2025–26 EHF Champions League

This article is about the men's competition. For the women's competition, see 2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League.
EHF Champions League
2025–26
Tournament information
SportHandball
Dates10 September 2025–14 June 2026
Teams16
Websiteehfcl.com
Tournament statistics
Matches played80
Goals scored4977 (62.21 per match)
Attendance350,389 (4,380 per match)
Top scorer(s)Mathias Gidsel
(83 goals)

The 2025–26 EHF Champions League is the 66th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament, running from 10 September 2025 to 14 June 2026.

SC Magdeburg are the defending champions.

Format

The tournament will run using the same format as the previous three seasons. The competition begins with a group stage featuring sixteen teams divided into two groups. Matches are played in a double round-robin system with home-and-away fixtures, fourteen in total for each team. In Groups A and B, the top two teams automatically qualify for the quarter-finals, with teams ranked third to sixth entering the playoff round.

The knockout stage includes four rounds: the playoffs, quarter-finals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. In the playoffs, eight teams are paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches (third-placed in group A plays sixth-placed group B; fourth-placed group A plays fifth-placed group B, etc.). The four aggregate winners of the playoffs advance to the quarterfinals, joining the top-two teams of Groups A and B. The eight quarterfinalist teams are paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches, with the four aggregate winners qualifying to the final-four tournament.

In the final four tournament, the semifinals and the final are played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue.

Association ranking

Ten of the sixteen teams competing in the group stage will be determined through the EHF association ranking for the 2024–25 season, based on the results of the three previous seasons.[1] The remaining six places will be awarded as wildcards.

  • Associations ranked 1–9 have their league champion qualify for the group stage and can apply their league runner-up for a wildcard.
  • The best-ranked association in the EHF European League can have its league champion and runner-up qualify for the group stage, but cannot apply for a wildcard.
  • Associations ranked outside the top nine can only have their league champion apply for a wildcard.

Participating teams

The first ten teams were revealed on 18 June 2025.[3] The full list was announced on 24 June 2025.[4]

RK Zagreb (1st) Aalborg Håndbold (1st) Barcelona (1st) Paris Saint-Germain (1st)
Füchse Berlin (1st) SC Magdeburg (2nd) One Veszprém (1st) Orlen Wisła Płock (1st)
Sporting CP (1st) CS Dinamo București (1st) GOG Håndbold (2nd) WC HBC Nantes (2nd) WC
SC Pick Szeged (2nd) WC RK Eurofarm Pelister (1st) WC Kolstad Håndball (2nd) WC Industria Kielce (2nd) WC
  • WC Accepted wildcards

Rejected wildcards

FC Porto (2nd) RD LL Grosist Slovan (1st) Kadetten Schaffhausen (1st)

Group stage

Location of teams of the 2025–26 EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B.
Main article: 2025–26 EHF Champions League group stage

The 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight. Teams from the same national association could not be drawn into the same group. The draw took place on 27 June 2025.[4][5]

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:

  1. Highest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved;
  2. Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved;
  3. Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved;
  4. Superior goal difference in all matches of the group;
  5. Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group;
  6. Drawing of Lots

A total of 11 national associations were represented in the group stage. GOG Håndbold came back after a year absence.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BER AAL VES SPO KIE NAN KOL BUC
1 Füchse Berlin (T) 10 9 0 1 343 311 +32 18 Quarterfinals — 31–28 38–34 33–29 26 Feb 12 Mar 38–27 32–31
2 Aalborg Håndbold (T) 10 8 1 1 319 280 +39 17 4 Mar — 32–28 35–30 34–27 31–24 18 Feb 34–28
3 Telekom Veszprém (T) 10 6 0 4 337 314 +23 12 Playoffs 31–32 12 Mar — 32–31 35–33 30–25 42–34 25 Feb
4 Sporting CP 10 5 0 5 340 337 +3 10 37–38 26 Feb 33–32 — 41–37 28–39 44–31 12 Mar
5 Industria Kielce 10 4 1 5 321 326 −5 9 32–37 32–32 19 Feb 4 Mar — 27–35 38–27 34–32
6 HBC Nantes 10 4 0 6 315 298 +17 8 34–40 27–28 5 Mar 19 Feb 29–33 — 39–24 35–28
7 Kolstad Håndball 10 2 0 8 287 365 −78 4 28–24 26–35 29–43 30–34 12 Mar 25 Feb — 31–28
8 CS Dinamo București 10 1 0 9 284 315 −31 2 19 Feb 27–30 27–30 30–33 24–28 29–28 5 Mar —
Updated to match(es) played on 4 December 2025. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification MAG BAR PLO SZE GOG PAR PEL ZAG
1 SC Magdeburg (T) 10 10 0 0 336 279 +57 20 Quarterfinals — 5 Mar 27–26 40–32 18 Feb 37–31 36–26 27–22
2 Barça (T) 10 9 0 1 328 273 +55 18 21–22 — 30–24 31–28 37–32 38–33 11 Mar 26 Feb
3 Orlen Wisła Płock (T) 10 6 0 4 303 300 +3 12 Playoffs 26 Feb 24–34 — 11 Mar 34–35 35–32 36–25 30–27
4 SC Pick Szeged 10 5 0 5 309 293 +16 10 30–34 18 Feb 33–34 — 5 Mar 31–29 35–20 32–26
5 GOG Håndbold 10 4 0 6 315 341 −26 8 30–39 28–41 28–30 31–36 — 28–31 25 Feb 11 Mar
6 Paris Saint-Germain 10 3 0 7 314 324 −10 6 11 Mar 27–30 29–30 26 Feb 34–36 — 33–27 35–32
7 RK Eurofarm Pelister 10 2 0 8 255 310 −55 4 26–31 30–34 19 Feb 25–24 28–31 4 Mar — 25–23
8 RK Zagreb 10 1 0 9 271 311 −40 2 35–43 25–32 4 Mar 23–28 31–36 18 Feb 27–23 —
Updated to match(es) played on 4 December 2025. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated

Knockout stage

Main article: 2025–26 EHF Champions League knockout stage

Playoffs

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
B6 M1 A3 1–2 Apr 8–9 Apr
A6 M2 B3 1–2 Apr 8–9 Apr
B5 M3 A4 1–2 Apr 8–9 Apr
A5 M4 B4 1–2 Apr 8–9 Apr

Quarterfinals

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
M4 – A1 29–30 Apr 6–7 May
M3 – B1 29–30 Apr 6–7 May
M2 – A2 29–30 Apr 6–7 May
M1 – B2 29–30 Apr 6–7 May

Final four

The final four will be held at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany on 13 and 14 June 2026.

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
13 June
 
 
 
 
14 June
 
 
 
 
 
13 June
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Third place
 
 
14 June
 
 
 
 
 
 

Final

14 June 2026 WSF1 v WSF2 Lanxess Arena, Cologne

Top goalscorers

As of 4 December 2025[6]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Elohim Prandi Paris Saint-Germain 84
2 Mathias Gidsel Füchse Berlin 83
3 Frederik Bjerre GOG Håndbold 78
4 Francisco Costa Sporting CP 70
5 Melvyn Richardson Orlen Wisła Płock 67
6 Ómar Ingi Magnússon SC Magdeburg 64
7 Nedim Remili One Veszprém 62
8 Aleix Gómez Barcelona 61
9 Orri Freyr Þorkelsson Sporting CP 60
10 Mario Šoštarić SC Pick Szeged 59

See also

References

  1. ^ https://www.eurohandball.com/en/news/en/place-distribution-released-for-202526-season/
  2. ^ "EHF Club Competitions 2025/26" (PDF). eurohandball.com. 2 August 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  3. ^ "19 clubs registered for Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  4. ^ a b "EHF confirms upgrades to EHF Champions League". eurohandball.com. 24 June 2025. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  5. ^ "EHF Champions League 2025/26 takes shape after group phase draws". EHF. 27 June 2025.
  6. ^ "Top Scorers". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
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