The EHF Champions League from 0 to 42,187

0 teams managed to turn around a deficit in the first leg of the quarter-finals into a ticket to Cologne.

1 debutant is part of the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL 4 in Cologne on 17/18 June for the first time: SC Magdeburg

1 team arrives in Cologne unbeaten: defending champions Barça.

1 team has managed to defend the trophy in Cologne: Barça (winners in 2021 and 2022)

1 former EHF Champions League winner failed to progress in the quarter-finals: THW Kiel, four times winner in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2020, was eliminated by PSG, as they were two years ago

1 German coach has steered his team to the winners’ podium at Cologne: Martin Schwalb with Hamburg in 2013, Bennet Wiegert (SCM) can become the second

1 quarter-final pairing was the rematch of a Champions League final: and like in the 2016, Kielce beat Veszprém

1 former IHF World Handball Player of the Year is still part of the competition: the currently-injured Nikola Karabatic (PSG/2007, 2014, 2016); Domagoj Duvnjak (Kiel/2013) and Niklas Landin (Kiel/2019, 2021) were eliminated in the quarter-finals.

1 - for the first time in history the EHF FINAL4 draw will take place in a truck in Cologne

2 teams, which were part of the 2022 EHF FINAL4, are back at Cologne: both finalists Barça and Kielce

2 group winners and 2 runners-up of the group phase made it to Cologne - all had skipped the play-offs

2 players still in the competition are in the race for their fifth individual EHF Champions League title: Aitor Arino, Gonzalo Perez de Vargas (both Barça).

2 teams won both legs of their 2022/23 quarter-finals of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League: Barça and Paris

2 goals on aggregate was the closest margin the quarter-finals, when Magdeburg beat Plock 52:50

2 first legs of the quarter-finals ended in draws, and in both cases the team that proceeded to Cologne had the second leg at home: Magdeburg and Kielce

2 former EHF FINAL4 participants were eliminated in the quarter-finals: Kiel and Veszprém

2 quarter-final debutants were eliminated in the quarter-finals: GOG and Plock

2 sons of Champions League-winning fathers, who have raised the trophy in Cologne - Alex Dujshebaev with Vardar in 2017 and Melvyn Richardson with Montpellier in 2018 - are both back at Cologne again with Kielce (Dujshebaev) and Barça (Richardson)

3 Spanish head coaches have steered their teams to Cologne: Carlos Ortega (Barça), Talant Dujshebaev (Kielce) and Raul Gonzalez (PSG)

3 coaches of the four semi-finalists - the three Spaniards -  have won the EHF Champions League as coaches: Carlos Ortega (with Barça), Talant Dujshebaev (with Ciudad Real and Kielce) and Raul Gonzalez (with Vardar)

3 coaches of the four semi-finalists won the EHF Champions League as players: Carlos Ortega won the trophy six times with Barça, Talant Dujshebaev with Santander and Bennet Wiegert with Magdeburg

3 former Champions League winners are playing for the trophy: Barça (10 titles), Magdeburg and Kielce (1 each)

3 former EHF Champions League top scorers are still part of the competition: Alex Dujshebaev (Kielce, 2018/19), Nikola Karabatic (PSG, 2006/07 – 89 for Kiel, currently injured) and Aleix Gomez (2021/22 – 104 goals for Barça). 

3 - for the third consecutive time - Kiel and Paris locked horns in the quarter-finals; and for the third time that team proceeded was the one that had the home advantage in the second leg

4 different nations are represented by the four Truckscout24 EHF FINAL4 participants: Spain, Poland, Germany and France

4 people have won the EHF Champions League as a player and a coach: Talant Dujshebaev, Roberto Parrondo, Filip Jicha and Carlos Ortega. Dujshebaev won the competition in 1994 as a player of Santander (ESP) and 2006, 2008 and 2009 as a coach of Ciudad Real, before steering Kielce to their first trophy in 2016. Parrondo was a player in the successful Ciudad Real squad in 2008 and 2010, then steered Vardar to the trophy in 2019. Filip Jicha won the trophy as a player in 2010 and 2012 and as a coach in 2020 – all with THW Kiel. Finally, Ortega (six times CL winner as a player of Barça) steered the Champions League record winners to the 2022 trophy as their coach.

5 - for the fifth time in now 14 years, the defending champions made it to Cologne: Barça in 2012, 2022 and 2023, Kiel in 2013 and Vardar in 2018. 

6 countries are represented by the previous 29 EHF Champions League champions: Spain (16 titles), Germany (7), France (2) North Macedonia (2), Poland and Slovenia (each 1).

6 - Magdeburg is the sixth different German team to be part of the EHF FINAL 4 in Cologne after Kiel, Flensburg, Hamburg, Rhein-Neckar Löwen and Füchse Berlin

6 - for the sixth time each, PSG and Kielce are part of the EHF FINAL4

7 - for the seventh time in now 14 editions, four different nations are represented by the four participants, the lowest number was two in 2011 (each two from Spain and Germany) and 2018 (three from France, one from Macedonia), since 2015, only two tournaments were played without four different nations

10 times (1995-2000, 2011, 2015, 2021, 2022) FC Barcelona have won the EHF Champions League, making them the record winner. In addition, they won the Champions Cup (the forerunner competition of the Champions League) once.

10 different Spanish coaches have steered their teams to a total of 19 EHF Champions League trophies so far: Valero Rivera (5), Talant Dujshebaev (4), Xavi Pascual (3), Carlos Ortega, Javier Cuesta, Julian Ruiz, Francisco Equisoain, Francesc Espar, Raul Gonzalez and Roberto Parrondo (each 1). Dujshebaev (Kielce in 2016), Parrondo (Vardar in 2019) and Gonzalez (Vardar 2017) were the only ones to win the trophy with non-Spanish teams.

11 - for the 11th time since 2010, Barça are part of the EHF FINAL4 - and so far have won in Cologne four times - in 2011, 2015, 2021, 2022

12 goals was the biggest margin in the quarter-finals: Barça beat GOG 73:61 on aggregate

14 goals, scored by Kay Smits (SCM) in the second leg against Plock, was the highest score by a single player in the quarter-finals, in total, Smits scored 20 goals, four more than his teammate Michael Damgaard (8+8).

15 victories in 16 matches is the current record of Barça this season, the only draw was in the group phase at Kiel.

16 times have Spanish teams won the EHF Champions League - Barça (10), Ciudad Real (3), Santander, Irun and Portland (each 1).

16 goals was the biggest margin since the start of the group phase, when Barça won 46:30 at Elverum, ahead of the two play-off wins when Veszprém won 36:23 at Szeged and when Kiel won 41:28 at Dinamo Bucuresti

19 - for the 19th time in their 26th EHF Champions League seasons, Barça are playing a semi-final, followed by Kielce and Paris (six each) and Magdeburg (three)

21 years ago, Magdeburg took their one and only trophy in the Champions League

23 years ago, Barça were the first, and latest club to achieve a hat-trick in the EHF Champions League. To be precise, it was their fifth trophy in a row. Now, the record winners have the chance to do it again

23 times - 22 times in the group phase, once in the play-offs and zero times in the quarter-finals - 70 or more goals were scored in a match this season

25 consecutive Champions League matches, Barça are unbeaten. Their record is 23 wins, two draws. The last defeat happened in November 2021 at Kielce

43 matches - 34 in the group phase, five in the play-offs and four in the quarter-finals - were attended by 5,000 or more fans

44 goals was not only the lowest score of a single quarter-final match, but also the lowest score of the whole 2022/23 season: the 22:22 of Plock vs Magdeburg

52 goals in two legs were enough for Magdeburg against Plock to make it to Cologne

67 goals was the highest-score in a single quarter-final match, twice in the duels of GOG vs Barça (30:37 and 31:36)

70 times, 60 or more goals were scored in the group phase (64), the play-offs (four) and the quarter-finals (two)

73 goals, scored by Barça against GOG, was the highest overall score by a team in the quarter-finals

78 goals was the highest score of the season thus far, when Nantes won the group match 42:36 at Elverum, ahead of 77 goals in the group matches of Kielce vs Kiel (40:37), PSG vs GOG (41:36) and Magdeburg vs Porto (41:36).

90 matches (74 in the group phase, all 8 in the play-offs and the quarter-finals) were attended by 3,000 or more fans

106 goals in 18 matches was the outcome of GOG’s Emil Madsen to top the scorer list ahead of his teammate Simon Pytlick (94 in 16 matches). The best scorer still in competition is third ranked Kielce wing Arkadiusz Moryto (92 goals in 16 matches)

128 matches have been played so far in the 2022/23 season, 112 group matches and eight matches each in the play-offs and the quarter-finals

209 shots were saved by GOG's Swedish goalkeeper Tobias Thulin to clearly top the ranking ahead of Kielce’s German goalkeeper Andreas Wolff (162) and Rodrigo Corrales (Veszprém, 140)

282 victories in 366 matches of the EHF Champions League (plus 23 draws and 61 defeats) is Barça’s record to top the all-time ranking of the competition

471 goals were scored in the eight quarter-final matches, an average of 58.88 per match

557 goals were scored by Barça in their 16 matches this season to have the best attack of the four EHF FINAL4 participants, closely ahead of PSG (555), Kielce (525) and Magdeburg (505)

9,821 fans was the highest number of spectators at a quarter-final match, when Kiel hosted PSG, 6,300 fans came to Magdeburg's home win over Plock, the first leg on Polish ground was attended by 5,460 fans

7,978 goals have been scored since the start of the group phase - including the new group phase record of 7,008 goals, 499 goals in the play-offs and 471 in the quarter-finals - this means an overall average of 62.3 goals per match.

10,322 spectators at the group match Nantes vs Barça is the highest attendance of the season at this stage - before up to 19,750 fans will come to see the Truckscout24 EHF FINAL4 at Cologne

42,187 fans attended the eight quarter-final matches, an average of 5,273 spectators per match

Highest scoring matches:

78 goals: Elverum vs Nantes (36:42/GP)
77 goals: PSG vs GOG (41:36/GP)
77 goals: Magdeburg vs Porto (41:36/GP)

Lowest scoring matches:

44 goals: Plock vs Magdeburg (22:22/QF)
49 goals: Plock vs Magdeburg (25:24/GP)
50 goals: Plock vs Porto (27:23/GP)

Biggest margins:

+16 goals: Elverum vs Barça (30:46/GP)
+12 goals: Szeged vs Aalborg (29:41/GP)
+13 goals: Szeged vs Veszprém (23:36/PO)
+13 goals: Bucuresti vs Kiel (28:41/PO)

Top scorer:

106 goals: Emil Madsen (GOG)
94 goals: Simon Pytlick (GOG)
92 goals: Arkadiusz Moryto (Kielce)
91 goals: Kamil Syprzak (PSG)
88 goals: Aleks Vlah (Celje)

Top scorer still in the competition:

92 goals: Arkadiusz Moryto (Kielce)
91 goals: Kamil Syprzak (PSG)  
83 goals: Dika Mem (Barça)
80 goals: Dainis Kristopans (PSG)
78 goals: Elohim Prandi (PSG)
78 goals: Kay Smits (Magdeburg)

Spectators:

10,322: Nantes vs Barça (GP)
9,821: Kiel vs Paris (QF)
9,421: Kiel vs Barça (GP)

GP = group phase / PO = play-offs / QF = quarter-finals