2021–22 EHF European League

The 2021–22 EHF European League was the 2nd edition of the EHF European League, the second most important European handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF).

EHF European League

2021–22
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	28 August 2021–29 May 2022
Teams	52 (qualification stage) 24 (group stage)
Website	ehfel.com
Final positions
Champions	SL Benfica
Runner-up	SC Magdeburg
Tournament statistics
MVP	Sergey Hernández
Top scorer(s)	Petar Đorđić Halil Jaganjac (123 goals)
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

Benfica became the first ever Portuguese team to win the trophy and the second non-German side to win the competition since 2004.^[1]

Qualifying rounds

First qualifying round

A total of 32 teams were involved in the first qualifying round. The first leg matches were held on 28–29 August 2021, while the second leg matches were held on 4–5 September 2021.^[2] The draw was held in EHF office in Vienna.^[3]

The results of this round were:^[4]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bjerringbro-Silkeborg	49–48	Ystads IF	22–23	27–25
HC Kriens-Luzern	42–60	SL Benfica	24–31	18–29
RK Celje Pivovarna Laško	58–65	GOG Håndbold	33–29	25–36
Grupa Azoty Unia Tarnów	51–60	RK Nexe	23–28	28–32
RK Vojvodina	49–54	Kadetten Schaffhausen	26–20	23–34
Csurgói KK	51–58	HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța	23–27	28–31
Górnik Zabrze	48–57	ØIF Arendal	19–29	29–28
Aguas Santas Milaneza	54–60	BM Logroño La Rioja	26–26	28–34
Balatonfüredi KSE	47–47	HK Malmö	27–25	20–22
Azoty-Puławy	66–46	MRK Sesvete	29–21	37–25
HC Prolet 62	50–63	Fraikin BM Granollers	21–36	29–27
Maccabi Rishon LeZion	49–58	HC CSKA	26–29	23–29
Rhein-Neckar Löwen	80–44	Spor Toto SK	38–22	42–22
RK Trimo Trebnje	59–60	TTH Holstebro	31–25	28–35
RK Poreč	39–44	Valur	18–22	21–22
Alpla HC Hard	55–66	Fenix Toulouse Handball	23–27	32–39

Second qualifying round

A total of 24 teams were involved in the second qualifying round draw, 16 advancing from the previous round and 8 teams entering this round. The first leg matches were held on 20–21 September., while the second leg matches were held on 27–28 September.

The results of this round were:^[5]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kadetten Schaffhausen	68–60	Fraikin BM Granollers	36–33	32–27
Valur	47–54	TBV Lemgo	26–27	21–27
Rhein-Neckar Löwen	59–64	SL Benfica	31–31	28–33
BM Logroño La Rioja	61–58	CB Ademar León	34–30	27–28
Fenix Toulouse Handball	59–49	HK Malmö	30–24	29–25
GOG Håndbold	57–51	Mors-Thy Håndbold	30–24	27–27
Azoty-Puławy	53–65	Füchse Berlin	24–32	29–33
USAM Nîmes Gard	65–58	HC CSKA	36–29	29–29
Orlen Wisła Płock	45–40	HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța	25–14	20–26
Bjerringbro-Silkeborg	59–59	RK Nexe	33–27	26–32
Sporting CP	62–53	TTH Holstebro	31–25	31–28
ØIF Arendal	49–67	PAUC	27–27	22–40

Group stage

Seedings

The 24 teams were divided into six pots of four teams, with a team from each pot being drawn to each group. Teams from the same country could not be drawn into the same group.^[6]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Bidasoa Irun HBC Nantes SC Magdeburg Grundfos Tatabánya KC	RK Eurofarm Pelister Chekhovskiye Medvedi Pfadi Winterthur IK Sävehof	Cocks AEK Athens HC RK Gorenje Velenje HT Tatran Prešov	PAUC Füchse Berlin TBV Lemgo Sporting CP	GOG Håndbold BM Logroño La Rioja USAM Nîmes Gard Orlen Wisła Płock	RK Nexe Fenix Toulouse Handball SL Benfica Kadetten Schaffhausen

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

1. Points in matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in matches among tied teams;
3. Away goals scored in matches among tied teams;
4. Goal difference in all group matches;
5. Goals scored in all group matches;
6. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
7. Drawing lots.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ORL	FUC	FEN	BID	TAT	WIN
1	Orlen Wisła Płock	10	9	0	1	311	258	+53	18	Knockout stage		—	24–28	33–29	33–26	33–29	35–27
2	Füchse Berlin	10	8	0	2	314	269	+45	16			29–30	—	32–30	35–23	36–23	35–29
3	Fenix Toulouse Handball	10	6	1	3	292	265	+27	13			24–30	28–27	—	26–26	34–20	34–27
4	Bidasoa Irun	10	3	1	6	286	286	0	7			28–29	32–35	24–26	—	33–24	32–28
5	HT Tatran Prešov	10	2	0	8	240	308	−68	4			15–29	23–27	19–31	27–25	—	29–33
6	Pfadi Winterthur	10	1	0	9	271	328	−57	2			23–35	27–30	27–30	23–37	27–31	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GOG	BEN	NAN	LEM	COC	CHE
1	GOG Håndbold	10	7	1	2	340	297	+43	15	Knockout stage		—	39–38	29–29	34–28	46–30	27–26
2	SL Benfica	10	7	1	2	336	311	+25	15			25–33	—	31–30	35–30	37–23	38–35
3	HBC Nantes	10	5	3	2	304	266	+38	13			27–24	33–33	—	27–28	36–25	10–0[a]
4	TBV Lemgo	10	5	2	3	319	312	+7	12			39–35	29–30	37–37	—	39–30	30–27
5	Cocks	10	1	1	8	257	331	−74	3			23–34	32–37	28–40	29–29	—	27–33
6	Chekhovskiye Medvedi	10	1	0	9	239	278	−39	2			32–39	27–32	31–35	28–30	0–10[b]	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. The match was cancelled because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[7][8]
2. The match was cancelled because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[7][8]

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MAG	SAV	NEX	GOR	LOG	PAU
1	SC Magdeburg	10	9	1	0	317	267	+50	19	Knockout stage		—	31–25	32–26	34–24	33–31	31–27
2	IK Sävehof	10	6	0	4	313	297	+16	12			26–29	—	33–23	27–28	43–31	33–31
3	RK Nexe	10	5	0	5	295	300	−5	10			24–28	39–31	—	31–23	31–30	33–29
4	RK Gorenje Velenje	10	4	1	5	284	306	−22	9			27–31	31–35	34–28	—	32–31	33–32
5	BM Logroño La Rioja	10	3	1	6	307	317	−10	7			29–29	29–30	31–30	31–26	—	33–26
6	PAUC	10	1	1	8	290	319	−29	3			28–39	25–30	29–30	26–26	37–31	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		NIM	EUR	KAD	SPO	AEK	GRU
1	USAM Nîmes Gard	10	5	2	3	290	274	+16	12	Knockout stage		—	25–23	33–33	33–27	26–27	24–22
2	RK Eurofarm Pelister	10	5	2	3	271	248	+23	12			21–26	—	27–26	31–25	30–19	33–20
3	Kadetten Schaffhausen	10	4	3	3	282	277	+5	11			25–25	28–28	—	26–24	30–26	32–26
4	Sporting CP	10	5	1	4	290	279	+11	11			32–30	27–27	29–28	—	31–30	34–26
5	AEK Athens HC	10	4	0	6	274	283	−9	8			34–30	27–30	28–31	25–24	—	34–26
6	Grundfos Tatabánya KC	10	3	0	7	254	300	−46	6			30–38	25–21	31–23	23–37	25–24	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Knockout stage

The pairings for the last 16 and the quarterfinals are based on group stage standings, according to the following bracket. This assures teams from the same group can only play each other again in the final four.

	Last 16						Quarterfinals
	29 March/5 April
	3D Kadetten Schaffhausen	32	28	60
							26 April/3 May
	2C IK Sävehof	26	34	60
							3D Kadetten Schaffhausen	31	22	53
	29 March/5 April
							1A Orlen Wisła Płock	33	35	68
	4B TBV Lemgo	28	28	56
	1A Orlen Wisła Płock	31	28	59
	29 March/5 April
	3C RK Nexe	29	22	51
							26 April/3 May
	2D RK Eurofarm Pelister	26	21	47
							3C RK Nexe	32	37	69
	29 March/5 April
							1B GOG Håndbold	27	37	64
	4A Bidasoa Irun	28	31	59
	1B GOG Håndbold	30	33	63
	29 March/5 April
	3B HBC Nantes	25	33	58
							26 April/3 May
	2A Füchse Berlin	24	30	54
							3B HBC Nantes	25	28	53
	29 March/5 April
							1C SC Magdeburg	28	30	58
	4D Sporting CP	29	35	64
	1C SC Magdeburg	29	36	65
	29 March/5 April
	3A Fenix Toulouse Handball	38	30	68
							26 April/3 May
	2B SL Benfica	34	36	70
							2B SL Benfica	36	27	63
	29 March/5 April
							4C RK Gorenje Velenje	29	27	56
	4C RK Gorenje Velenje	29	30	59
	1D USAM Nîmes Gard	22	35	57

Last 16

The last 16 first legs were scheduled for 29 March 2022, while the second legs followed on 5 April 2022.^[9]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kadetten Schaffhausen	60–60 (a)	IK Sävehof	32–26	28–34
TBV Lemgo	56–59	Orlen Wisła Płock	28–31	28–28
RK Nexe	51–47	RK Eurofarm Pelister	29–26	22–21
Bidasoa Irun	59–63	GOG Håndbold	28–30	31–33
HBC Nantes	58–54	Füchse Berlin	25–24	33–30
Sporting CP	64–65	SC Magdeburg	29–29	35–36
Fenix Toulouse Handball	68–70	SL Benfica	38–34	30–36
RK Gorenje Velenje	59–57	USAM Nîmes Gard	29–22	30–35

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals first legs were scheduled for 26 April 2022, while the second legs followed on 3 May 2022.^[10]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kadetten Schaffhausen	53–68	Orlen Wisła Płock	31–33	22–35
RK Nexe	69–64	GOG Håndbold	32–27	37–37
HBC Nantes	53–58	SC Magdeburg	25–28	28–30
SL Benfica	63–56	RK Gorenje Velenje	36–29	27–27

Final four

The 2021–22 EHF European League Finals was played on 28 and 29 May 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal and comprise one leg semifinals, final and a third place game.^[11] The pairings for the semifinals were decided by drawing of lots.^[12][13]

Bracket

	Semifinals				Final
	28 May
	SC Magdeburg	34
					29 May
	RK Nexe	29
					SL Benfica	40
	28 May
					SC Magdeburg	39
	Orlen Wisła Płock	19
	SL Benfica	26
					Third place
					29 May
					Orlen Wisła Płock	27
					RK Nexe	22

Semifinals

28 May 2022 16:00	SC Magdeburg	34–29	RK Nexe	Altice Arena, Lisbon Attendance: 2,114 Referees: Mažeika, Gatelis (LTU)
	Musche 8	(18–13)	Jaganjac 7
	2× 4×	Report	6×

---

28 May 2022 18:30	Orlen Wisła Płock	19–26	SL Benfica	Altice Arena, Lisbon Attendance: 3,201 Referees: Horváth, Marton (HUN)
	Szita 4	(8–10)	Đorđić 9
	2× 3× 1×	Report	1× 5×

Third place game

29 May 2022 16:30	Orlen Wisła Płock	27–22	RK Nexe	Altice Arena, Lisbon Attendance: 2,249 Referees: Mitrevski, Todorovski (MKD)
	Mihić 5	(14–13)	Pribetić 5
	1× 2× 1×	Report	2× 1×

Final

29 May 2022 19:00	SL Benfica	40–39 (ET)	SC Magdeburg	Altice Arena, Lisbon Attendance: 5,055 Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Rahmel 11	(15–14)	Magnússon 12
	1× 8× 1×	Report	1× 6×
	FT: 32–32 ET: 8–7

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[14]
1	Petar Đorđić	SL Benfica	123
	Halil Jaganjac	RK Nexe
3	Mohammad Sanad	USAM Nîmes Gard	122
4	Jerry Tollbring	GOG Håndbold	104
5	Ole Rahmel	SL Benfica	99
6	Bjarki Már Elísson	TBV Lemgo	98
7	Samuel Zehnder	Kadetten Schaffhausen	92
8	Simon Pytlick	GOG Håndbold	80
9	Fahrudin Melić	RK Nexe	79
10	Agustín Casado	BM Logroño La Rioja	78
	Sergei Kosorotov	Orlen Wisła Płock