The 2014–15 VELUX EHF Champions League was the 55th edition of Europe's premier club handball competition and the 22nd edition under the current EHF Champions League format. SG Flensburg-Handewitt were the defending champions.
FC Barcelona Handbol defeated Veszprém KC 28–23 in the final to win their eighth EHF Champions League title. The record winners of the European top flight also claimed one trophy of the Champions Cup (the EHF Champions League forerunner) in 1991.
Overview
Team allocation League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders). 21 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.
Group stage Flensburg-HandewittTH Paris Saint-Germain MOL-Pick Szeged Vive Tauron Kielce THW Kiel Montpellier Chekhovskiye Medvedi Wisła Płock Rhein-Neckar Löwen KIF Kolding København Kadetten Schaffhausen Alingsås HK Barcelona Aalborg Zagreb Logroño Celje Metalurg Skopje Dunkerque MKB-MVM Veszprém Vardar Qualification tournament Meshkov Brest Haslum HK Beşiktaş Targos Bevo HC HCM Constanța Vojvodina Tatran Prešov Initia Hasselt Porto Motor Zaporizhzhia Alpla HC Hard Junior Fasano
Round and draw dates Draws were held at the European Handball Federation headquarters in Vienna, Austria and the only exception was the VELUX EHF FINAL4 draw in the Botanic Garden of Cologne, Germany. PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingQualification tournaments26 June 20145–7 September 2014Group stageMatchday 127 June 201424–28 September 2014Matchday 21–5 October 2014Matchday 38–12 October 2014Matchday 415–19 October 2014Matchday 512–16 November 2014Matchday 619–23 November 2014Matchday 726–30 November 2014Matchday 83–6 December 2014Matchday 911–15 February 2015Matchday 1018–22 February 2015Knockout stageLast 1624 February 201511–15 March 201518–22 March 2015Quarter-final24 March 20158–12 April 201515–19 April 2015Final Four(Cologne)Semifinals21 April 201530 May 2015 at Lanxess ArenaFinal31 May 2015 at Lanxess Arena
Qualification stage
Twelve teams took part in the qualification tournaments. They were drawn into three groups of four teams, where they played a semifinal and a final or third place match. The winners of the qualification tournaments, played on 6–7 September 2014, qualified for the group stage, while the eliminated teams were transferred to the 2014–15 EHF Cup. The draw took place on 26 June 2014, at 14:00 local time, in Vienna, Austria.
Seedings The seedings were published on 23 June 2014.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 Motor Zaporizhzhia Meshkov Brest HCM Constanța Vojvodina Porto Haslum HK Tatran Prešov Alpla HC Hard Beşiktaş Targos Bevo HC Initia Hasselt Junior Fasano
Qualification tournament 1
Qualification tournament 2
Qualification tournament 3
Group stage
24 teams were drawn into four groups of six teams, where they played each other twice. The top four teams advanced to the knockout stage. The draw took place on 27 June 2014, at 18:00 local time, in Vienna, Austria.
Seedings The seedings were published on 23 June 2014.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3 THW Kiel Barcelona MKB-MVM Veszprém Vive Tauron Kielce KIF Kolding København Metalurg Skopje Celje Dunkerque Zagreb Chekhovskiye Medvedi Kadetten Schaffhausen Alingsås HK Pot 4Pot 5Pot 6 Rhein-Neckar Löwen Logroño MOL-Pick Szeged Wisła Płock Flensburg-Handewitt Aalborg Vardar Paris Saint-Germain Montpellier Meshkov Brest Motor Zaporizhzhia Beşiktaş
Key to colours in group tablesTop four placed teams advanced to the last 16
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage
The top four placed teams of each group advance to the knockout stage. In the round of 16 and the quarterfinals, the teams will play a home-and away series to determine the four participants of the final four, which then determines the winner.
Last 16 The draw was held on 24 February 2015 at 12:30 in Vienna, Austria. The first legs were played on 11–15 March and the second legs on 18–22 March 2015.
Seedings The seedings were published on 23 February 2015.
A team from Pot 1 will face a team from Pot 4, a Pot 2 team will play against a team from Pot 3.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4 THW Kiel Barcelona MKB-MVM Veszprém Vive Tauron Kielce Paris Saint-Germain KIF Kolding København Vardar MOL-Pick Szeged Zagreb Wisła Płock Rhein-Neckar Löwen Dunkerque Logroño Flensburg-Handewitt Montpellier Aalborg
Matches
Quarterfinals The draw was held on 24 March 2015 at 11:30 in Vienna, Austria. The first legs were played on 8–12 April and the second legs on 15–19 April 2015.
Seedings The seedings were published on 23 March 2015.
Pot 1Pot 2 THW Kiel Barcelona MKB-MVM Veszprém Vive Tauron Kielce Paris Saint-Germain Zagreb MOL-Pick Szeged Vardar
Matches
Final four The draw was held on 21 April 2015.
The final four was held on 30–31 May 2015 at the Lanxess Arena, Cologne.
Top goalscorers Statistics exclude qualifying round.
Rank Player Team Goals 1 Momir Ilić Veszprém1142 Kiril Lazarov Barcelona1063 Mikkel Hansen Paris1034 Karol Bielecki Kielce925 Timur Dibirov Vardar786 Zsolt Balogh Szeged76 Marko Vujin Kiel 8 Nikola Karabatić Barcelona 75 9 Igor Karačić Vardar 74 10 Alex Dujshebaev Vardar 73
Awards
The All-star team of the Champions League 2014/15:
Position Player Goalkeeper Roland Mikler (MKB-MVM Veszprém) Right wing Víctor Tomás (Barcelona) Right back Kiril Lazarov (Barcelona) Centre back Mikkel Hansen (Paris Saint-Germain) Left back Nikola Karabatić (Barcelona) Left wing Uwe Gensheimer (Rhein-Neckar Löwen) Pivot Renato Sulić (MKB-MVM Veszprém) Best defender Rene Toft Hansen (THW Kiel) Best coach Talant Dujshebaev (Vive Tauron Kielce)
Best Coach: Talant Dujshebaev
See also 2014–15 EHF Cup 2014–15 EHF Challenge Cup
References
External links Official website