audi ETO KC	62
	Linn Jørum Sulland	Larvik HK

Notes

1. Viborg HK were guaranteed wild card following the withdrawal of HC Sparta Kryvyi Rih.