EHF Challenge Cup 2008/09

At the EHF Challenge Cup 2008/09 40 took Handball part -Vereinsmannschaften, who had qualified in the previous season in their home countries for the competition. It was the 9th edition of the Challenge Cup. The cup games began on October 10, 2008 and ended with the second final game on May 31, 2009. In the purely Romanian final, the defending champion UCM Sport Reșița was able to prevail against CSU Suceava.

mode

The competition started with 4 qualification tournaments, each with a group of 4 teams in which everyone played against everyone in a simple round . The first two of each group moved into round 3, in which other, higher-ranking teams got on. From this round, including the final, the game was played in a knockout system with a return leg. The winner of the final was the EHF Challenge Cup winner of the 2008/09 season.

Qualifying tournaments

All group matches took place from October 10, 2008 to October 12, 2008. Group A played in Čačak , Serbia , Group B in Innsbruck , Austria , Group C in Rubiera, Italy and Group D in Karlovac, Croatia .

Group A

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
01.	Switzerland Pathfinder Winterthur	03	02	01	0088:7300	+15	04th
02.	Serbia RK Mladost Čačak	03	02	01	0079:7600	+3	04th
03.	Czech Republic HK Lovosice	03	01	02	0076:8400	−8	02
04th	Ukraine Shakhtar Akademiya Donetsk	03	01	02	0076:8600	−10	02

Group B

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
01.	Austria ATSV Innsbruck	03	03	00	0105: 6500	+40	06th
02.	Russia Sungul Snezhinsk	03	02	01	0092:6800	+24	04th
03.	Turkey Bursa Nilüfer BK	03	01	02	0093:9000	+3	02
04th	England Manchester HC	03	00	03	0056: 1230	−67	00

Group C

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
01.	Italy Gammadue Secchia	03	03	00	0089:6400	+25	06th
02.	Greece AS Filippos Verias	03	02	01	0094:6700	+27	04th
03.	Bosnia and Herzegovina MRK Goražde	03	01	02	0081:7500	+6	02
04th	England Great Dane HC London	03	00	03	0051: 1090	−58	00

Group D

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
01.	Montenegro RK Budućnost Podgorica	03	02	01	00	0101: 6900	+32	05
02.	Croatia HRK Karlovac	03	02	01	00	0092:6900	+23	05
03.	Sweden LIF Lindesberg	03	01	00	02	0092:8000	+12	02
04th	England University of Manchester HC	03	00	00	03	0044: 1110	−67	00

Round 3

	total		First leg	Return leg
H 43 Lund Sweden	51: 61	Turkey Beşiktaş Istanbul	28:26	23:35
RK Budućnost Podgorica Montenegro	69 : 41	Bosnia and Herzegovina RK Sloga Doboj	32:22	37:19
RK Mladost Čačak Serbia	51: 57	Portugal CD São Bernardo	25:27	26:30
Vardar Skopje North Macedonia	54:54 ^*	Greece AS Filippos Verias	27:24	27:30
Bologna handball Italy	54: 58	Romania CSU Suceava	30:26	24:32
Gammadue Secchia Italy	69: 74	Romania CSM Bacau	33:39	36:35
HC Dinamo Poltava Ukraine	53:53 ^*	Belarus SKAF Minsk	23:26	30:27
RK Poreč Croatia	57: 62	Austria ATSV Innsbruck	31:29	26:33
UCM Sport Reșița Romania	65 : 51	Croatia HRK Karlovac	31:25	34:26
UHK Krems Austria	61 : 60	Switzerland Pathfinder Winterthur	34:30	27:30
PAOK Thessaloniki Greece	48:48 ^*	Russia Sungul Snezhinsk	23:23	25:25
MMTS Kwidzyn Poland	39: 42	Serbia RK Proleter Zrenjanin	24:19	15:23
HC Dobrudja Dobrich Bulgaria	60 : 59	Lithuania Dragūnas Klaipėda	35:31	25:28
Handball Esch Luxembourg	48: 70	Switzerland BSV Bern Muri	24:38	24:32
Mornar Bar Montenegro	44: 60	Portugal Marítimo Funchal	27:29	17:31
SKIF Krasnodar Russia	78 : 37	Estonia HC Tallas	39:17	39:20

^*Vardar Skopje, HC Dinamo Poltava and PAOK Thessaloniki advanced to the round of 16 due to the away goals rule .

Round of 16

	total		First leg	Return leg
PAOK Thessaloniki Greece	59: 60	Romania CSM Bacau	28:31	31:29
Beşiktaş Istanbul Turkey	50:50 ^*	Austria ATSV Innsbruck	25:24	25:26
UCM Sport Reșița Romania	63 : 46	North Macedonia Vardar Skopje	31:20	32:26
RK Budućnost Podgorica Montenegro	61 : 54	Portugal Marítimo Funchal	30:26	31:28
HC Dinamo Poltava Ukraine	52: 57	Austria UHK Krems	26:32	26:25
SKIF Krasnodar Russia	64:64 ^*	Switzerland BSV Bern Muri	33:35	31:29
RK Proleter Zrenjanin Serbia	59 : 50	Bulgaria HC Dobrudja Dobrich	33:19	26:31
CD São Bernardo Portugal	56: 62	Romania CSU Suceava	29:34	27:28

^*Beşiktaş Istanbul and BSV Bern Muri moved into the quarter-finals due to the away goals rule .

Quarter finals

	total		First leg	Return leg
UCM Sport Reșița Romania	67 : 47	Serbia RK Proleter Zrenjanin	37:25	30:22
UHK Krems Austria	50: 61	Romania CSU Suceava	26:29	24:32
BSV Bern Muri Switzerland	66 : 65	Romania CSM Bacau	38:28	28:37
RK Budućnost Podgorica Montenegro	50: 51	Turkey Beşiktaş Istanbul	27:25	23:26

Semifinals

	total		First leg	Return leg
Beşiktaş Istanbul Turkey	47: 58	Romania UCM Sport Reșița	26:26	21:32
CSU Suceava Romania	69 : 57	Switzerland BSV Bern Muri	35:31	34:26

final

The first leg took place on May 24, 2009 in Reșița and the second leg on May 31, 2009 in Suceava . UCM Sport Reșița wins the third cup in a row under Aihan Omer. At that time, he and the coach of the second finalist, Petru Ghervan, were also responsible for the Romanian national team .

	total		First leg	Return leg
UCM Sport Reșița Romania	50 : 47	Romania CSU Suceava	25:27	25:20

Individual evidence

↑ 2008/09 Men's Challenge Cup / Final. In: eurohandball.com. European Handball Federation , accessed on May 2, 2019 .
↑ 2008/09 Men's European Cup / Challenge Cup - Qualification Tournament 2. (PDF) In: eurohandball.com. European Handball Federation , accessed May 1, 2019 .
↑ Gabriel Toderascu: Suceava, în finala! In: monitorulsv.ro. Monitorul de Suceava, May 4, 2009, accessed May 2, 2019 (Romanian).

[1] 2008/09 Men's Challenge Cup / Final. In: eurohandball.com. European Handball Federation , accessed on May 2, 2019 .

[2] 2008/09 Men's European Cup / Challenge Cup - Qualification Tournament 2. (PDF) In: eurohandball.com. European Handball Federation , accessed May 1, 2019 .

[mon-3] Gabriel Toderascu: Suceava, în finala! In: monitorulsv.ro. Monitorul de Suceava, May 4, 2009, accessed May 2, 2019 (Romanian).