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EHF Cup
2018–19
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	1 September 2018–18 May 2019
Host(s)	THW Kiel (final four)
Venue(s)	Sparkassen-Arena (final four)
Teams	59 (qualification stage); 16 (group stage)
Website	eurohandball.com
Final positions
Champions	THW Kiel
Runner-up	Füchse Berlin
Tournament statistics
MVP	Niclas Ekberg
Top scorer(s)	Magnus Bramming; (100 goals)
	← 2017–18 2019–20 →

The 2018–19 EHF Cup was the 38th 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.

Team allocation

Teams

Third qualifying round
RK Nexe	TTH Holstebro	GOG Håndbold	BM Logroño La Rioja
Fraikin Granollers	Liberbank Cuenca	Saint-Raphaël Var Handball	THW Kiel
TSV Hannover-Burgdorf	Füchse Berlin	SC Magdeburg	Grundfos Tatabánya KC
Balatonfüredi KSE	HC Eurofarm Rabotnik	KS Azoty-Puławy	HK Malmö
Second qualifying round
Alpla HC Hard	Achilles Bocholt	SKA Minsk	HCB Karviná
Aalborg Håndbold	Drammen HK	Pays d'Aix Université Club	Olympiacos
Sport36-Komló	IBV Vestmannaeyjar	Maccabi Srugo Rishon LeZion	HC Prolet 62
HV Aalsmeer	Gwardia Opole	SL Benfica
HC Spartak Moscow	HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța	Vojvodina
Pfadi Winterthur	RD Ribnica	ZTR Zaporizhia
First qualifying round
SG Handball West Wien	GRK Varaždin	RK Dubrava	Talent Robstav M.A.T. Plzeň
Põlva Serviti	Glasgow HC	B.S.B. Batumi	FH Hafnarfjordur
Selfoss	KH BESA Famgas	Klaipėda Dragūnas	Handball Käerjeng
OCI-Lions	FC Porto	AHC Potaissa Turda	Steaua București
RD Koper 2013	RK Gorenje Velenje	RK Železničar 1949
BSV Bern	Kadetten Schaffhausen	Alingsås HK

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria).^[1]

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualification	First qualifying round	17 July 2018	1-2 September 2018	8-9 September 2018
	Second qualifying round	17 July 2018	6–7 October 2018	13–14 October 2018
	Third qualifying round	16 October 2018	17–18 November 2018	24–25 November 2018
Group stage	Matchday 1	29 November 2018	9–10 February 2019
	Matchday 2		16–17 February 2019
	Matchday 3		23–24 February 2019
	Matchday 4		2–3 March 2019
	Matchday 5		23–24 March 2019
	Matchday 6		30–31 March 2019
Knockout phase	Quarter-finals	2 April 2019	20–21 April 2019	27–28 April 2019
	Final four	30 April 2019	17–18 May 2019

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 are allocated into two pots, with teams from Pot 1 facing teams from Pot 2. The winners of each pairing (highlighted in bold) qualified for the following round.

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

Round 1

A total of 22 teams entered the draw for the first qualification round, which was held on Tuesday, 17 July 2018. The draw seeding pots were composed as follows:

Pot 1

Pot 2

The first legs were played on 1–2 and the second legs were played on 8–9 September 2018.^[2]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
SG Handball West Wien	54–55	OCI-Lions	26–25	28–30
B.S.B. Batumi	42–67 ¹	KH BESA Famgas	20–30	22–37
Põlva Serviti	51–53	BSV Bern	26–26	25–27
Talent Robstav M.A.T. Plzeň	69–24 ²	Glasgow HC	39–12	30–12
FC Porto	68–45	AHC Potaissa Turda	41–21	27–24
RK Železničar 1949	56–59	Handball Käerjeng	30–27	26–32
RD Koper 2013	49–56	Kadetten Schaffhausen	25–25	24–31
Selfoss	60–55	Klaipėda Dragūnas	34–28	26–27
Alingsås HK	48–51	RK Gorenje Velenje	26–23	22–28
GRK Varaždin	50–55	Steaua București	25–26	25–29
RK Dubrava	61–63	FH Hafnarfjordur	29–33	32–30

Notes

¹ Both legs were hosted by B.S.B. Batumi.

² Both legs were hosted by Talent Robstav M.A.T. Plzeň.

Round 2

The first legs were played on 6–7 October and the second legs were played on 13–14 October 2018. Some teams agreed to play both matches in the same venue.^[3]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Vojvodina	55–44	HV Aalsmeer	29–21	26–23
RD Ribnica	56–59	Selfoss	30–27	26–32
Handball Käerjeng	64–74	Achilles Bocholt	29–33	35–41
HC Baník Karviná	58–47 ¹	HC Prolet 62	26–22	32–25
Sport36-Komló	56–56 (a)	Olympiacos	34–29	22–27
RK Gorenje Velenje	47–45	Gwardia Opole	26–22	21–23
Aalborg Håndbold	60–53	Pfadi Winterthur	31–29	29–24
HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța	57–44 ²	Talent Robstav M.A.T. Plzeň	28–21	29–23
Drammen HK	57–53	KH BESA Famgas	37–26	20–27
OCI-Lions	52–52 (a)	Alpla HC Hard	23–23	29–29
Steaua București	48–50	Maccabi Srugo Rishon LeZion	25–23	23–27
HC Spartak Moscow	46–47	BSV Bern	28–23	18–24
SL Benfica	71–63 ³	FH Hafnarfjordur	37–32	34–31
FC Porto	58–54	SKA Minsk	34–29	24–25
ZTR Zaporizhia	60–68	Kadetten Schaffhausen	27–30	33–38
IBV Vestmannaeyjar	49–59	Pays d'Aix Université Club	24–23	25–36

Notes

¹ Both legs were hosted by Karviná.

² Both legs were hosted by HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța.

³ Both legs were hosted by SL Benfica.

Round 3

A total of 32 teams entered the draw for the third qualification round, which was held on Tuesday, 16 October 2018.^[4] The draw seeding pots were composed as follows: ^[5]

Pot 1

Pot 2

The first legs were played on 17–18 November and the second legs were played on 24–25 November 2018.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
HK Malmö	50–57	HC Dobrogea Sud Constanța	22–23	28–34
SC Magdeburg	53–57	FC Porto	26–23	27–34
Fraikin Granollers	57–49	RK Gorenje Velenje	24–25	33–24
BM Logroño La Rioja	50–50 (a)	Kadetten Schaffhausen	26–22	24–28
KS Azoty-Puławy	60–54	Selfoss	33–26	27–28
THW Kiel	70–41	Drammen HK	34–23	36–18
Aalborg Håndbold	54–57	Füchse Berlin	31–29	23–28
Olympiacos	47–55	RK Nexe	22–25	25–30
HC Eurofarm Rabotnik	59–47	BSV Bern	29–19	30–28
TSV Hannover-Burgdorf	74–69	SL Benfica	41–36	33–33
Achilles Bocholt	54–71	Liberbank Cuenca	29–34	25–37
Grundfos Tatabánya KC	58–45	OCI-Lions	31–18	27–27
HC Baník Karviná	62–66	Balatonfüredi KSE	33–34	29–32
Vojvodina	52–70	GOG Håndbold	27–32	25–38
Pays d'Aix Université Club	50–53	TTH Holstebro	25–25	25–28
Maccabi Srugo Rishon LeZion	59–63	Saint-Raphaël Var Handball	29–36	30–27

Group stage

Location of teams of the 2018–19 EHF Cup group stage.

Red: Group A;

Blue: Group B;

Green: Group C;

Yellow: Group D.

The draw of the EHF Cup group stage took place on Thursday, 29 November 2018. 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 9–10 February, 16–17 February, 23–24 February, 2–3 March, 23–24 March and 30–31 March 2019.

In the group stage, teams are 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 have scored the same number of points, the ranking will be determined as follows:

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 is determined, the above criteria are consecutively followed until the ranking of all teams is determined. If no ranking can be determined, a decision shall be obtained by EHF through drawing of lots.

During the group stage, only criteria 4–5 apply to determine the provisional ranking of teams.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	FÜC	SRH	LOG	BAL
1	Füchse Berlin	6	5	1	192	166	+26	10	Knockout stage	—	33–29	29–27	36–23
2	Saint-Raphaël Var Handball	6	4	2	180	169	+11	8	Ranking of the second-placed teams	34–31	—	30–26	27–23
3	Logroño La Rioja	6	2	4	174	180	−6	4		29–34	29–28	—	29–24
4	Balatonfüredi	6	1	5	156	187	−31	2		24–29	27–32	35–34	—

Source: EHF

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	TAT	HAN	NEX	RAB
1	Tatabánya	6	4	1	1	172	154	+18	9	Knockout stage	—	28–25	27–28	30–27
2	TSV Hannover-Burgdorf	6	3	1	2	162	144	+18	7	Ranking of the second-placed teams	27–27	—	32–22	24–21
3	Nexe	6	3	0	3	156	160	−4	6		26–29	29–25	—	23–18
4	Eurofarm Rabotnik	6	1	0	5	133	165	−32	2		21–31	17–29	29–28	—

Source: EHF

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	POR	HOL	DOB	LIB
1	FC Porto	6	6	0	196	168	+28	12	Knockout stage	—	32–29	30–27	37–26
2	TTH Holstebro	6	3	3	175	160	+15	6	Ranking of the second-placed teams	31–33	—	29–25	34–22
3	Dobrogea Sud Constanța	6	2	4	165	174	−9	4		29–35	22–28	—	34–26
4	Liberbank Cuenca	6	1	5	152	186	−34	2		26–29	26–24	26–28	—

Source: EHF

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	KIE	GOG	GRA	AZO
1	THW Kiel	6	6	0	0	191	144	+47	12	Knockout stage	—	37–23	34–28	26–23
2	GOG Håndbold	6	3	0	3	182	180	+2	6	Ranking of the second-placed teams	22–26	—	34–26	41–29
3	Fraikin Granollers	6	2	1	3	174	195	−21	5		22–33	34–31	—	30–29
4	Azoty-Puławy	6	0	1	5	169	197	−28	1		26–35	28–31	34–34	—

Source: EHF

Ranking of the second-placed teams

The top three second-placed teams will qualify to the quarter-finals. The ranking of the second-placed teams will be determined on the basis of the team's results in the group stage.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Saint-Raphaël Var Handball	6	4	0	2	180	169	+11	8	Knockout stage
2	B	TSV Hannover-Burgdorf	6	3	1	2	162	144	+18	7
3	C	TTH Holstebro	6	3	0	3	175	160	+15	6
4	D	GOG Håndbold	6	3	0	3	182	180	+2	6

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Since THW Kiel won their group, they qualified directly for the EHF Cup Finals and will not have to play the quarter-finals. In this case, the quarter-finals will consist of only three two-legged fixtures. The draw for the quarter-final pairings was held on Tuesday, 2 April, at 11:00 CET in the EHF headquarters in Vienna.^[6] The three group winners were placed in Pot 1, and the three best second-ranked teams were placed in Pot 2. The group winners started the quarter-finals with an away match on 20 and 21 April, and played the second leg at home on 27 and 28 April.^[7]

Pot 1
Füchse Berlin
Tatabánya
FC Porto

Pot 2
Saint-Raphaël Var Handball
TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
TTH Holstebro

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
TSV Hannover-Burgdorf	54–64	Füchse Berlin	26–34	28–30
TTH Holstebro	52–50	Tatabánya	29–24	23–26
Saint-Raphaël Var Handball	60–64	FC Porto	30–30	30–34

Matches

21 April 2019 15:00	TSV Hannover-Burgdorf	26–34	Füchse Berlin	Swiss Life Hall, Hanover Attendance: 3,937 Referees: Andorka, Hucker (HUN)
	Olsen 11	(14–15)	Lindberg 6
	4×	Report	3× 6×

28 April 2019 15:00	Füchse Berlin	30–28	TSV Hannover-Burgdorf	Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin Attendance: 7,165 Referees: Gasmi, Gasmi (FRA)
	Lindberg 8	(18–11)	Kastening 9
	2× 8×	Report	1× 3×

Füchse Berlin won 64–54 on aggregate.

20 April 2019 17:45	TTH Holstebro	29–24	Tatabánya	Gråkjær Arena, Holstebro Attendance: 2,021 Referees: Baumgart, Wild (GER)
	Bramming 9	(12–9)	Vranković 6
	2× 6×	Report	3× 5×

27 April 2019 16:00	Tatabánya	26–23	TTH Holstebro	Audi Aréna, Győr Attendance: 2,650 Referees: Brkić, Jusufhodžić (AUT)
	Vujović 8	(14–12)	Bramming 5
	2× 5× 1×	Report	1× 4×

TTH Holstebro won 52–50 on aggregate.

20 April 2019 20:00	Saint-Raphaël Var Handball	30–30	FC Porto	Palais des Sports JF Krakowski, Saint-Raphaël Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Boričič, Marković (SRB)
	Caucheteux 9	(17–17)	Areia, Branquinho 7
	2× 4×	Report	1× 7×

27 April 2019 18:00	FC Porto	34–30	Saint-Raphaël Var Handball	Dragão Caixa, Porto Attendance: 2,099 Referees: Buache, Meyer (SUI)
	Areia 8	(17–15)	Caucheteux 10
	4× 4× 1×	Report	3× 2× 1×

FC Porto won 64–60 on aggregate.

Final four

The seventh edition of the EHF Cup Finals in 2019 was hosted by THW Kiel after the EHF Executive Committee decided to award the hosting rights to the German club at its meeting on 6 December 2018. The tournament took place at Sparkassen-Arena in Kiel, on 17 and 18 May 2019.^[8] The draw was held on 30 April 2019.^[9]^[10]

As group winners, THW Kiel avoided playing the quarter-finals and qualified directly for the EHF Cup Finals.^[8]

Bracket

Semifinals		Final

17 May

TTH Holstebro	26
		18 May
THW Kiel	32
		THW Kiel	26
17 May
		Füchse Berlin	22
Füchse Berlin	24

FC Porto	20
		Third place

		18 May

		TTH Holstebro	26

		FC Porto	28

Semifinals

17 May 2019 18:00	TTH Holstebro	26–32	THW Kiel	Sparkassen-Arena, Kiel Attendance: 10,200 Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Bramming 7	(14–16)	Ekberg 6
	2× 4× 1×	Report	2× 1×

17 May 2019 20:45	Füchse Berlin	24–20	FC Porto	Sparkassen-Arena, Kiel Attendance: 10,011 Referees: Jørum, Kleven (NOR)
	Drux 6	(12–8)	Alves 6
	1× 2×	Report	1× 4×

Third place game

18 May 2019 18:00	TTH Holstebro	26–28	FC Porto	Sparkassen-Arena, Kiel Attendance: 10,045 Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Smits 6	(16–14)	Branquinho 7
	1× 3×	Report	1× 3×

Final

18 May 2019 20:45	THW Kiel	26–22	Füchse Berlin	Sparkassen-Arena, Kiel Attendance: 10,285 Referees: Jurinović, Mrvica (CRO)
	Ekberg 7	(16–10)	Elísson 6
	3× 3×	Report	3× 4×