Three debutants, one former champion and a premiere in the semis

0 participants in the EHF Finals Women 2023 in Graz made it to the final tournament this time. Thüringer HC, the last team still standing, were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Storhamar.

1 – for the first time ever in the fourth edition of the EHF Finals Women two teams from the same country face off in the semi-finals; CS Gloria 2018 BN and H.C. Dunarea Braila from Romania.

1 of the four EHF Finals Women 2024 participants has been part of the EHF Finals before: Neptunes Nantes, the winners in the inaugural edition in 2021.

1 team – Romanian side Dunarea Braila – began their journey to Graz from the first qualification round.

1 – Storhamar Handball Elite are the first Norwegian team to qualify for the EHF Finals Women.

1 team is still unbeaten in the EHF European League Women: CS Gloria 2018 BN have won seven of their eight matches and tied once, while their domestic rivals Braila have won 11 of 12 matches and lost once. Storhamar have won nine of their 10 fixtures, losing once, and Nantes have won seven of ten matches, losing twice and drawing once.

1 - CS Gloria 2018 BN are the only EHF Finals participant who were seeded for the group phase

1 head coach of the four EHF Finals Women participants is currently also a national team coach: Florentin Pena has been coach of Romania since 2022 and of Bistrita since 2023.

1 head coach of the four EHF Finals Women participants used to be a national team coach: Helle Thomsen steered Sweden to the EHF EURO bronze medal in 2014 and the Netherlands to EHF EURO silver in 2014 and bronze in 2018.

1 player who is part of the EHF Finals Women, won the EHF Champions League last season: Katarina Jezic, who took the trophy with Vipers in 2023 and then transferred to Braila

1 player who is part of the EHF Finals Women, won the EHF Finals last season: Nantes’ goalkeeper Jessica Ryde won the trophy with Ikast before she joined the French side.

1 – since the start of the group phase, the quarter-final match between Thüringer HC vs Storhamar (35:39) is the only one which saw more than 70 goals scored.

2 – for the second time - after 2023 - Graz will host the EHF Finals Women.

2 draws only have occurred in the 56 matches since the start of the group matches, zero in the quarter-finals.

2 semi-finalists entered the competition in the final qualification round: Nantes and Storhamar.

2 teams from the same group of the group phase - CS Gloria 2018 BN and Neptunes Nantes – qualified for the EHF Finals Women.

2 head coaches of the four EHF Finals Women participants have won European cup competitions before – both with Danish teams: Jan Leslie (Braila) steered Randers to the winner’s podium of the EHF Cup in 2010, Helle Thomsen (Nantes) guided FC Midtjylland to the trophy in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 2015.

2 current World Champions are in Nantes’ squad: Tamara Horacek and Lena Grandveau won gold with France in 2023.

3 group winners from the group phase – Bistrita, Storhamar and Braila – made it to the semis, Nantes are the only second ranked team, Sola from Norway are the only group winner which failed to reach the final tournament.

3 – for the third time in the last three years, two teams from the same country have made it to the EHF Finals Women. In 2022, Ikast and Viborg from Denmark, in 2023 Thüringer HC and Dortmund from Germany, now Bistrita and Braila from Romania. In 2023, the two German sides clashed for third place.

3 – Bistrita and Braila are the second and third Romanian teams to qualify for the EHF Finals Women: in 2021 and 2022, Baia Mare were part of the final tournament.

4 – all four teams which made it to the EHF Finals Women in Graz – won both legs of the quarter-finals.

4 goals was the smallest overall margin in the quarter-finals: CS Gloria 2018 BN beat Hungarian side Motherson Mosonmagyarovari KC 59:55 in aggregate.

6 different clubs from 6 different countries have won the second-tier competition since the competition was created by merging the EHF Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup in the 2016/17 season: Rostov (Russia), Craiova (Romania), Siofok (Hungary), Nantes (France), Bietigheim (Germany) and Ikast (Denmark).

9 goals was the biggest margin in a single quarter-final match: Sola vs Nantes, 30:39.

10 times in 56 matches since the start of the group phase, the fans saw 60 or more goals scored; three times in the quarter-finals.

13 goals was the biggest winning margin in the quarter-finals: Nantes beat Sola (NOR) on aggregate 70:57, ahead of Storhamar (72:61 vs Thüringer HC).

18 goals is the biggest deficit in a single match since the start of the group phase, when Storhamar beat Vac 35:17 in the groups, ahead of 14 goals in the group match between Nantes and Lublin (39:25).

21 matches since the start of the group matches phase have been won by the away team, including four of the quarter-final ties.

33 matches since the start of the group phase – including four of the quarter-finals – ended with victories for the home team.

34 teams had started their journey in the qualification rounds of the EHF European League Women, 36 qualification matches, 48 group matches and eight quarter-final matches have already been played.

38 goals is the lowest total score in a match since the start of the group phase, when Bistrita and Nantes tied 19:19, followed by the group matches Podravka vs. Storhamar (23:19) and Targu Jiu vs Mosonmagyarovari (20:22). The lowest scoring match of the quarter-finals was the 51 goals in Braila vs. Podravka (26:25).

65 goals have been scored by Storhamar player Anniken Obaidli, making her the current top scorer in the competition – ahead of four players who are already eliminated. The next best scorers, who are part of the EHF Finals Women, are Tamara Horacek (Nantes) with 52 goals and Katarina Jezic (Braila) with 45 goals.

73 goals were scored by Storhamar in the two legs of the quarter-finals, putting them ahead of Nantes (70).

74 goals is the most in a single match since the start of the group phase when Storhamar won 39:35 at Thüringer HC in the first leg of the quarter-finals, ahead of another quarter-final match with 69 goals (Sola vs Nantes 30:39), which is equal with the most goals in a match from the group phase, Sola vs. Targu Jiu (40:29).

260 goals have been scored by Nantes in their eight matches since the start of group phase, putting them on top of this ranking ahead of Storhamar (241) Bistrita (235) and Braila (234).

483 goals were scored in the eight quarter-final matches.

3056 people attended the group match between Costa del Sol Malaga and Mosonmagyarovari, the highest attendance at a match since the start of the group phase. The highest quarter-final attendance was at the match CS Gloria 2018 BN vs. Mosonmagyarovar with 3000 fans, ahead of 1827 fans in Nantes for Neptunes' match against Sola.

5134 goals have been scored since the start of the competition, including 717 in the 12 matches of qualification round 1, 1291 in 24 matches in qualification round 2, 2643 goals in the 48 group matches and 483 in the quarter-finals. This means an average of 55.81 goals in the 92 matches.

11,290 fans in total attended the four home matches of Bistrita from the start of the group phase

Photos © Neptunes Nantes, VaBit, Pana Sorin, christian heilwagen