2017–18 EHF Cup

The 2017–18 EHF Cup was the 37th edition of the EHF Cup, the second most important European handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF), and the sixth edition since the merger with the EHF Cup Winners' Cup.

EHF Cup

2017–18
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	2 September 2017–20 May 2018
Host(s)	SC Magdeburg (final four)
Venue(s)	GETEC Arena (final four)
Teams	60+3 (qualification stage) 16 (group stage)
Final positions
Champions	Füchse Berlin
Runner-up	Saint-Raphaël
Tournament statistics
MVP	Marko Bezjak
Top scorer(s)	Hans Lindberg (82 goals)
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Team allocation

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:^[1]

• TH: Title holders
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
• CW: Domestic cup winners
• CL QS: Losers from the Champions League qualification stage.

Third qualifying round
Frisch Auf Göppingen (TH)	CYEB Budakalász (4th)	KS Azoty-Puławy (3rd)	RD Koper 2013 (4th)
Füchse Berlin (4th)	BM Logroño La Rioja (3rd)	Bjerringbro-Silkeborg (3rd)	Lugi HF (2nd)
SC Magdeburg (5th)	Fraikin Granollers (4th)	Ribe-Esbjerg HH (4th)	Alpla HC Hard (CL QS)
Grundfos Tatabánya KC (3rd)	Saint-Raphaël Var Handball (4th)	RD Riko Ribnica (3rd)	Tatran Prešov (CL QS)
Second qualifying round
Csurgói KK (5th)	TTH Holstebro (5th)	HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța (4th)	OCI-Lions (1st)
Balatonfüredi KSE (6th)	RK Nexe Našice (2nd)	Pfadi Winterthur (2nd)	Riihimäki Cocks (CL QS)
Helvetia Anaitasuna (5th)	FC Porto (2nd)	Wacker Thun (4th)
Chambéry Savoie Mont-Blanc (5th)	HK Malmö (4th)	SKA Minsk (2nd)
Gwardia Opole (5th)	CSM București (2nd)	Saint Petersburg HC (2nd)
First qualifying round
HC Ohrid 2013 (3rd)	Vojvodina (1st)	Bregenz Handball (5th)	Handball Esch (1st)
RK Dubrava (3rd)	HC Dinamo Pančevo (2nd)	Olympiacos SFP (1st)	Maccabi Srugo Rishon LeZion (1st)
HRK Gorica (4th)	HC Dukla Praha (1st)	AC Doukas (2nd)	SSV Bozen Loacker Volksbank (1st)
SL Benfica (3rd)	Talent Robstav M.A.T. Plzeň (2nd)	Valur FC (1st)	HC Olimpus-85 USEFS (1st)
HC Kriens-Luzern (3rd)	Achilles Bocholt (1st)	Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar (2nd)	Klaipėda Dragūnas (1st)
ZTR Zaporizhia (2nd)	KRAS/Volendam (2nd)	Afturelding (3rd)	RK Partizan 1949 Tivat (1st)
BSK Handball Elite (2nd)	Beykoz BLD SK (2nd)	Põlva Serviti (1st)
ØIF Arendal (4th)	SG INSIGNIS Handball Westwien (3rd)	KH BESA Farm Gas (1st)

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria):^[2]

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualification	First qualifying round	18 July 2017	2-3 September 2017	9-10 September 2017
	Second qualifying round		7–8 October 2017	14–15 October 2017
	Third qualifying round	17 October 2017	18–19 November 2017	25–26 November 2017
Group stage	Matchday 1	30 November 2017	10–11 February 2018
	Matchday 2		17–18 February 2018
	Matchday 3		24–25 February 2018
	Matchday 4		3–4 March 2018
	Matchday 5		24–25 March 2018
	Matchday 6		31 March–1 April 2018
Knockout phase	Quarter-finals	3 April 2018	21–22 April 2018	28–29 April 2018
	Final four	1 May 2018	19–20 May 2018

Qualification stage

The qualification stage consists of three rounds, which are played as two-legged ties using a home-and-away system. In the draws for each round, teams were allocated into two pots, with teams from Pot 1 facing teams from Pot 2.^[1] The winners of each pairing (highlighted in bold) qualified for the following round.

For each round, teams listed first played the first leg at home. In some cases, teams agreed to play both matches at the same venue.

Round 1

A total of 30 teams entered the draw for the first qualification round, which was held on Tuesday, 18 July 2017. The draw seeding pots were composed as follows:^[1]

Pot 1	Pot 2
RK Dubrava SL Benfica BSK Handball Elite ZTR Zaporizhia HC Dukla Praha Valur FC Maccabi Srugo Rishon LeZion SG INSIGNIS Handball Westwien Achilles Bocholt Vojvodina Olympiacos SFP KH BESA Farm Gas KRAS/Volendam Handball Esch Põlva Serviti	Beykoz BLD SK SSV Bozen Loacker Volksbank HC Olimpus-85 USEFS RK Partizan 1949 Tivat Klaipėda Dragūnas Talent Robstav M.A.T. Plzeň Afturelding HC Dinamo Pančevo AC Doukas HC Ohrid 2013 HC Kriens-Luzern HRK Gorica ØIF Arendal Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar Bregenz Handball

The first legs were played on 1–3 and 8–9 September and the second legs were played on 2-3 and 9–10 September 2017.^[3]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
AC Doukas	37–59	Vojvodina	13–33	24–26
KH BESA Farm Gas	52–56	Beykoz BLD SK	29–21	23–35
Klaipėda Dragūnas	71–72	RK Dubrava	36–36	35–36
HC Dukla Praha	52–61	Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar	27–30	25–31
Talent Robstav M.A.T. Plzeň	50–391	Olympiacos SFP	21–21	29–17
RK Partizan 1949 Tivat	39–702	Achilles Bocholt	19–38	20–32
Valur FC	64–58	SSV Bozen Loacker Volksbank	34–27	30–31
SL Benfica	74–483	HC Dinamo Pančevo	39–20	35–28
HC Ohrid 2013	48–474	KRAS/Volendam	24–24	24–23
HC Kriens-Luzern	45–43	ZTR Zaporizhia	24–20	21–23
HC Olimpus-85 USEFS	48–845	Maccabi Srugo Rishon LeZion	20–39	28–45
Afturelding	52–55	BSK Handball Elite	25–26	27–29
Handball Esch	50–576	ØIF Arendal	24–29	25–28
SG INSIGNIS Handball Westwien	57–55	Bregenz Handball	30–28	27–27
HRK Gorica	43–46	Põlva Serviti	21–21	22–25

Notes

¹ Both legs were hosted by Talent Robstav M.A.T. Plzeň.

² Both legs were hosted by RK Partizan 1949 Tivat.

³ Both legs were hosted by SL Benfica.

⁴ Both legs were hosted by HC Ohrid 2013.

⁵ Both legs were hosted by Maccabi Srugo Rishon LeZion.

⁶ Both legs were hosted by Handball Esch.

Round 2

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
HC Kriens-Luzern	32–65	TTH Holstebro	16–27	16–38
Achilles Bocholt	65–72	Riihimäki Cocks	40–35	25–37
Beykoz BLD SK	48–71	HK Malmö	27–36	21–35
RK Ohrid 2013	46–811	FC Porto	20–37	26–44
HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța	51–462	Bækkelagets SK	24–22	27–24
Põlva Serviti	46–59	RK Nexe Našice	25–27	21–32
Limburg Lions	51–57	ØIF Arendal	25–28	26–29
Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar	59–59	St. Petersburg HC	32–27	27–32 (p)3
Pfadi Winterthur	61–394	RK Vojvodina	35–22	26–17
Helvetia Anaitasuna	70–49	Talent Robstav M.A.T. Plzeň	40–26	30–23
SG Handball West Wien	49–59	Wacker Thun	22–27	27–32
Balatonfüredi KSE	55–415	Valur FC	27–22	28–19
CSM București	56–63	SKA Minsk	26–30	30–33
SL Benfica	49–50	Gwardia Opole	28–24	21–26
Maccabi Srugo Rishon Lezion	51–60	Chambery Savoie Mont Blanc	24–29	27–31
Csurgói KK	59–60	RK Dubrava	33–24	26–36

Notes

¹ Both legs were hosted by FC Porto.

² Both legs were hosted by HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța.

³ A special penalty shoot-out was hosted by St. Petersburg HC due to refereeing mistakes. FH won 4-3.

⁴ Both legs were hosted by Pfadi Winterthur.

⁵ Both legs were hosted by Balatonfüredi KSE.

Round 3

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CYEB Budakalász	48–61	Helvetia Anaitasuna	27–35	21–26
KS Azoty-Puławy	59–59 (a)	TTH Holstebro	30–27	29–32
SC Magdeburg	53–52	HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța	27–25	26–27
FC Porto	52–63	Füchse Berlin	27–30	25–33
Gwardia Opole	51–52	RD Koper 2013	30–25	21–27
Frisch Auf Göppingen	58–48	ØIF Arendal	27–27	31–21
Riihimäki Cocks	49–46	RD Riko Ribnica	24–17	25–29
Wacker Thun	40–40 (a)	Alpla HC Hard	19–17	21–23
Grundfos Tatabánya KC	46–47	Chambery Savoie Mont Blanc	25–24	21–23
Fraikin Granollers	55–46	Balatonfüredi KSE	28–21	27–25
Lugi HF	51–46	Pfadi Winterthur	29–29	22–17
HK Malmö	50–59	Bjerringbro-Silkeborg	25–23	25–36
Ribe-Esbjerg HH	50–52	RK Nexe Našice	29–26	21–26
Saint-Raphaël Var Handball	81–60	RK Dubrava	40–29	41–31
SKA Minsk	66–63	BM Logroño La Rioja	36–28	30–35
Tatran Prešov	47–47 (a)	Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar	24–21	23–26

Group stage

Göppingen

Magdeburg

Füchse Berlin

Granollers

Anaitasuna

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg

Riihimäki Cocks

Saint-Raphaël

Chambéry

SKA Minsk

Lugi HF

RK Nexe

Koper 2013

Wacker Thun

Azoty-Puławy

Tatran Prešov

Location of teams of the 2017–18 EHF Cup group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B; Green: Group C; Yellow: Group D.

Draw and format

The draw of the EHF Cup group stage took place on Thursday, 30 November 2017. The 16 teams allocated into four pots were drawn into four groups of four teams.

In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays are 10–11 February, 17–18 February, 24–25 February, 3–4 March, 24–25 March, and 31 March–1 April 2018.

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):

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

Seeding

On 27 November 2017, EHF announced the composition of the group stage seeding pots:^[4]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
SKA Minsk Chambéry Savoie Füchse Berlin Frisch Auf Göppingen	Bjerringbro-Silkeborg Helvetia Anaitasuna Riihimäki Cocks KS Azoty-Puławy	RK Nexe Našice Fraikin Granollers Saint-Raphaël SC Magdeburg	RD Koper 2013 Wacker Thun Lugi HF Tatran Prešov

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		MAG	BJE	MIN	PRE
SC Magdeburg	6	5	0	1	192	157	+35	10		—	33–26	35–30	36–24
Bjerringbro-Silkeborg	6	3	0	3	166	167	−1	6		27–26	—	32–30	27–19
SKA Minsk	6	2	1	3	177	178	−1	5		31–33	27–26	—	34–27
Tatran Prešov	6	1	1	4	146	179	−33	3		19–29	32–28	25–25	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		FCH	SRH	ANA	LUG
Füchse Berlin	6	5	0	1	185	154	+31	10		—	21–26	34–23	34–25
Saint-Raphaël	6	5	0	1	183	165	+18	10		25–34	—	36–27	28–26
Helvetia Anaitasuna	6	2	0	4	174	201	−27	4		28–30	29–38	—	34–32
Lugi HF	6	0	0	6	169	191	−22	0		27–32	28–30	31–33	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		GÖP	NEX	KOP	RCO
Frisch Auf Göppingen	6	6	0	0	177	144	+33	12		—	30–27	31–26	33–27
RK Nexe Našice	6	4	0	2	164	152	+12	8		24–27	—	29–24	31–24
RD Koper 2013	6	1	0	5	152	168	−16	2		20–25	27–31	—	23–25
Riihimäki Cocks	6	1	0	5	143	172	−29	2		20–31	20–22	27–32	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		GRA	CHA	AZO	THU
Fraikin Granollers	6	4	1	1	175	157	+18	9		—	28–21	32–26	25–24
Chambéry Savoie	6	4	1	1	162	152	+10	9		30–30	—	28–22	27–22
KS Azoty-Puławy	6	2	0	4	168	179	−11	4		30–37	25–27	—	31–29
Wacker Thun	6	1	0	5	152	169	−17	2		26–23	25–29	26–34	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Ranking of the second-placed teams

Because the German side SC Magdeburg, 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. The ranking of the second-placed teams was determined on the basis of the team's results in the group stage.

Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
B	Saint-Raphaël	6	5	0	1	183	165	+18	10
D	Chambéry Savoie	6	4	1	1	162	152	+10	9
C	RK Nexe Našice	6	4	0	2	164	152	+12	8
A	Bjerringbro-Silkeborg	6	3	0	3	166	167	−1	6

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-final pairing was held on Tuesday 3 April at 11:00 hrs in the EHF headquarters in Vienna. The first leg was scheduled for 21 and 22 April and the second leg followed one week later.^[5]

Pot 1 Frisch Auf Göppingen Fraikin Granollers Füchse Berlin

Pot 2 RK Nexe Našice Chambéry Savoie Saint-Raphaël

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Saint-Raphaël	67–63	Fraikin Granollers	37–23	30–40
RK Nexe Našice	44–45	Füchse Berlin	28–20	16–25
Chambéry Savoie	54–61	Frisch Auf Göppingen	27–30	27–31

Matches

21 April 20:45	Saint-Raphaël	37–23	Fraikin Granollers	Palais des Sports J.F. Krakowski, Saint-Raphaël, Var Attendance: 1,462 Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Caucheteux, Dipanda 7	(17—10)	Coloma 7
	3× 5×	Report	2× 2×

29 April 20:00	Fraikin Granollers	40–30	Saint-Raphaël	Palau d'Esports de Granollers, Granollers Attendance: 1,800 Referees: Kouz, Zhoba (UKR)
	Resina 9	(16–15)	Karalek 7
	3× 2×	Report	2× 7× 1×

Saint-Raphaël won 67–63 on aggregate.

---

21 April 19:00	RK Nexe Našice	28–20	Füchse Berlin	Sportska Dvorana Kralja Tomislava, Našice Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Horváth. Marton (HUN)
	Barišić - Jaman 8	(12–9)	Lindberg, Wiede 5
	3× 7×	Report	2× 4×

28 April 19:00	Füchse Berlin	25–16	RK Nexe Našice	Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin Attendance: 5,000 Referees: Madsen, Mortensen (DEN)
	Wiede 6	(14–9)	Zrnić 7
	3× 3×	Report	3× 7× 1×

Füchse Berlin won 45–44 on aggregate.

---

22 April 17:00	Chambéry Savoie	27–30	Frisch Auf Göppingen	Le Phare (Chambéry), Chambéry Attendance: 2,647 Referees: Santos, Fonseca (POR)
	Melić, Minel 6	(11–19)	Fontaine, Schiller 6
	3× 4×	Report	1× 2×

29 April 17:30	Frisch Auf Göppingen	31–27	Chambéry Savoie	EWS Arena, Göppingen Attendance: 2,900 Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Fontaine, Schiller 5	(18–13)	Minel 7
	3× 2×	Report	3× 3× 2×

Frisch Auf Göppingen won 61–54 on aggregate.

Final four

The sixth edition of the EHF Cup Finals in 2018 was hosted by SC Magdeburg after the EHF Executive Committee decided to award the hosting rights to the German club at its meeting on 16 December in Hamburg. The tournament took place on 19 and 20 May 2018.^[6] The draw was held on 2 May 2018 in Magdeburg, Germany at 11:00.^[7][8]

	Semifinals				Final
	19 May
	Saint-Raphaël	28
					20 May
	SC Magdeburg	27
					Saint-Raphaël	25
	19 May
					Füchse Berlin	28
	Frisch Auf Göppingen	24
	Füchse Berlin	27
					Third place
					20 May
					SC Magdeburg	35
					Frisch Auf Göppingen	25

Semifinals

19 May 2018 14:45	Saint-Raphaël	28–27	SC Magdeburg	GETEC Arena, Magdeburg Attendance: 6,209 Referees: Marín, García (ESP)
	Caucheteux 11	(13–13)	Musche 7
	3× 3×	Report	1× 2×

---

19 May 2018 17:00	Frisch Auf Göppingen	24–27	Füchse Berlin	GETEC Arena, Magdeburg Attendance: 6,209 Referees: Brunovský, Čanda (SVK)
	Schiller 6	(13–13)	Lindberg 9
	2× 6×	Report	3× 2×

Third place game

20 May 2018 12:45	SC Magdeburg	35–25	Frisch Auf Göppingen	GETEC Arena, Magdeburg Attendance: 6,209 Referees: Pandžić, Mosorinski (SRB)
	Musche 10	(16–15)	four players 4
	3× 4×	Report	3× 2×

Final

20 May 2018 15:15	Saint-Raphaël	25–28	Füchse Berlin	GETEC Arena, Magdeburg Attendance: 6,209 Referees: Olesen, Pedersen (DEN)
	Caucheteux 8	(13–14)	Zachrisson 9
	4× 5× 1×	Report	2× 7×

Top goalscorers

As of 20 May 2018

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Hans Lindberg	Füchse Berlin	82
2	Raphaël Caucheteux	Saint-Raphaël	81
3	Marcel Schiller	Frisch Auf Göppingen	67

See also

• 2017–18 EHF Champions League
• 2017–18 EHF Challenge Cup
• 2017–18 Women's EHF Cup