Faster and faster
A statistic where the Danish side is definitely not average is, as mentioned earlier, pace. With 61.7 possessions per game, only Metz Handball have slightly faster games (61.0) than Ikast. Nevertheless, in attack, Krim, who have 57.3 possessions per game (seventh most), have shorter possessions, lasting 28.5 seconds on average, which is the fourth quickest.
Ikast are only marginally slower in fifth place, at 30.5 seconds.
But the reason for their fast paced games is on the defensive side. Ikast’s opponents have the shortest possessions with just 26.6 seconds on average. Krim’s opponents, in contrast, take 32.3 seconds per possession, the fourth longest.
For Ikast, there are no numbers available for the previous seasons, since they didn’t play in the EHF Champions League, but the development of Krim’s pace statistics reflect the general trend.
After the new rules that made throw-offs easier and allowed for only four passes instead of six after the referees’ signal for passive play were introduced one year ago, the game became faster.
In 2021/22, before the new rules, Krim had 54.2 possessions per game, one season later it was 55.4, and this season they are at 57.3. For the whole competition the average possessions per game was relatively stable before it saw an increase by 3.2 per cent from 54.0 possessions per game in 2022/23 to 55.8.
This season, after three gamedays, the average is 57.1 possessions per game, which is another season-on-season increase by 2.3 per cent.
The new increase is not just because it’s the first three games and the players' legs are still fresh. At this stage last season, the average possessions per game (56.1 after 24 games) was just slightly higher than the whole season average. Two seasons ago the average after three gamedays was even slower than the average for the whole season; just 52.7.
So, it seems that last year’s development through the new rules could have increased further. Newcomers Ikast are definitely one of the main drivers of this development. When they play Krim on Sunday, the Danish side will definitely try to push the pace and use it to their advantage. It will be very interesting to see if Krim will try to match them, or rather, slow the game down.
The Slovenian side, on the other hand, overall has the slightly better statistics but after only three games the sample size is too small for more than early trends. But nevertheless, the winner of the game will definitely make an important step towards the next round with the fourth win.
More from data analyst Julian Rux can be found at Handballytics.de. There you can read his latest articles, in which he analyses all kinds of handball topics from new, data-based perspectives. You can also find him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.