Media Guide Women’s EHF Champions League Season 2015/16 Group Matches Table of contents Foreword 5 Map of participating clubs 6 Women’s EHF Champions League Information 7 Media contacts - EHF/M, clubs contacts 8 2014/15 Seeding list 9 2014/15 Playing system diagram - stages and dates 10 Playing format 11 Women’s EHF FINAL4 stays in Budapest until 2016 12 Facts & Figures 13 Important regulations - ranking of teams 15 Extended women’s coverage on ehfTV 17 GROUP A Preview 19 Head-to-head stats 20 Larvik 21 RK Krim Mercator 25 Rostov-Don 29 HCM Baia Mare 33 GROUP B Preview 37 Head-to-head stats 38 FTC Rail Cargo Hungaria 39 Thüringer HC 43 HC Podravka Vegeta 47 Fleury Loiret Handball 55 2 Table of contents GROUP C Preview 55 Head-to-head stats 56 FC Midtjylland 60 HC Vardar 64 Hypo Niederösterreich 68 Györi Audi ETO KC 72 GROUP D Preview 73 Head-to-head stats 74 Buducnost 75 CSM Bucuresti 79 Sävehof IK 83 MKS Selgros Lublin 87 2014/15 Top scorers & All-star team 91 Past winners 92 History of the Women’s EHF Champions League 93 All-time club standings 95 3 Thinkonepassion can reach countries.many The UNIQA Group is one of the leading insurance groups in its core markets of Austria and Central and Eastern Europe with over 40 companies in 19 countries and more than 9.3 million customers. www.uniqagroup.com 140917_UNQ_Handball_A4.indd 1 9/18/14 14:29 PM Foreword Dear media representative, September 2015 saw the conclusion of qualification phase, which completed the line-up for the Group Matches of the 2015/16 Women’s EHF Champions League. HCM Baia Mare of Romania and Györi Audi ETO KC of Hungary were the last two teams to complete Groups A and C respectively. From 16 October to 22 November 2015, the six rounds of the group matches will play out in venues across Europe. I take this opportunity to welcome sixteen teams from 14 countries to the second phase of the competition and to congratulate them for having successfully earned their place in the 23rd season of this elite women’s handball club competition. We should say special welcome to the three newcomers; all of them from European strongholds of women’s handball. After three qualification failures in the past Russian champions Rostov-Don finally made it to the EHF Champions League. Also French title holders Fleury Loiret Handball, who stumbled in the qualification final on Vardar two years ago, will join the party as well as Romanian champions CSM Bucuresti, who never played even in the qualification before. Six former champions are lined-up on the starting grid - RK Krim Mercator, Hypo Niederösterreich, HC Podravka Vegeta, Larvik, Györi Audi ETO KC and defending champions Buducnost. The Podgorica-based team starts their title defence in Group D together with Bucuresti, IK Sävehof and MKS Selgros Lublin and they are expected to cruise easily to the main round. The next stage vision could be mistier for the EHF Champions League record holders as an outsider position awaits the four-time winners Hypo in Group C with FC Midtjylland, HC Vardar and Györ. The Hungarian powerhouse should be in full-strength again this season as they not only signed big names like Nycke Groot or Zsuzsanna Tomori, but also can count with their star playmaker Anita Görbicz again after a maternity leave. Group B is bound to see a tug-of-war for the first place between FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria and Thüringer HC while Podravka and Fleury will battle out the remaining main round ticket. In Group A Rostov is a force to reckon with after the Russian champions recruited the legendary Norwegian goalkeeper Katrine Lunde and teamed her up with another excellent keeper Anna Sedoykina. Their ambitions will be put under stern test by Lunde’s compatriots from Larvik but also Romanian qualifiers and last season’s quarter-finalists HCM Baia Mare, while presence of Krim’s young guns in the main round would be a massive surprise. As we move into the next exciting phase of the competition, the teams have a lot to play for. The sixteen teams now embark on their campaign to progress to the main round. A ticket to the main round will bring twelve teams closer to their dream of participating in the WOMEN’S EHF FINAL4; however, for the four teams that are ranked fourth on 22 November 2015, their campaign in the European top flight will end and they will continue in the Cup Winners’ Cup. With the wealth of experience across the four groups, we know that there is enough skill to take each team to the next round, but much will still depend on determination and a touch of luck; and as the teams take to the court, only they can decide how the matches will end. We pride ourselves on our positive and cooperative relationship with the press and media and I am sure this will continue and develop in the future. Should you require any information, help or assistance during the course of the season, your first point of contact is the EHF Media and Communications Department based in our office in Vienna. They will be more than happy to assist you with any questions you might have. We look forward to working with you in the upcoming season! Jean Brihault EHF President 5 Györi Audi WOMEN‘S EHF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IK Sävehof, ETO KC, HUN SWE Season 2015/16 Glassverket, Teams eliminated in qualification NOR Group Matches teams Larvik HK, NOR BNTU BelAZ Minsk Reg., BLR Team Esbjerg, DEN FC Midtjylland, MKS Selgros DEN Lublin, POL SERCODAK Dalfsen, NED 6 Thüringer HC, Rostov-Don, GER RUS Fleury Loiret HCM Baia Mare, Handball, FRA ROU WOMEN‘S EHF FINAL4 Host City Budapest, HUN Hypo Niederösterreich, AUT CSM Bucharest, ROU RK Krim Mercator, SLO Ankara Yenimahalle BSK, TUR HC Podravka Vegeta, CRO FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria, HUN Buducnost, HC Vardar, WHC Radnicki MNE MKD Kragujevac, SRB EHF Champions League information New ways to follow the Women’s EHF Champions League Team line-ups and match reports can be viewed by clicking on a The live stream on ehfTV.com will not be the only way fans can follow particular match on the eurohandball.com or ehfCL.com websites. the action. The online system is also under further development with the ultimate aim being to provide live scores and statistics from EHF The EHF Live Ticker will track the scores of all four matches this competitions and to be available on the EHF website. weekend and for the rest of the season. Every goal, missed shot and yellow card will be documented and live statistics made Accreditation for Group Matches available online for the first time at this stage of Europe’s elite club competition. The written media and photographer’s accreditation procedure in the Group Matches is entirely in the responsibility of the participating EHF Live launched clubs. The EHF’s social media channels will provide a very different view of TV and Radio accreditations are subjects to approval by EHF both men’s and women’s premier continental competition. Marketing GmbH – please contact Miguel Mateo Marcellán. As well as the coverage on the EHF Champions League Facebook page Online information and Instagram reserved typically for the final weekends of major competitions, on two new channels. ehfCL.com ehfTV.com This season fans can follow the @EHF_Live Twitter account to keep up Regulations of the Women’s EHF Champions League to date with all aspects of the event and add EHF_Live on Snapchat Twitter:@ehfmedia , @ehfcl for a behind the scenes look. Facebook: ehf.champions.league Online match reports Official name From the opening matches of the season, the complete team line-up is available online at eurohandball.com and available to download The official name of the competition is: Women’s EHF Champions as a PDF document. The change has been made possible thanks to League. The full name of the competition should always be used. the introduction of a new online solution, which sees the EHF match delegate complete the final team line-up immediately after the Please note: If the season is required, it has to be positioned after technical meeting. This development means that team line-ups are “Champions League” e.g. Women’s EHF Champions League 2013/14. available for commentators and reporters hours before each match The wording “Champions League” should be written with a capital throws-off. letter at the beginning of each word, i.e. Champions League. The remaining letters should be in lower case. The word Champions does A further change means that a short time after each match, a not have an apostrophe after the ‘s’. completed match report will also be available online with details such as goal scorers and number of spectators. 7 EHF/M Media contacts Media matters TV and Radio Vlado Brindzak Miguel Mateo Marcellan Media and Communications Media Manager European Handball Federation EHF Marketing GmbH +43 1 80 151 161 +43 1 80 151 224 [email protected] [email protected] Group Matches Clubs – Media contacts GROUP A GROUP B GROUP C GROUP D Larvik HK FTC Rail Cargo Hungaria FC Midtjylland Buducnost Harald Gaupen Andrea Pordán Troels Banggaard Milos Pavicevic +47 33 138 230 +36 20 365 8263 +382 682 226 66 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] RK Krim Ljubljana Thüringer HC HC Vardar CSM Bucuresti Gašper Lončarič Bernd Hohnstein Ivana Stojanovska Constantin Caliman +386 51 630 877 +49 179 4649 389 +389 71 247 218 +40 721 800304 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Rostov-Don HC Podravka Vegeta Hypo Niederösterreich IK Sävehof Maksim Shchennikov Ljerka Vresk Kati Kovacs Rüdiger Osterloh