0 debutants, six former winners and 13 nations

16 clubs from 13 countries, with six former champions among them, will embark on the journey to the 13^th EHF FINAL4 in Cologne: Here are the most important numbers you need to know prior to the start of the group phase.

0 — Not a single team managed to defend the trophy in Cologne since the implementation of the EHF FINAL4 in 2010 — a total of 12 editions.

0 debutants are among the 16 teams competing in the EHF Champions League 2021/22 season.

1 trophy, showing the moment the ball hits the net, is the award the 16 teams play for. It was produced by the Spanish agency Sustain Awards by Oiko Design Office. For the first time ever, in the previous season, the men’s and women’s winners received the same trophy.

1 draw is needed from this point in the season until the EHF FINAL4 2022 — the one for the semi-finals. The other rounds leading towards the pinnacle event are decided by the final ranking of the group phase. The 13^th edition of the EHF FINAL4 will be played on 18 and 19 June 2022.

1 Danish team has made it to the final of the EHF Champions League: Aalborg Håndbold, in the previous season.

1 player transferred from the 2021 EHF Champions League winners to the team they beat in the final: Aron Palmarsson, who left Barça and joined Aalborg.

1 time only — in 2018 — there was no German or Spanish team at the EHF FINAL4.

1 EHF FINAL4 final needed to be decided by a penalty shootout: The 2016 edition, Kielce vs Veszprém (39:38).

2 changes only, compared to the previous season, occurred in the starting grid of the 2021/22 group phase: Montpellier replace Nantes as the second French participants, and Dinamo Bucuresti are in while Celje are out. The remaining 14 clubs are the same as last season.

2 coaches have led two different teams to the EHF Champions League trophies: Alfred Gislason (SC Magdeburg in 2002; THW Kiel in 2010 and 2012) and Talant Dujshebaev (Ciudad Real in 2006, 2008 and 2009; Kielce in 2016).

2 current coaches won the EHF Champions League as players together in the same team: Momir Ilic (new coach for Veszprém) and Filip Jicha (coach of THW Kiel) won the trophy together in 2010 and 2012 with Kiel.

2 group winners and runners-up qualify from the group phase directly to the quarter-finals.

2 teams per group, who finish seventh and eighth on the final table rankings, will see their international journey end after the first stage of the competition.

2 times in now 12 years have the defending champions made it back to Cologne: Kiel in 2013 and Vardar in 2018.

3 people have won the EHF Champions League Men as a player and a coach: Talant Dujshebaev, Roberto Parrondo and Filip Jicha. Dujshebaev won the competition in 1994 as a player with Santander (ESP) and in 2006, 2008 and 2009 as coach of Ciudad Real, before steering Kielce to their first trophy in 2016. Parrondo was a player in the successful Ciudad Real squad in 2008 and 2010, then led Vardar to the trophy in 2019. Filip Jicha won the trophy as a player in 2010 and 2012 and as a coach in 2020 — all with THW Kiel. Jicha is the only one to win in Cologne as both a player and a coach.

3 nations are represented by two participants in the 2021/22 season, as in 2020/21: France, Germany and Hungary.

3 teams from the EHF FINAL4 2020/21 are part of the 2021/22 group stage: Barça, Aalborg and PSG. Nantes did not qualify and will contest the European League.

4 previous EHF Champions League top scorers will be on court in the competition this season: Kiel's Niclas Ekberg (top scorer in 2019/20), Kielce’s Alex Dujshebaev (2018/19), and PSG’s Mikkel Hansen (2011/12 and 2015/16) and Nikola Karabatic (2006/07). Two other top scorers will be on the benches: Filip Jicha (top scorer in 2008/09 and 2009/10) is Kiel’s coach and Momir Ilic (2013/14 and 2014/15) is Veszprém’s coach.

4 current coaches of the 16 teams have won the EHF Champions League as coaches: Talant Dujshebaev (Kielce — with Ciudad Real and Kielce), Xavi Pascual (Bucharest — with Barça), Patrice Canayer (Montpellier — with Montpellier) and Raul Gonzalez (PSG — with Vardar).

4 current coaches of the 16 teams have won the Champions League as players: Talant Dujshebaev (Kielce — with Santander), Momir Ilic (Veszprém — with Kiel), Filip Jicha (Kiel — with Kiel) and Börge Lund (Elverum — with Kiel).

4 former or current IHF World Handball Players of the Year are part of the 16 squads of this Champions League season. Nikola Karabatic (PSG — 2007, 2014, 2016), Mikkel Hansen (PSG — 2011, 2015, 2018), Domagoj Duvnjak (Kiel — 2013) and Niklas Landin (Kiel — 2019). In addition, two coaches were once IHF Players of the Year: Talant Dujshebaev (Kielce — in 1994 and 1996) and Filip Jicha (Kiel — in 2010).

4 throw-off times across two days will see the same weekly schedule as in the previous season: On Wednesday and Thursday the EHF Champions League Men matches will start at 18:45 and 20:45 CET/CEST.

4 Barça players won their third EHF Champions League title with the Catalan side in June 2021: Aitor Arino, Raul Entrerrios (ended his career), Gonzalo Perez de Vargas and Cedric Sorhaindo (now playing for Bucharest). Aron Palmarsson (now Aalborg) secured his third trophy but won the first two with Kiel. Besides them, Nikola Karabatic, Viran Morros (both Paris Saint-Germain) and Ivan Cupic (Zagreb) are the treble winners among the current group phase players.

6 former or current EHF Champions League champions, representing 18 trophies, are part of the 2021/22 group phase: Barça (nine), Kiel (three), Montpellier (two), Vardar (two), Flensburg and Kielce (one each).

6 countries are represented by the previous 26 EHF Champions League title winners: Spain (15 titles), Germany (seven), France, North Macedonia (two each), Poland and Slovenia (one each).

9 times (1995–2000, 2011, 2015, 2021), Barça have won the EHF Champions League, making the club the record winners. In addition, they won the Champions Cup (forerunner competition of the Champions League) once. Kiel (2007, 2010, 2012, 2020) have taken four trophies, while Vardar (2017, 2019) and Montpellier (2003, 2018) each won two.

9 different Spanish coaches account for an overall of 18 EHF Champions League trophies so far: Valero Rivera (five), Dujshebaev (four), Pascual (three), Javier Cuesta, Julian Ruiz, Francisco Equisoain, Francesc Espar, Raul Gonzalez and Roberto Parrondo (each one). Dujshebaev, Parrondo and Gonzalez were the only ones to win the trophy with non-Spanish teams.

8 of the 16 current teams have been part of the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne: Barça, Nantes, Paris, Flensburg, Kiel, Veszprém, Kielce and Vardar.

13 goals, in the 2021 final Barça vs Aalborg (36:23), were the biggest margin in all 24 matches at the EHF FINAL4 at Cologne so far.

13 nations — the same as in the previous season — are represented by the 16 group phase participants: Belarus, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Ukraine. The only change was from Slovenia to Romania.

15 times, Spanish teams have won the EHF Champions League — Barça (nine), Ciudad Real (three), Santander, Irun and Portland (each one).

14 of the 16 current teams were part of the Champions League group phase in the previous season — all except Bucharest and Montpellier.

16 or 18 matches will be played by the four teams that make it to the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne (18 and 19 June 2022), depending on whether the semi-finalists skip the play-offs and qualify directly for the quarter-finals or not.

20 victories in 20 matches were taken by Barça in their perfect 2020/21 season.

20 times, Aron Palmarsson was on court at the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne — for Kiel, Veszprém and Barça — making him the record holder in terms of number of matches at the pinnacle weekend.

28 times (including the new season), Zagreb have been part of the EHF Champions League, ahead of Veszprém (27 participations) and Barça (25). 

68 goals were scored by Kiril Lazarov in his 14 EHF FINAL4 matches. The Macedonian, who plays for HBC Nantes, is the all-time top scorer of the event in Cologne.

132 matches are ahead until the winner of the EHF Champions League 2021/22 is confirmed in Cologne — 112 group matches, eight play-offs and quarter-finals, and four games at the EHF FINAL4.

254 victories in 332 EHF Champions League matches (besides 20 draws and 58 defeats) were taken by Barça so far, for them to top the all-time Champions League record table.

7,663 goals were scored in the 127 matches decided on court in the previous season, including 6,102 in the group phase, 835 in the play-offs, 483 in the quarter-finals and 243 at the EHF FINAL4.