# 2016–17 Handball Liga Austria

The 2016–17 Handball Liga Austria is the 56th season of the Handball Liga Austria, Austrian's top-tier handball league. A total of ten teams contest this season's league, which began on 2 September 2016 and is scheduled to conclude in June 2017.
HC Fivers Margareten are the defending champions, having beaten Bregenz Handball 2–0 in the previous season's playoff finals.

## Format

The competition format for the 2016–17 season consists of two phases, both played in a home-and-away double round-robin system. The first five teams qualifies for a first play-off round, while the last five plays a play-down round. At the end of this second round, the five teams of the play-off round and the top three teams of the play-down round plays elimination rounds. The last two plays a relegation round.

## Teams

The following 10 clubs compete in the Handball Liga Austria during the 2016–17 season. HSG Bärnbach/Köflach was relegated from the previous season and SC Ferlach was promoted from 2015-16 Handball Bundesliga Austria.
| Team | City | Arena |
| Alpla HC Hard | Hard | Sporthalle am See |
| Bregenz Handball | Bregenz | Handball-Arena Rieden Vorkloster |
| Sparkasse Schwaz Handball Tirol | Schwaz | Osthalle Schwaz |
| HC Fivers Wat Margareten | Wien | Sporthalle Margareten |
| HC Bruck | Bruck an der Mur | Hannes-Bammer-Sporthalle |
| HC Linz AG | Linz | Sport-Neue Mittelschule Linz Kleinmünchen |
| Moser Medical UHK Krems | Krems an der Donau | Sport • Halle • Krems |
| SC kelag Ferlach | Ferlach | Ballspielhalle Ferlach |
| SG Insignis Handball West Wien | Wien | BSFZ Südstadt |
| Union Juri Leoben | Leoben | Sporthalle Leoben-Donawitz |

## First phase
### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Alpla HC Hard | 18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 549 | 465 | +84 | 27 | Top Play-offs |
| 2 | HC Fivers Wat Margareten | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 530 | 479 | +51 | 24 | Top Play-offs |
| 3 | Bregenz Handball | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 513 | 472 | +41 | 22 | Top Play-offs |
| 4 | Moser Medical UHK Krems | 18 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 523 | 494 | +29 | 22 | Top Play-offs |
| 5 | SG Insignis Handball West Wien | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 511 | 488 | +23 | 21 | Top Play-offs |
| 6 | Sparkasse Schwaz Handball Tirol | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 498 | 471 | +27 | 21 | Bottom Play-offs |
| 7 | SC kelag Ferlach | 18 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 510 | 557 | −47 | 17 | Bottom Play-offs |
| 8 | HC Linz AG | 18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 498 | 553 | −55 | 14 | Bottom Play-offs |
| 9 | Union Juri Leoben | 18 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 477 | 530 | −53 | 7 | Bottom Play-offs |
| 10 | HC Bruck | 18 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 422 | 522 | −100 | 5 | Bottom Play-offs |

### Results

| Home \ Away | ALP | BRE | BRU | FER | FIV | KRE | LEO | LIN | TIR | WES |
| Alpla HC Hard | | 29–25 | 27–19 | 38–20 | 37–30 | 31–31 | 29–23 | 40–27 | 27–26 | 30–26 |
| Bregenz Handball | 23–22 | | 27–22 | 25–24 | 25–26 | 32–28 | 38–22 | 32–23 | 34–27 | 25–23 |
| HC Bruck | 28–34 | 26–33 | | 31–32 | 29–28 | 25–32 | 21–31 | 24–34 | 21–33 | 25–25 |
| SC kelag Ferlach | 30–37 | 33–29 | 26–22 | | 27–30 | 30–28 | 28–27 | 39–36 | 29–35 | 29–32 |
| HC Fivers Wat Margareten | 30–22 | 27–25 | 27–18 | 42–21 | | 28–26 | 33–27 | 35–23 | 25–23 | 27–22 |
| Moser Medical UHK Krems | 25–26 | 31–30 | 30–20 | 32–33 | 30–24 | | 29–28 | 32–29 | 29–26 | 35–30 |
| Union Juri Leoben | 22–37 | 27–31 | 25–32 | 28–33 | 28–29 | 23–24 | | 31–36 | 29–29 | 29–23 |
| HC Linz AG | 22–33 | 17–23 | 21–19 | 32–27 | 36–35 | 27–30 | 33–30 | | 30–29 | 24–30 |
| Sparkasse Schwaz Handball Tirol | 27–21 | 31–28 | 26–20 | 26–26 | 25–24 | 26–25 | 21–20 | 32–23 | | 28–28 |
| SG Insignis Handball West Wien | 31–29 | 34–28 | 31–20 | 27–23 | 35–30 | 26–26 | 24–27 | 32–25 | 32–28 | |

## Second phase

The points obtained during the regular season were halved (and rounded up) before the start of the playoff.

### Top play-offs

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ALP | FIV | BRE | KRE | WES |
| 1 | Alpla HC Hard | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 254 | 218 | +36 | 29 | Play-offs | | 32–31 | 32–19 | 37–29 | 29–26 |
| 2 | HC Fivers Wat Margareten | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 255 | 236 | +19 | 23 | Play-offs | 34–34 | | 30–26 | 29–26 | 37–26 |
| 3 | Bregenz Handball | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 222 | 220 | +2 | 19 | Play-offs | 24–27 | 37–31 | | 28–26 | 35–23 |
| 4 | Moser Medical UHK Krems | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 214 | 238 | −24 | 14 | Play-offs | 27–34 | 27–29 | 24–27 | | 26–25 |
| 5 | SG Insignis Handball West Wien | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 212 | 245 | −33 | 14 | Play-offs | 28–29 | 28–34 | 27–26 | 29–29 | |

### Bottom play-offs

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Relegation | TIR | LIN | FER | LEO | BRU |
| 1 | Sparkasse Schwaz Handball Tirol | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 225 | 187 | +38 | 26 | Play-offs | | 26–26 | 29–24 | 26–25 | 29–19 |
| 2 | HC Linz AG | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 214 | 218 | −4 | 15 | Play-offs | 21–28 | | 31–31 | 27–28 | 21–20 |
| 3 | SC kelag Ferlach | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 221 | 236 | −15 | 14 | Play-offs | 28–32 | 31–33 | | 28–32 | 26–30 |
| 4 | Union Juri Leoben | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 214 | 202 | +12 | 13 | Play-down | 23–26 | 30–22 | 29–30 | | 22–22 |
| 5 | HC Bruck | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 177 | 208 | −31 | 6 | Play-down | 21–29 | 24–33 | 20–23 | 21–25 | |

## Play-offs

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Alpla HC Hard | 30 | 36 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | SC kelag Ferlach | 20 | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | SC kelag Ferlach | 20 | 15 | | 1 | Alpla HC Hard | 30 | 29 | 30 | | | | |
| | | | | | 5 | SG Insignis Handball West Wien | 20 | 30 | 25 | | | | |
| 4 | Moser Medical UHK Krems | 35 | 31 | 22 | 5 | SG Insignis Handball West Wien | 20 | 30 | 25 | | | | |
| 5 | SG Insignis Handball West Wien | 27 | 32 | 26 | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | SG Insignis Handball West Wien | 27 | 32 | 26 | | | | | | 1 | Alpla HC Hard | 27 | 32 |
| | | | | | | | | | | 2 | HC Fivers Wat Margareten | 26 | 30 |
| 2 | HC Fivers Wat Margareten | 30 | 28 | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | HC Fivers Wat Margareten | 26 | 30 |
| 7 | HC Linz AG | 29 | 25 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | HC Linz AG | 29 | 25 | | 2 | HC Fivers Wat Margareten | 35 | 25 | | | | | |
| | | | | | 6 | Sparkasse Schwaz Handball Tirol | 32 | 24 | | | | | |
| 3 | Bregenz Handball | 24 | 23 | | 6 | Sparkasse Schwaz Handball Tirol | 32 | 24 | | | | | |
| 6 | Sparkasse Schwaz Handball Tirol | 27 | 28 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Relegation

| 19 May 19:00 | Union Juri Leoben | 28–21 | HC Bruck | Sporthalle Leoben/Donawitz, Leoben |
| 22 May 20:00 | HC Bruck | 25–23 | Union Juri Leoben | Sporthalle Bruck/Mur, Bruck an der Mur |
| 29 May 19:00 | Union Juri Leoben | 30–31 | HC Bruck | Sporthalle Leoben/Donawitz, Leoben |
HC Bruck won 2-1, Union Juri Leoben is relegated.