2016–17 EHF Champions League

The 2016–17 EHF Champions League was the 57th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 24th edition under the current EHF Champions League format. Vardar were crowned champions for the first time, defeating Paris Saint-Germain Handball.^[1]

EHF Champions League

2016–17
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Location	Lanxess Arena (FINAL4)
Dates	3 September 2016–4 June 2017
Teams	28 (group stage) 34 (Qualification)
Website	ehfcl.com
Final positions
Champions	Vardar
Runner-up	Paris Saint-Germain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	200
Goals scored	11085 (55.43 per match)
Attendance	845,087 (4,225 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Uwe Gensheimer (115 goals)
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

Competition format

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 with 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, continued in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title.

Team allocation

Main article: EHF coefficient rank

26 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.^[2]

Groups A/B
Meshkov Brest (1st)	Zagreb (1st)	Bjerringbro-Silkeborg (1st)	Paris Saint-Germain (1st)
Flensburg-Handewitt (2nd)	THW Kiel (3rd)	Rhein-Neckar Löwen (1st)	MOL-Pick Szeged (2nd)
Telekom Veszprém (1st)	Vardar (1st)	Vive Tauron KielceTH (1st)	Wisła Płock (2nd)
Celje (1st)	FC Barcelona Lassa (1st)	IFK Kristianstad (1st)	Kadetten Schaffhausen (1st)
Groups C/D
Team Tvis Holstebro (2nd)	Montpellier (4th)	HBC Nantes (3rd)	Metalurg Skopje (2nd)
Elverum Håndball (1st)	Dinamo București (1st)	Chekhovskiye Medvedi (1st)	Logroño (2nd)
Beşiktaş (1st)	Motor Zaporizhzhia (1st)	Qualifier Group 1	Qualifier Group 2
Qualification tournaments
Bregenz Handball	Achilles Bocholt	Riihimäki Cocks	Maccabi Tel Aviv
Red Boys Differdange	ABC/UMinho (1st)	Tatran Prešov	RK Gorenje

• ^{TH = Title holders}

Round and draw dates

The qualification and group stage draw was held in Glostrup, Denmark.^[3]

Phase	Draw date
Qualification tournaments	29 June 2016
Group stage	1 July 2016
Knockout stage
Final Four (Cologne)	2 May 2017

Qualification stage

Main article: 2016–17 EHF Champions League qualifying

The draw was held on 29 June 2016 at 13:00 in Vienna, Austria. The eight teams were split in two groups and played a semifinal and final to determine the last participants. Matches were played on 3 and 4 September 2016.^[4]

Qualification tournament 1

	Semifinals				Final
	3 September
	RK Gorenje	28
					4 September
	Riihimäki Cocks	25
					RK Gorenje	21
	3 September
					Tatran Prešov	23
	Tatran Prešov	38
	Red Boys Differdange	32
					Third place
					4 September
					Riihimäki Cocks	30
					Red Boys Differdange	21

Qualification tournament 2

	Semifinals				Final
	3 September
	ABC/UMinho	34
					4 September
	Maccabi Tel Aviv	27
					ABC/UMinho	33
	3 September
					Bregenz Handball	32
	Bregenz Handball	39
	Achilles Bocholt	31
					Third place
					4 September
					Maccabi Tel Aviv	33
					Achilles Bocholt	30

Group stage

Kiel

RN Löwen

Flensburg

Barcelona

Logroño

PSG

Montpellier

Nantes

Veszprém

Szeged

Silkeborg

Holstebro

Celje

Kielce

Płock

Vardar

Metalurg

Kristianstad

Brest

Kadetten

Dinamo

Zagreb

ABC

Chekhov

Motor

Tatran

Elverum

Beşiktaş

Location of teams of the 2016–17 EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B; Green: Group C; Yellow: Group D.

Main article: 2016–17 EHF Champions League group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 1 July 2016 at 13:00 in the Vienna city centre. 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) was drawn with one of the other two.^[5]

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 knockout stage was 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 contested a playoff to determine the last two sides joining the 10 teams from Groups A and B in the first knockout round.

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams were 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 scored the same number of points, the ranking was determined as follows (article 4.3.1, section II of regulations):[6] 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 was determined, the above criteria were consecutively followed until the ranking of all teams was determined. If no ranking was determined, a decision was to be obtained by EHF through drawing of lots. During the group stage, only criteria 4–5 applied to determine the provisional ranking of teams.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAR	PAR	VES	FLE	KIE	BJE	PLO	SCH
1	Barcelona Lassa	14	12	1	1	413	354	+59	25	Quarterfinals		—	35–32	26–23	26–23	26–25	34–19	36–28	38–25
2	Paris Saint-Germain	14	12	0	2	451	383	+68	24	First knockout round		33–26	—	28–24	27–22	42–24	32–27	33–30	34–26
3	Telekom Veszprém	14	8	2	4	381	365	+16	18			22–25	28–29	—	34–28	21–19	30–29	31–25	32–28
4	Flensburg-Handewitt	14	7	1	6	382	366	+16	15			27–28	33–34	24–24	—	25–26	26–24	22–20	31–26
5	THW Kiel	14	5	2	7	353	376	−23	12			27–27	28–27	25–27	22–30	—	21–24	24–24	32–29
6	Bjerringbro-Silkeborg	14	4	0	10	364	396	−32	8[a]			23–27	30–36	24–29	19–25	25–28	—	33–24	37–32
7	Wisła Płock	14	3	2	9	367	401	−34	8[a]			23–28	25–29	28–28	30–37	24–22	28–25	—	33–26
8	Kadetten Schaffhausen	14	1	0	13	370	440	−70	2			24–31	25–35	27–28	26–29	25–30	24–25	27–25	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. Bjerringbro-Silkeborg 58–52 Wisła Płock

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VAR	KIE	SZE	RNL	BRE	ZAG	CEL	KRI
1	Vardar	14	10	0	4	412	378	+34	20	Quarterfinals		—	40–34	30–27	26–29	31–27	25–20	35–30	32–29
2	Vive Tauron Kielce	14	9	0	5	415	390	+25	18	First knockout round		27–24	—	28–24	26–34	35–27	29–25	31–23	38–28
3	MOL-Pick Szeged	14	8	1	5	376	350	+26	17[a]			21–23	27–29	—	28–28	24–22	26–21	27–22	33–28
4	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	14	8	1	5	392	396	−4	17[a]			27–33	28–25	24–30	—	25–24	25–24	31–30	30–29
5	Meshkov Brest	14	5	4	5	383	385	−2	14			30–26	24–29	25–23	30–28	—	21–21	29–29	32–27
6	Zagreb	14	4	1	9	332	356	−24	9[b]			28–27	23–26	24–26	25–21	22–27	—	23–21	26–23
7	Celje	14	3	3	8	399	424	−25	9[b]			26–32	34–33	25–31	37–31	36–36	30–28	—	27–28
8	IFK Kristianstad	14	3	2	9	381	411	−30	8			23–28	29–25	21–29	29–31	29–29	29–22	29–29	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. MOL-Pick Szeged 58–52 Rhein-Neckar Löwen
2. Zagreb 51–51 Celje, Zagreb advanced on away goals.

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MON	LOG	MET	PRE	ELV	MED
1	Montpellier	10	8	0	2	302	252	+50	16	Playoffs		—	37–27	28–18	28–23	31–24	26–22
2	Logroño	10	5	1	4	294	286	+8	11			31–30	—	31–25	33–27	28–21	34–37
3	Metalurg Skopje	10	5	0	5	240	251	−11	10			24–30	24–23	—	26–20	18–17	31–24
4	Tatran Prešov	10	4	1	5	259	271	−12	9			24–28	30–27	27–22	—	25–27	30–28
5	Elverum Håndball	10	3	2	5	257	274	−17	8			32–31	27–32	26–31	24–24	—	28–28
6	Chekhovskiye Medvedi	10	2	2	6	273	291	−18	6			27–33	28–28	25–21	28–29	26–31	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		NAN	ZAP	BES	BUC	HOL	BRA
1	HBC Nantes	10	8	1	1	312	270	+42	17	Playoffs		—	32–34	33–19	26–24	31–26	35–33
2	Motor Zaporizhzhia	10	7	1	2	308	272	+36	15			26–26	—	34–28	35–27	34–28	27–23
3	Beşiktaş	10	5	1	4	275	289	−14	11			28–33	23–22	—	29–27	36–27	33–31
4	Dinamo București	10	3	2	5	294	294	0	8			26–27	35–31	26–26	—	30–25	35–29
5	Team Tvis Holstebro	10	2	1	7	281	314	−33	5			25–35	28–30	29–25	32–32	—	34–29
6	ABC/UMinho	10	2	0	8	289	320	−31	4			29–34	22–35	27–28	34–32	32–27	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: See Tiebreakers

Playoffs

The top two teams from Groups C and D contest a playoff to determine the two sides advancing to the knockout phase. The winners of each group will face the runners-up of the other group in a two-legged tie. The first leg will be played on 1–5 March 2017 and the second leg on 7–12 March 2017.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Logroño	56–68	HBC Nantes	25–31	31–37
Motor Zaporizhzhia	63–65	Montpellier	34–36	29–29

Knockout stage

Main article: 2016–17 EHF Champions League 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

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
HBC Nantes	53–61	Paris Saint-Germain	26–26	27–35
Montpellier	61–54	Vive Tauron Kielce	33–28	28–26
Zagreb	41–52	Telekom Veszprém	22–23	19–29
Bjerringbro-Silkeborg	48–59	MOL-Pick Szeged	24–26	24–33
Meshkov Brest	51–54	Flensburg-Handewitt	25–26	26–28
THW Kiel	50–49	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	24–25	26–24

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
THW Kiel	46–49	Barcelona Lassa	28–26	18–23
Flensburg-Handewitt	51–61	Vardar	24–26	27–35
MOL-Pick Szeged	57–60	Paris Saint-Germain	27–30	30–30
Telekom Veszprém	56–48	Montpellier	26–23	30–25

Final four

	Semifinals				Final
	3 June
	Telekom Veszprém	26
					4 June
	Paris Saint-Germain	27
					Paris Saint-Germain	23
	3 June
					Vardar	24
	Vardar	26
	Barcelona Lassa	25
					Third place
					4 June
					Telekom Veszprém	34
					Barcelona Lassa	30

Final

4 June 2017 18:00	Paris Saint-Germain	23–24	Vardar	Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,750 Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	Karabatić 5	(12–11)	Dibirov 6
	2× 4×	Report	2× 4×

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds.^[7]

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Uwe Gensheimer	Paris Saint-Germain	115
2	Mikkel Hansen	Paris Saint-Germain	99
3	Momir Ilić	Telekom Veszprém	89
4	Zsolt Balogh	MOL-Pick Szeged	88
	Jure Dolenec	Montpellier
6	Kiril Lazarov	Barcelona Lassa	85
7	Gábor Császár	Kadetten Schaffhausen	84
8	Alex Dujshebaev	Vardar	83
9	Nedim Remili	Paris Saint-Germain	81
	Rastko Stojković	Meshkov Brest

Awards

The All-star team of the Champions League 2016/17:[8] Position Player Goalkeeper Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas (Barcelona Lassa) Right wing Víctor Tomás (Barcelona Lassa) Right back Alex Dujshebaev (RK Vardar) Centre back Nikola Karabatić (Paris Saint-Germain) Left back Mikkel Hansen (Paris Saint-Germain) Left wing Uwe Gensheimer (Paris Saint-Germain) Pivot Ludovic Fabregas (Montpellier Handball) Final four MVP Arpad Sterbik (RK Vardar) Best defender Luka Karabatić (Paris Saint-Germain) Best young player Nedim Remili (Paris Saint-Germain) Best coach Raúl González (RK Vardar)

de Vargas Gensheimer Fabregas Tomás Hansen Karabatić Dujshebaev Best Defender : Luka Karabatić Best Coach: Raúl González

See also

• 2016–17 EHF Cup
• 2016–17 EHF Challenge Cup
• 2016–17 Women's EHF Champions League