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.
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
26 teams were directly qualified for the group stage.
Groups A/B Meshkov Brest Zagreb Bjerringbro-Silkeborg Paris Saint-Germain Flensburg-Handewitt THW Kiel Rhein-Neckar Löwen MOL-Pick Szeged Telekom Veszprém Vardar Vive Tauron KielceTH Wisła Płock Celje FC Barcelona Lassa IFK Kristianstad Kadetten Schaffhausen Groups C/D Team Tvis Holstebro Montpellier HBC Nantes Metalurg Skopje Elverum Håndball Dinamo București Chekhovskiye Medvedi Logroño Beşiktaş Motor Zaporizhzhia Qualifier Group 1Qualifier Group 2Qualification tournaments Bregenz Handball Achilles Bocholt Riihimäki Cocks Maccabi Tel Aviv Red Boys Differdange ABC/UMinho Tatran Prešov RK Gorenje TH = Title holders
Round and draw dates The qualification and group stage draw was held in Glostrup, Denmark.
PhaseDraw dateQualification tournaments29 June 2016Group stage1 July 2016Knockout stageFinal Four(Cologne)2 May 2017
Qualification stage
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.
Qualification tournament 1
Qualification tournament 2
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.
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.
TiebreakersIn 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):
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
Group B
Group C
Group D
Playoffs
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
Quarterfinals
Final four
Final
Statistics Top goalscorers Statistics exclude qualifying rounds.
RankPlayerTeamGoals1 Uwe Gensheimer Paris Saint-Germain1152 Mikkel Hansen Paris Saint-Germain 993 Momir Ilić Telekom Veszprém 894 Zsolt Balogh MOL-Pick Szeged88 Jure Dolenec Montpellier6 Kiril Lazarov Barcelona Lassa857 Gábor Császár Kadetten Schaffhausen848 Alex Dujshebaev Vardar839 Nedim Remili Paris Saint-Germain81 Rastko Stojković Meshkov Brest
Awards
The All-star team of the Champions League 2016/17:
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)
Best Coach: Raúl González
See also 2016–17 EHF Cup 2016–17 EHF Challenge Cup 2016–17 Women's EHF Champions League
References
External links Official website