Goals and trophies, awards and numbers

As we approach the 12th edition of the EHF FINAL4 Men on 12/13 June, there are certain names and numbers which will pop up over and over again as we list the most impressive facts and figures in this event’s history

Juanin Garcia’s 13 goals in a single match, 65 overall strikes by Kiril Lazarov, nine participations for Barça, seven different winners in the last eight years and three trophies for a Croat with nine fingers – here are just a taste of what you will find below.

0 clubs managed to defend the title in eleven editions of the EHF FINAL4 and in 2021 it will not happen as defending champions THW Kiel are already eliminated.

0 players and 0 clubs have been part of all eleven editions of the EHF FINAL4 from 2010 to 2020.

1 player won the title twice in a row in Cologne: Ivan Cupic in 2017 with Vardar, after winning the trophy with Kielce in 2016. In 2019, Cupic became the first player ever to win the trophy at Cologne for the third time.

1 man won the trophy at the EHF FINAL4 as player and coach, Filip Jicha. All with THW Kiel, in 2010 and 2012 as a player, in 2020 as their coach.

1 time, in 2018, three clubs from the same country qualified for a EHF FINAL4: Montpellier, Nantes and Paris from France. One year later, not a single French team proceeded to Cologne for the tenth edition, now Nantes and PSG are back.

1 non-European player was awarded MVP of a EHF FINAL4 so far: Montpellier’s Diego Simonet in 2018.

1 goalkeeper was awarded MVP at the EHF FINAL4 so far: Arpad Sterbik (Vardar) in 2017.

1 time only, in 2018, neither a German nor a Spanish team was part of the EHF FINAL4.

1 EHF FINAL4 final needed to be decided by a penalty shoot-out - the 2016 edition of Kielce vs Veszprem (39:38).

2 coaches were (or will be) part of the EHF FINAL4 tournaments with two different teams: Talant Dujshebaev (2010-2012 with Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid and 2016 and 2019 with Kielce) and Raul Gonzalez, who steered Vardar to their 2017 trophy and is now the coach of Paris Saint-Germain. Nantes coach Alberto Entrerrios was part of the EHF FINAL4 tournaments 2010 until 2012 as a player of Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid.

2 coaches have won the EHF FINAL4 twice: Alfred Gislason with Kiel in 2010 and 2012 and Xavi Pascual with Barcelona in 2011 and 2015. 

2 sons of Champions League winners lifted the trophy in Cologne: Alex Dujshebaev with Vardar in 2017 and Melvyn Richardsson with Montpellier in 2018. Jackson Richardson was Champions League winner with Portland in 2001. 

3 clubs have won the EHF FINAL4 on their debut in Cologne: Flensburg (2014), Vardar (2017) and Montpellier (2018).

3 clubs took titles at the EHF FINAL4 events at Cologne, after winning in the old playing system: Barcelona (1996-2000, 2005), Kiel (2007) and Montpellier (2003).

3 times in twelve years, the defending champions made it to Cologne: Barcelona in 2012, Kiel in 2013 and Vardar in 2018.

3 times clubs from the same country duelled in the EHF FINAL4 finals: Barcelona vs Ciudad Real in 2011, Flensburg vs Kiel in 2014 and Montpellier vs Nantes in 2018.  

4 players have won the EHF FINAL4 with two different clubs: Besides Ivan Cupic, it was Tobias Reichmann (2010, 2012 with Kiel and 2016 with Kielce), Domagoj Duvnjak (2013 with Hamburg, 2020 with Kiel and Steffen Weinhold (2014 with Flensburg, 2020 with Kiel).

4 Spanish coaches have won the EHF FINAL4 so far: besides Pascual and Dujshebaev (2016 with Kielce), Raul Gonzalez (2017) and Roberto Parrondo Garcia (2019) both claimed the title with Vardar. Alberto Entrerrios can become the fifth Spanish coach to win.

4 times in the last five editions saw no German team qualified for the EHF FINAL4 - Flensburg were eliminated by Aalborg, defending champions Kiel by PSG.

5 EHF FINAL4 matches so far needed to be decided in extra-time, two of them in a penalty shootout. First Hamburg beat Barça in the 2013 final 30:29 after extra-time, followed by the 2014 semi shoot-out of Flensburg vs Barcelona (40:39). In 2016, first Veszprém beat Kiel after extra-time 31:28, but then lost to Kielce after penalties 38:39 in the final. In 2020, Kiel struck back against Veszprém, beating them 36:35 after extra-time in the semi-final.

5 goals is the highest winning margin in finals. Kiel beat Madrid 26:21 in 2012, Barça defeated Veszprém 28:23 in 2015, Montpellier were the 32:27 winners against Nantes in 2018 and the final result of Kiel vs Barcelona was 33:28 in 2020.

5 different nations are represented by the EHF FINAL 4 winners so far. Germany (Kiel/3, Hamburg, Flensburg), Spain (Barça/2), Poland (Kielce), North Macedonia (Vardar/2) and France (Montpellier). In the previous 16 EHF Champions League seasons from 1994 to 2009, only four different nations were represented (Spain, Germany, Slovenia, France).

7 different clubs won the trophy at Cologne: THW Kiel (2010, 2012, 2020), Barça (2011, 2015) and Vardar (2017, 2019) each twice, Hamburg, Flensburg, Kielce and Montpellier each once.

8 direct red cards were given in the history of the EHF FINAL4 so far, three of them for Croatian players (Denis Buntic/Kielce in 2013, Renato Sulic/Veszprém 2014 and Igor Vori/PSG 2016). Kielce’s Piotr Chrapkowski , Veszprém’s Blaz Blagotinsek (2019), Barça’s Thiagus Petrus (2019), Petar Nenadic and Patrick Wiencek in the 2020 semi-final betwee Vespzrém vs Kiel also seeing red. Petrus was the only to receive two red cards at the same weekend, as one day later, he was sent off after three two-minutes suspensions.

9 times including the 2021 edition, Barça were or will be part of the EHF FINAL4. In the all-time ranking they are ahead of Kiel (7), Veszprém (6), Paris (5), Kielce (4), Vardar, Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid (both 3). 

9 times Aron Palmarsson was part of the EHF FINAL4 so far, five times with Kiel (including his only two trophies in 2010 and 2012) and each twice with Veszprém and Barça. Twice he was awarded MVP, after losing the final (2014 and 2016). Next on the list is eight-time participant Momir Ilic (Kiel/Veszprém) ahead of three players with seven participations - Dominik Klein (six times with Kiel, once with Nantes), goalkeeper Arpad Sterbik (Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid, Barça, Vardar and Veszprém) and Nantes’ Macedonian Kiril Lazarov (Ciudad Real/Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Nantes).

12 times, a player scored ten or more goals in a single match of the EHF FINAL4. One player managed to score ten goals twice at the same tournament: Mikkel Hansen (PSG) in 2016. Filip Jicha (Kiel) managed to score double-figures twice in the 2010 final and the 2012 semi. The last to score ten was Aleix Gomez for Barça in the 2020 final against Kiel.

13 goals in a single EHF FINAL4 match is the highest score. It was Barça wing Juanin Garcia in the 2010 final against Kiel, though it was not enough as Barcelona lost 36:34. The second highest score is 12 goals from Petar Nenadic (Veszprém) in the 2019 semi-final against Kielce. Third is current THW Kiel coach Filip Jicha with eleven goals in the 2010 final and Siarhei Rutenka (Barça) in the 2014 bronze medal match.

15 years after their first triumph in the old system, coach Patrice Canayer and left wing Michael Guigou lifted the trophy again with Montpellier HB in 2018.

15 different clubs had been part of the eleven events. The 16th club is Danish debutant Aalborg Handbold in 2021.

21 goals at one EHF FINAL4 tournament is the high score, again by Juanin Garcia in 2010, who netted in eight times in the semi-final against Checkhov. Second-ranked is Mikkel Hansen with 20 in 2016.

47 goals was the lowest score of any EHF FINAL4 match and the spectators of the final day in 2012 saw this happen twice in a row, first in the placement match Berlin vs Kobenhavn (21:26), then in the final Kiel vs Atletico Madrid (26:21). The 2017 final Vardar vs PSG (24:23) was the third match with this number of goals.

65 goals in total were scored by Kiril Lazarov (Atletico Madrid, Barça, Nantes) to be the all-time top scorer of the EHF FINAL4 tournaments ahead of Momir Ilic (58) as well as Aron Palmarsson and Filip Jicha (56 each). 

80 goals were scored in the record-breaking 2014 semi-final between Flensburg and Barça (41:39 after extra-time and penalties) to top this ranking ahead of 77 goals in the 2016 final Kielce vs Veszprem (39:38 after extra-time and penalties) and the highest score of a match decided after 60 minutes, the 2019 placement match between Barça and Kielce (40:35/75 goals).

233.72 goals were scored on average in each of the eleven tournaments.

258 goals were scored at the 2020 edition of the EHF FINAL4 to top this ranking ahead of 251 goals in 2010 and 245 goals in the 2016 and 2019 editions each. The lowest overall score of a FINAL4 event was 191 goals in 2012.

2,571 goals in total were scored in the 44 EHF FINAL4 matches so far, making it an average of 58.43 goals.