2020–21 EHF Champions League

EHF Champions League

2020–21
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	16 September 2020–13 June 2021
Teams	16
Website	ehfcl.com
Final positions
Champions	Barça
Runner-up	Aalborg Håndbold
Tournament statistics
Matches played	123
Goals scored	7405 (60.2 per match)
Attendance	53,304 (433 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Valero Rivera Folch (95 goals)
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 EHF Champions League was the 61st edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 28th edition under the current EHF Champions League format.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, each local health department dictated the number of spectators allowed at a given match.

Barça defeated Aalborg Håndbold, 36–23, to win their tenth title.^[1]

The competition begins with a group stage featuring 16 teams divided in two groups. Matches are played in a double round-robin system with home-and-away fixtures. In Groups A and B, originally the top two teams qualify for the quarterfinals, with teams ranked 3rd to 6th entering the playoffs. After a decision by the EHF, all teams advanced.

The knockout stage included four rounds: the round of 16, quarterfinals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. The teams were paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches, with the aggregate winners qualifying to the next round.

In the final four tournament, the semifinals and the final were played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue.^[2]

Kiel

Flensburg

Barcelona

PSG

Nantes

Veszprém

Szeged

Aalborg

Celje

Kielce

Vardar

Brest

Zagreb

Porto

Motor

Elverum

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Location of teams of the 2020–21 EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B.

A total of 24 teams from 16 countries submitted their application for a place in the competition's group stage before the deadline of 10 June 2020.^[3] The final list of 16 participants was revealed by the EHF Executive Committee on 19 June. Ten teams were registered according to fixed places, while six were granted wild cards.^[4]

Participating teams

Paris Saint-Germain (1st)	THW Kiel (1st)	Vardar 1961 (1st)	Telekom Veszprém (1st)
Barça (1st)	Łomża Vive Kielce (1st)	Aalborg Handbold (1st)	PPD Zagreb (1st)
FC Porto (1st)	SG Flensburg-Handewitt (2nd)	Meshkov Brest (WC)	HBC Nantes (WC)
MOL-Pick Szeged (WC)	Elverum Håndball (WC)	Celje Pivovarna Laško (WC)	Motor (WC)

Wildcard rejection

GOG Håndbold	RK Eurofarm Pelister	Orlen Wisła Płock	Sporting CP
Dinamo București	CB Ademar León	Kadetten Schaffhausen	Beşiktaş

The draw was held on 1 July 2020 at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria.^[4][5] The 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight, with the restriction that teams from the same national association could not be drawn into the same group.^[6]

In each group, teams play against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches. After completion of the group stage matches, the top two teams from each group would have qualified directly for the quarterfinals, and the four teams ranked 3rd–6th advance to the playoffs, but on 10 February 2021, it was announced that all 16 teams advance from the group stage.^[7]

Matches were played on Wednesdays and Thursdays, with starting times at 18:45 and 20:45 (CET/CEST).

In the group stage, teams are ranked according to points (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). After completion of the group stage, if two or more teams have scored the same number of points, the ranking will be determined as follows:

1. Highest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved;
2. Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved;
3. Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved (or in the away match in case of a two-team tie);
4. Superior goal difference in all matches of the group;
5. Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group;

If the ranking of one of these teams is determined, the above criteria are consecutively followed until the ranking of all teams is determined. If no ranking can be determined, a decision shall be obtained by EHF through drawing of lots.

During the group stage, only criteria 4–5 apply to determine the provisional ranking of teams.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		FLE	PAR	KIE	BRE	POR	SZE	VAR	ELV
1	SG Flensburg-Handewitt	14	10	1	3	341	336	+5	21	Play-offs		—	28–27	31–30	29–29	36–29	26–24	0–10	37–35
2	Paris Saint-Germain	14	9	1	4	388	327	+61	19[a]			28–29	—	37–26	33–26	29–28	10–0	5–5	35–29
3	Łomża Vive Kielce	14	9	1	4	442	414	+28	19[a]			28–31	35–33	—	34–27	32–30	26–23	36–29	39–29
4	Meshkov Brest	14	7	1	6	383	380	+3	15			26–28	32–31	35–30	—	10–0	26–24	24–22	29–27
5	FC Porto	14	5	2	7	361	352	+9	12[b]			10–0	31–34	32–32	27–25	—	25–19	27–24	28–30
6	MOL-Pick Szeged	14	6	0	8	318	329	−11	12[b]			0–10	29–32	26–30	30–27	35–31	—	34–33	36–27
7	Vardar 1961	14	3	3	8	335	350	−15	9			31–26	0–10	29–33	32–36	25–25	26–28	—	34–34
8	Elverum Håndball	14	2	1	11	387	457	−70	5			29–30	29–44	22–31	33–31	31–38	0–10	32–35	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAR	VES	KIE	ALB	ZAP	NAN	CEL	ZAG
1	Barça	14	14	0	0	505	412	+93	28	Play-offs		—	37–30	29–25	42–33	42–34	30–29	42–28	45–27
2	Telekom Veszprém	14	9	2	3	443	392	+51	20			34–37	—	41–33	30–32	34–30	5–5	39–24	37–25
3	THW Kiel	14	7	2	5	394	378	+16	16			26–32	31–31	—	28–26	34–23	27–35	33–29	36–30
4	Aalborg Håndbold	14	7	0	7	397	411	−14	14[a]			32–35	27–33	23–31	—	38–29	32–24	0–10	38–29
5	Motor	14	7	0	7	389	411	−22	14[a]			25–30	34–37	10–0	27–29	—	29–28	31–29	29–25
6	HBC Nantes	14	5	2	7	388	378	+10	12			27–35	24–28	24–24	38–29	31–32	—	28–30	30–28
7	Celje Pivovarna Laško	14	4	0	10	372	413	−41	8			29–32	25–29	24–35	29–31	31–32	25–31	—	29–28
8	PPD Zagreb	14	0	0	14	369	462	−93	0			33–37	28–35	21–31	26–27	23–24	24–34	22–30	—

Note All matches ending with a 10–0 (or 5–5) results were assessed by the EHF.^[8]

Originally, the top six teams advanced but on 10 February 2021, after a decision by the EHF Executive Committee, it was announced that all 16 teams advance from the group stage.^[7]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
HBC Nantes	58–56	Łomża Vive Kielce	24–25	34–31
MOL-Pick Szeged	56–66	THW Kiel	28–33	28–33
Motor	55–60	Meshkov Brest	32–30	23–30
FC Porto	56–56 (a)	Aalborg Håndbold	32–29	24–27
PPD Zagreb	0–20[note 1]	SG Flensburg-Handewitt	0–10	0–10
Elverum Håndball	44–76	Barça	25–37	19–39
Celje Pivovarna Laško	47–68	Paris Saint-Germain	24–37	23–31
Vardar 1961	57–80	Telekom Veszprém	27–41	30–39

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
HBC Nantes	62–60	Telekom Veszprém	32–28	30–32
THW Kiel	59–63	Paris Saint-Germain	31–29	28–34
Meshkov Brest	57–73	Barça	29–33	28–40
Aalborg Håndbold	55–54	SG Flensburg-Handewitt	26–21	29–33

	Semi-finals				Final
	12 June
	Paris Saint-Germain	33
					13 June
	Aalborg Håndbold	35
					Aalborg Håndbold	23
	12 June
					Barça	36
	Barça	31
	HBC Nantes	26
					Third place
					13 June
					Paris Saint-Germain	31
					HBC Nantes	28

13 June 2021 18:00	Barça	36–23	Aalborg Håndbold	Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Gómez 9	(16–11)	Sandell 8
	1×	Report	1× 3×

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[10]
1	Valero Rivera Folch	HBC Nantes	95
2	Dika Mem	Barça	93
	Mikita Vailupau	Meshkov Brest
4	Aleix Gómez	Barça	92
5	Alex Dujshebaev	Łomża Vive Kielce	90
6	Mikkel Hansen	Paris Saint-Germain	88
7	Niclas Ekberg	THW Kiel	83
8	Petar Nenadić	Telekom Veszprém	73
	Sander Sagosen	THW Kiel
10	Nedim Remili	Paris Saint-Germain	72

The all-star team was announced on 11 June 2021.^[11]

Position	Player
Goalkeeper	Niklas Landin Jacobsen (THW Kiel)
Right wing	Aleix Gómez (Barça)
Right back	Dika Mem (Barça)
Centre back	Luka Cindrić (Barça)
Left back	Mikkel Hansen (Paris Saint-Germain)
Left wing	Valero Rivera (HBC Nantes)
Pivot	Ludovic Fabregas (Barça)
MVP	Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas[12] (Barça)
Best defender	Henrik Møllgaard (Aalborg Handbold)
Best young player	Dylan Nahi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Best coach	Alberto Entrerríos (HBC Nantes)

• Official website