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Women's EHF European League
2020–21
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	10 October 2020–9 May 2021
Teams	30 (Qualification stage); 16 (Group stage)
Website	ehfel.com
Final positions
Champions	Nantes Atlantique
Runner-up	Siófok KC
Tournament statistics
Top scorer(s)	Bruna de Paula ; (68 goals)
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 Women's EHF European League was the 40th edition of EHF's second-tier women's handball competition, running from 10 October 2020 to 9 May 2021.^[1] The tournament was previously called Women's EHF Cup.^[2]

There was no defending champion, after last season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overview

Team allocation

Group stage
Herning-Ikast Håndbold	Siófok KC	CS Minaur Baia Mare	HC Lada
Round 3
DHK Baník Most	Nykøbing Falster Håndbold	Viborg HK	Super Amara Bera Bera
Fleury Loiret Handball	Nantes Atlantique Handball	HSG Blomberg-Lippe	TuS Metzingen
DVSC Schaeffler	Váci NKSE	Byåsen Håndball Elite	Storhamar Håndball Elite
MKS Perła Lublin	SCM Gloria Buzău	Astrakhanochka	HC Zvezda
H 65 Höörs HK	Kastamonu Belediyesi GSK
Round 2
Hypo Niederösterreich	WAT Atzgersdorf	Paris 92	Thüringer HC
Alba Fehérvár KC	Molde Elite	Tertnes Håndball Elite	HC Dunărea Brăila
Kuban	LC Brühl Handball	IUVENTA Michalovce	Lugi HF

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria).^[3]^[4]^[5] The EHF announced that the originally planned first qualification round in September would be skipped.

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualification	Second qualifying round	28 July 2020	10–11 October 2020	17–18 October 2020
Qualification	Third qualifying round	20 October 2020	14–15 November 2020	21–22 November 2020
Group stage	Matchday 1	26 November 2020	9–10 January 2021
	Matchday 2		16–17 January 2021
	Matchday 3		23–24 January 2021
	Matchday 4		6–7 February 2021
	Matchday 5		13–14 February 2021
	Matchday 6		20–21 February 2021
Knockout phase	Quarter-finals	no draw	27–28 March 2021	3–4 April 2021
	Semi finals	15 April 2021	8 May 2021
	Final	no draw	9 May 2021

Qualification stage

Round 2

There were 12 teams participating in round 2. The first legs were played on 10–11 October and the second legs were played on 16–17 October 2020.^[6]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
HC Dunărea Brăila	53–52 ¹	Tertnes Håndball Elite	28–26	25–26
Molde Elite	58–40	Hypo Niederösterreich	28–19	30–21
Paris 92	65–40 ²	IUVENTA Michalovce	36–14	29–26
WAT Atzgersdorf	45–81	Thüringer HC	24–39	21–42
Lugi HF	(wo)	Kuban	–	–
LC Brühl Handball	(wo)	Alba Fehérvár KC	–	–

Notes

¹ Both legs were hosted by HC Dunărea Brăila.

² Both legs were hosted by Paris 92.

Round 3

A total of 24 teams entered the draw for the third qualification round, which was held on Tuesday, 20 October 2020.^[7]

Pot 1

Pot 2

The first legs were played on 14–15 November and the second legs were played on 21–22 November 2020.^[8]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Super Amara Bera Bera	51–56	HC Zvezda	27–27	24–29
Kastamonu Belediyesi GSK	31–30 ¹	DVSC Schaeffler	31–30	–
Byåsen Håndball Elite	(wo)	MKS Perła Lublin	–	–
HC Dunărea Brăila	58–52 ²	Viborg HK	26–24	32–28
Paris 92	56–42	Nykøbing Falster Håndbold	28–16	28–26
Thüringer HC	57–51	HSG Blomberg-Lippe	27–31	30–20
Astrakhanochka	(wo)	Molde Elite	–	–
Fleury Loiret Handball	57–50	H 65 Höörs HK	29–26	28–24
Nantes Atlantique HB	44–43	SCM Gloria Buzău	23–16	21–27
Alba Fehérvár KC	(wo)	Storhamar Håndball Elite	–	–
DHK Baník Most	41–42 ¹	Váci NKSE	–	41–42
Kuban	(wo)	TuS Metzingen	–	–

Notes

¹ Teams agreed to decide the winner of their tie based one match.

² Both legs were hosted by HC Dunărea Brăila.

Group stage

The draw for the group phase was held on Thursday, 26 November 2020. In each group, teams played against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches.

Tiebreakers
In the group stage, teams were 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: Highest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved; Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved; Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved (or in the away match in case of a two-team tie); Superior goal difference in all matches of the group; 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.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	HIH	ZVE	PAR	VAC
1	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	6	5	1	198	160	+38	10	Quarterfinals	—	34–25	25–23	39–29
2	HC Zvezda	6	3	3	135	135	0	6^[a]	Quarterfinals	31–39	—	10–0	29–33
3	Paris 92	6	3	3	93	101	−8	6^[a]		26–23	0–10	—	10–0
4	Váci NKSE	6	1	5	150	180	−30	2		26–38	29–30	33–34	—

Source: EHF
Notes:

^ ^a ^b HC Zvezda 10–10 Paris 92, HC Zvezda advanced on superior goal difference.

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	NAN	LAD	LUB	KAS
1	Nantes Atlantique	6	4	0	2	120	115	+5	8	Quarterfinals	—	0–10	25–21	35–26
2	HC Lada	6	3	0	3	117	115	+2	6	Quarterfinals	32−29	—	30–24	27–29
3	MKS Perla Lublin	6	2	1	3	130	125	+5	5^[a]		26–31	28–23	—	35–26
4	Kastamonu Bld. GSK	6	2	1	3	130	142	−12	5^[a]		26–29	29–25	20–20	—

Source: EHF
Notes:

^ ^a ^b MKS Perla Lublin 55–46 Kastamonu Bld. GSK

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	BAI	AST	STO	THU
1	CS Minaur Baia Mare	6	5	1	150	116	+34	10	Quarterfinals	—	30–27	33−29	10–0
2	Astrakhanochka	6	4	2	137	112	+25	8	Quarterfinals	33–27	—	10–0	10–0
3	Storhamar Håndball Elite	6	2	4	157	182	−25	4		27–40	33–28	—	32–30
4	Thüringer HC	6	1	5	93	127	−34	2		0–10	22–29	41–36	—

Source: EHF

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	SIO	DUN	KUB	FLE
1	Siófok KC	6	5	1	0	181	154	+27	11	Quarterfinals	—	31–24	28−28	29–28
2	HC Dunărea Brăila	6	3	1	2	170	167	+3	7	Quarterfinals	25–27	—	36–32	29–27
3	Kuban	6	2	2	2	130	120	+10	6		25–31	25–25	—	10–0
4	Fleury Loiret	6	0	0	6	104	144	−40	0		24–35	25–31	0–10	—

Source: EHF

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
HC Lada	54–59	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	29–31	25–28
Zvezda Zvenigorod	57–63	Nantes Atlantique HB	29–33	28–30
Dunărea Brăila	49–58	CS Minaur Baia Mare	24–31	25–27
Astrakhanochka	54–61	Siófok KC	26–32	28–29

Matches

27 March 2021 14:00	HC Lada	29–31	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	Olymp Sportlomplex, Togliatti Attendance: 480 Referees: Ünlü Hatipoğlu, Şimşek (TUR)
	Shamanouskaya 6	(17–17)	Fauske 8
	1× 3×	Report	1× 3×

3 April 2021 14:00	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	28–25	HC Lada	IBF Arena, Ikast Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Geraets, Geraets (NED)
	Fauske 9	(13–13)	Shcherbak 5
	1× 2×	Report	4×

27 March 2021 18:00	HC Zvezda	29–33	Nantes Atlantique HB	Olimpiysky Sport Palace, Chekhov Attendance: 500 Referees: Butskevich, Butskevich (BLR)
	two players 6	(16–16)	Kpodar 8
	1× 2×	Report	1× 4×

4 April 2021 14:00	Nantes Atlantique HB	30–28	HC Zvezda	Complexe sportif Mangin-Beaulieu, Nantes Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Lidacka, Lesiak (POL)
	de Paula 6	(15–13)	Nikolaeva, Nikitina 6
	2× 5×	Report	1× 7×

27 March 2021 16:00	HC Dunărea Brăila	24–31	CS Minaur Baia Mare	Sala Polivalentă Danubius, Brăila Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Bytyqi, Kasapi (KOS)
	Dmitrović 7	(12–12)	Kovačević 8
	1× 3×	Report	1× 4×

4 April 2021 16:00	CS Minaur Baia Mare	27–25	HC Dunărea Brăila	Lascăr Pană Sports Hall, Baia Mare Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Sirbu, Serdiuc (MDA)
	Kovačević 7	(13–14)	Kanaval 6
	2×	Report	1× 3×

2 April 2021 19:00	HC Astrakhanochka	26–32	Siófok KC	Kiss Szilárd Sportcsarnok, Siófok Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Manea, Iliescu (ROU)
	Zelenkova 7	(14–16)	Tomori 9
	3× 3×	Report	3× 1×

4 April 2021 14:00	Siófok KC	29–28	HC Astrakhanochka	Kiss Szilárd Sportcsarnok, Siófok Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Manea, Iliescu (ROU)
	Niombla 9	(15–13)	Zelenkova 8
	3× 2×	Report	2× 4×

Final four

The final four was held at the Sala Sporturilor Lascăr Pană in Baia Mare, Romania on 8 and 9 May 2021. The draw was made on 15 April 2021.^[9]

Bracket

Semifinals		Final

8 May

Nantes Atlantique HB	36
		9 May
CS Minaur Baia Mare	34
		Nantes Atlantique HB	36
8 May
		Siófok KC	31
Siófok KC	36

Herning-Ikast Håndbold	34
		Third place

		9 May

		CS Minaur Baia Mare	33

		Herning-Ikast Håndbold	31

Semifinals

8 May 2021 14:45	Nantes Atlantique HB	36–34	CS Minaur Baia Mare	Sala Sporturilor Lascăr Pană, Baia Mare Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Praštalo, Balvan (BIH)
	Hagman 11	(21–15)	Araújo 7
	2× 3×	Report	1× 5×

8 May 2021 18:00	Siófok KC	36–34 (a. e. t.)	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	Sala Sporturilor Lascăr Pană, Baia Mare Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Ilieva, Karbeska (MKD)
	Horacek 7	(19–18)	Kristensen 8
	2× 2×	Report	3× 1×

Third place game

9 May 2021 14:45	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	31–33	CS Minaur Baia Mare	Sala Sporturilor Lascăr Pană, Baia Mare Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Lidacka, Lesiak (POL)
	Johansen 6	(19–16)	Kovačević 11
	2× 2×	Report	3×

Final

9 May 2021 18:00	Siófok KC	31–36	Nantes Atlantique HB	Sala Sporturilor Lascăr Pană, Baia Mare Attendance: 0^{[note 1]} Referees: Vranes, Wenninger (AUT)
	Tóth 7	(13–17)	Hagman 7
	1× 6×	Report	1× 3×

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[10]
1	Bruna de Paula	Nantes Atlantique HB	68
2	Helene Gigstad Fauske	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	61
3	Jovana Kovačević	CS Minaur Baia Mare	55
4	Aneta Udriștioiu	HC Dunărea Brăila	51
5	Tamara Horacek	Siófok KC	49
6	Déborah Kpodar	Nantes Atlantique HB	48
7	Amanda Kurtović	Kastamonu Bld. GSK	46
8	Katarina Ježić	Siófok KC	44
9	Natalia Nikitina	Zvezda Zvenigorod	43
10	Maria Kanaval	HC Dunărea Brăila	42