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.

Füchse Berlin won the title, beating Saint-Raphaël Var Handball in the final.

Team allocation

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

Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria):

PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualificationFirst qualifying round18 July 20172-3 September 20179-10 September 2017Second qualifying round7–8 October 201714–15 October 2017Third qualifying round17 October 201718–19 November 201725–26 November 2017Group stageMatchday 130 November 201710–11 February 2018Matchday 217–18 February 2018Matchday 324–25 February 2018Matchday 43–4 March 2018Matchday 524–25 March 2018Matchday 631 March–1 April 2018Knockout phaseQuarter-finals3 April 201821–22 April 201828–29 April 2018Final four1 May 201819–20 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. 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:

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.

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

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

Group stage

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): number of points in matches of all teams directly involved; goal difference in matches of all teams directly involved; higher number of plus goals in matches of all teams directly involved; goal difference in all matches of the group; 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:

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

Group B

Group C

Group D

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.

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.

Pot 1 Frisch Auf Göppingen Fraikin Granollers Füchse Berlin

Pot 2 RK Nexe Našice Chambéry Savoie Saint-Raphaël

Matches

Saint-Raphaël won 67–63 on aggregate.

Füchse Berlin won 45–44 on aggregate.

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. The draw was held on 2 May 2018 in Magdeburg, Germany at 11:00.

Semifinals

Third place game

Final

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Club Goals1 Hans Lindberg Füchse Berlin822 Raphaël Caucheteux Saint-Raphaël813 Marcel Schiller Frisch Auf Göppingen67

See also 2017–18 EHF Champions League 2017–18 EHF Challenge Cup 2017–18 Women's EHF Cup

References

External links EHF Cup (official website)