2017–18 EHF Champions League knockout stage

This article describes the knockout stage of the 2017–18 EHF Champions League.^[1]

Qualified teams

The top six placed teams from each of the two groups advanced to the knockout stage.

Group	Qualified for quarterfinals	Qualified for Round of 16
Group	First place	Second place	Third place	Fourth place	Fifth place	Sixth place
A	Vardar	Barcelona Lassa	HBC Nantes	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	MOL-Pick Szeged	IFK Kristianstad
B	Paris Saint-Germain	Telekom Veszprém	Flensburg-Handewitt	THW Kiel	PGE Vive Kielce	Meshkov Brest
Playoff winners	Skjern Håndbold Montpellier

Format

12 teams played home and away in the first knock-out phase, with the 10 teams qualified from groups A and B and the two teams qualified from groups C and D. After that, the six winners of these matches in the first knock-out phase joined the winners of groups A and B to play home and away for the right to play in the final four.

Round of 16

Overview

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Montpellier	56–55	Barcelona Lassa	28–25	28–30
Skjern Håndbold	61–59	Telekom Veszprém	32–25	29–34
Meshkov Brest	52–60	HBC Nantes	24–32	28–28
IFK Kristianstad	46–53	Flensburg-Handewitt	22–26	24–27
PGE Vive Kielce	77–47^[B]	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	41–17	36–30
THW Kiel	56–50^[A]	MOL-Pick Szeged	29–22	27–28

Notes

^
Order of legs reversed after original draw.
^
A scheduling conflict for the first leg resulted in the Rhein-Neckar Löwen only fielding their reserve team against Kielce while the first team played a Handball-Bundesliga match against THW Kiel on the same day.^[2]

Matches

25 March 2018 17:00	Montpellier	28–25	Barcelona Lassa	Palais des Sports René Bougnol, Montpellier Attendance: 3,200 Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
	Truchanovicius 8	(13–13)	N'Guessan 7
	3× 2×	Report	3× 3×

31 March 2018 18:30	Barcelona Lassa	30–28	Montpellier	Palau Blaugrana, Barcelona Attendance: 5,114 Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	3 players 5	(15–14)	Richardson 7
	3× 2×	Report	3× 4×

Montpellier won 56–55 on aggregate.

25 March 2018 16:50	Skjern Håndbold	32–25	Telekom Veszprém	Skjern Bank Arena, Skjern Attendance: 3,200 Referees: Gousko, Repkin (BLR)
	Olsson, Rasmussen 6	(17–13)	Marguč 6
	3× 1×	Report	3× 1×

31 March 2018 17:30	Telekom Veszprém	34–29	Skjern Håndbold	Veszprém Aréna, Veszprém Attendance: 5,080 Referees: Pichon, Reveret (FRA)
	Nenadić 9	(16–13)	Eggert 7
	3× 9×	Report	3× 4×

Skjern Håndbold won 61–59 on aggregate.

24 March 2018 17:30	Meshkov Brest	24–32	HBC Nantes	Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest Attendance: 3,740 Referees: Erdoğan, Özdeniz (TUR)
	Razgor 5	(14–16)	Hansen, Klein 6
	1× 3×	Report	3× 2×

1 April 2018 17:00	HBC Nantes	28–28	Meshkov Brest	La Trocardière, Rezé Attendance: 4,438 Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Tournat 6	(14–17)	Shumak 7
	3× 1×	Report	2× 3×

HBC Nantes won 60–52 on aggregate.

24 March 2018 18:00	IFK Kristianstad	22–26	Flensburg-Handewitt	Kristianstad Arena, Kristianstad Attendance: 5,178 Referees: Marín, García (ESP)
	Lagergren 6	(12–11)	Wanne 8
	2× 5×	Report	2× 6×

28 March 2018 19:00	Flensburg-Handewitt	27–24	IFK Kristianstad	Flens-Arena, Flensburg Attendance: 5,221 Referees: Herczeg, Südi (HUN)
	Svan 5	(13–9)	Lipovac 7
	3× 1×	Report	3× 2×

Flensburg-Handewitt won 53–46 on aggregate.

24 March 2018 16:00	PGE Vive Kielce	41–17	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	Hala Legionów, Kielce Attendance: 4,100 Referees: Baďura, Ondogrecula (SVK)
	Jurecki, Štrlek 7	(21–8)	Keller 5
	1× 3×	Report	2× 6×

1 April 2018 19:00	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	30–36	PGE Vive Kielce	SAP Arena, Mannheim Attendance: 4,425 Referees: Elíasson, Pálsson (ISL)
	Schmid 8	(18–16)	Dujshebaev, Jurecki 5
	3× 3×	Report	4× 4×

PGE Vive Kielce won 77–47 on aggregate.

21 March 2018 19:00	THW Kiel	29–22	MOL-Pick Szeged	Sparkassen-Arena, Kiel Attendance: 8,500 Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
	Vujin 8	(14–14)	Bánhidi 5
	4× 4×	Report	3× 3×

1 April 2018 17:00	MOL-Pick Szeged	28–27	THW Kiel	Városi Sportcsarnok, Szeged Attendance: 3,200 Referees: Gjeding, Hansen (DEN)
	Källman 6	(12–13)	Wiencek 9
	1× 5×	Report	3× 5×

THW Kiel won 56–50 on aggregate.

Quarterfinals

Overview

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
THW Kiel	56–56	Vardar	28–29	28–27
PGE Vive Kielce	60–69	Paris Saint-Germain	28–34	32–35
Flensburg-Handewitt	45–57	Montpellier	28–28	17–29
HBC Nantes	60–54	Skjern Håndbold	33–27	27–27

Matches

22 April 2018 17:00	THW Kiel	28–29	Vardar	Sparkassen-Arena, Kiel Attendance: 9,500 Referees: Pichon, Reveret (FRA)
	three players 4	(12–14)	three players 5
	3× 4×	Report	1× 3×

29 April 2018 17:00	Vardar	27–28	THW Kiel	Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje Attendance: 5,500 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Borozan 6	(13–13)	three players 5
	3× 4×	Report	3× 5×

Vardar won 56–56 on aggregate on away goals.

21 April 2018 18:30	PGE Vive Kielce	28–34	Paris Saint-Germain	Hala Legionów, Kielce Attendance: 4,200 Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
	Dujshebaev 7	(10–22)	three players 5
	3× 4× 1×	Report	2× 4×

28 April 2018 17:30	Paris Saint-Germain	35–32	PGE Vive Kielce	Halle Georges Carpentier, Paris Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
	Remili 9	(17–15)	Bielecki, Dujshebaev 5
	4× 7×	Report	4× 7×

Paris Saint-Germain won 69–60 on aggregate.

18 April 2018 19:00	Flensburg-Handewitt	28–28	Montpellier	Flens-Arena, Flensburg Attendance: 4,503 Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
	three players 5	(17–15)	Fabregas 7
	3× 1×	Report	1× 5×

29 April 2018 19:00	Montpellier	29–17	Flensburg-Handewitt	Sud de France Arena, Montpellier Attendance: 7,500 Referees: Sondors, Līcis (LAT)
	Richardson 9	(14–9)	Svan 5
	3× 2×	Report	2× 5×

Montpellier won 57–45 on aggregate.

22 April 2018 19:00	HBC Nantes	33–27	Skjern Håndbold	Salle Sportive de la Trocardiere, Rezé Attendance: 4,600 Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Balaguer 8	(18–12)	Olsson 6
	3× 3×	Report	2× 3×

29 April 2018 16:50	Skjern Håndbold	27–27	HBC Nantes	Skjern Bank Arena, Skjern Attendance: 3,264 Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	Søndergaard 8	(12–15)	Gurbindo 6
	2× 4×	Report	4× 4×

HBC Nantes won 60–54 on aggregate.

Final four

The final four was held at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany on 26 and 27 May 2018.^[3] The draw was held on 2 May 2018.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Bracket

Semifinals		Final

26 May

HBC Nantes	32
		27 May
Paris Saint-Germain	28
		HBC Nantes	26
26 May
		Montpellier	32
Vardar	27

Montpellier	28
		Third place

		27 May

		Paris Saint-Germain	29

		Vardar	28

Semifinals

26 May 2018 15:15	HBC Nantes	32−28	Paris Saint-Germain	Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,250 Referees: Gjeding, Hansen (DEN)
	Lazarov, Tournat 8	(17–14)	Remili 6
	1× 5×	Report	2× 4×

26 May 2018 18:00	Vardar	27–28	Montpellier	Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,250 Referees: Elíasson, Pálsson (ISL)
	Borozan, Cindrić 6	(11–14)	Porte 8
	4× 2×	Report	3× 4×

Third place game

27 May 2018 15:15	Paris Saint-Germain	29–28	Vardar	Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,257 Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Remili 9	(14–15)	Cindrić 7
	3× 5×	Report	2× 4× 1×

Final

27 May 2018 18:00	HBC Nantes	26–32	Montpellier	Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,250 Referees: López, Ramírez (ESP)
	Lazarov 6	(13–16)	Fabregas, Simonet 6
	2× 2×	Report	1× 3×

References

^ 2017–18 overview
^ "Machtkampf der Verbände im Terminchaos eskaliert". rhein-neckar-loewen.de. 8 March 2018.
^ "Raluy and Sabroso to officiate final at VELUX EHF FINAL4". ehfcl.com. 7 May 2018.
^ "Noon draw at a familiar place". ehfcl.com. 24 April 2018.
^ "Two finalists and two newcomers in the FINAL4 draw pot". ehfcl.com. 1 May 2018.
^ "Cologne ready for ninth edition of VELUX EHF FINAL4". ehfcl.com. 2 May 2018.
^ "After 15 years, Montpellier top the podium again". ehfcl.com. 27 May 2018.

External links

Final four website

[cnote_A] 
Order of legs reversed after original draw.

[cnote_B] 
A scheduling conflict for the first leg resulted in the Rhein-Neckar Löwen only fielding their reserve team against Kielce while the first team played a Handball-Bundesliga match against THW Kiel on the same day.^[2]

[1] 2017–18 overview

[2] "Machtkampf der Verbände im Terminchaos eskaliert". rhein-neckar-loewen.de. 8 March 2018.

[3] "Raluy and Sabroso to officiate final at VELUX EHF FINAL4". ehfcl.com. 7 May 2018.

[4] "Noon draw at a familiar place". ehfcl.com. 24 April 2018.

[5] "Two finalists and two newcomers in the FINAL4 draw pot". ehfcl.com. 1 May 2018.

[6] "Cologne ready for ninth edition of VELUX EHF FINAL4". ehfcl.com. 2 May 2018.

[7] "After 15 years, Montpellier top the podium again". ehfcl.com. 27 May 2018.

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[B]

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