5 takeaways from the EHF CL play-offs

The EHF Champions League Men 2021/22 play-offs came to an end on Thursday night after eight exciting games to determine the four quarter-finalists that will continue in the race for the season’s title. With their aggregate victories, Paris Saint-Germain Handball, SG Flensburg-Handewitt, Montpellier HB and Telekom Veszprém HC joined the already qualified Lomza Vive Kielce, Barça, THW Kiel and Aalborg Håndbold in the next stage.

Here, we bring together five main takeaways from this first knockout stage of the 2021/22 season.

First leg and home matches critical

Only two matches in the first-leg play-offs saw a winner emerge, while the other two ended in draws. Neither team that lost in the first leg — Pick Szeged or HC Vardar — managed to turn the tables for an aggregate victory in the reverse fixture, although Szeged won the second leg while Vardar managed a draw in Veszprém’s fiery arena.

In the two ties that saw draws in the first leg, the aggregate winner was the home team in the second match, proving the value of an arena of support. It is particularly interesting to note the impact of a home crowd in a decisive match as this was the first season with the play-offs taking place in front of full capacity crowds in all arenas after Covid-19 impacted allowances on spectator numbers for the past years.

One could argue that PSG (30:30 draw versus Elverum in first leg) and Montpellier (29:29 draw against FC Porto) were simply the stronger teams in their ties, able to take a draw away in the opening leg, but either way, the second leg at home was where the quarter-final berths were secured.

No winners of both legs

Although the aggregate scores in the play-offs were not overly close, not one team won both legs of their play-off tie. PSG and Montpellier drew then won at home, Flensburg progressed thanks to a four-goal victory at home before losing by one at Szeged, and Veszprém took a clear win away at Vardar in the first leg before the second-leg draw.

This record is in complete contrast to last season, in which all teams contested the play-offs after a Covid-19-affected group phase. In 2020/21, Barça, Veszprém, PSG and Kiel all won both legs in the ties that were played.

Claar and Grøndahl on top in scoring race

He did not even play the play-offs, as Aalborg were qualified directly for the quarter-finals, but Felix Claar remains in first place on the season’s top scorer chart, with 81 goals.

The Swedish EHF EURO 2022 champion shares the leading spot with Elverum’s 21-year-old centre back Tobias Grøndahl, whose eight goals in the play-offs against PSG took him up the ranking.

Next in line are Barça back Dika Mem — who also added no goals in the play-offs as Barça went straight to the quarter-finals, Dinamo Bucuresti’s Raul Nantes Campos and Veszprém’s slippery centre back Petar Nenadic. Nenadic contributed 10 goals across the two play-offs for the Hungarian side.

With Grøndahl’s and Campos’ seasons in the top flight over, Claar, Mem and Nenadic are emerging as the main individuals in the race for the 2021/22 top scorer title. Mem almost took the top scorer crown last season, scoring just two goals fewer than the winner Valero Rivera.

Veszprém in top form again — will the curse end?

Six EHF FINAL4 appearances in the last eight seasons; three appearances in the final since 2015 — but still no title for the Hungarian powerhouse.

Veszprém were the only team to win the away leg of their play-off, and by a stunning eight goals, 30:22, in one of the most formidable arenas around: Vardar’s Jane Sandanski.

All credit to Vardar for their determined fight in the return leg in Hungary, but even coach David Davis acknowledged the aggregate decision was made by half-time in the second leg: “my team, they kept fighting even though the game was over in the first half.” With the result secured, Veszprém may have dropped their game a little towards the end.

So, we can see Veszprém are looking very strong — seemingly the strongest of those teams progressing from the play-offs at least. Will this be their year to go all the way?

France and Germany with two teams apiece

France and Germany are the most represented nations among the quarter-finalists this season, with two teams each — PSG and Montpellier from France, and Kiel and Flensburg from Germany. Both French clubs had to reach the quarter-finals from the play-offs, while only Flensburg had the same task on their hands of the German sides.

Given the quarter-final pairings — Montpellier vs Kielce, Flensburg vs Barça and PSG vs Kiel — both countries have the chance to see two clubs in the EHF FINAL4 as well, but it is impossible for final weekend in Cologne to be solely German and French.

The almost entirely French EHF FINAL4 in 2018, when Montpellier won the title, Nantes were runners-up and PSG placed third, was certainly a unique situation and will not be repeated any time soon.