2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League

This article is about the men's competition. For the men's competition, see 2025–26 EHF Champions League.
Women's EHF Champions League
2025–26
Tournament information
SportHandball
Dates6 September 2025–7 June 2026
Teams16
Websiteehfcl.com
Tournament statistics
Matches played64
Goals scored3807 (59.48 per match)
Attendance125,629 (1,963 per match)
Top scorer(s) Henny Reistad
(59 goals)

The 2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League is the 33rd edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament, running from 6 September 2025 to 7 June 2026.

Győri Audi ETO KC are the defending champions

Format

The tournament will use the same format as the previous seasons. The competition begins with a group stage featuring sixteen teams divided into two groups. Matches will be 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 3rd to 6th enter the playoff round.

The knockout stage include four rounds: the playoffs, quarter-finals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. In the playoffs, eight teams will be 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 will be 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 will be played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue.

Rankings

The rankings are based on the performances from the three most recent seasons.[1]

  • Associations 1–9 have their league champion qualify for the group stage and apply up to two wildcards.
  • The best-ranked association in the Women's EHF European League can have its league champion and runner-up qualified for the group stage and can apply for one wildcard.
  • Associations below the top 9 have their league champion apply for a wildcard.

Ranking facts

Teams

19 teams applied for a place, with nine having a fixed place.[3] The final list was announced on 24 June 2025.[4]

The fixed place for Russia was vacant since the country and its clubs were not admitted to participate in the EHF competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[5]

On 5 August 2025, after previously monitoring HB Ludwigsburg's financial situation,[6] the EHF decided to disqualify them after they failed to raise enough funds to play in the Champions League. They would be replaced by Sola HK.[7][8]

Participating teams
Entry round Teams
Fixed spots Győri Audi ETO KC (1st) Storhamar HE (1st) Team Esbjerg (2nd) Odense Håndbold (1st)
Metz Handball (1st) CSM București (1st) RK Krim Mercator (1st) OTP Group Budućnost (1st)
Wildcards FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria (2nd) DVSC Schaeffler (4th) Sola HK (2nd) Ikast Håndbold (3rd)
Brest Bretagne Handball (2nd) CS Gloria Bistrița (3rd) Borussia Dortmund (2nd) HC Podravka Vegeta (1st)
Rejected upgrades
Tertnes HE (5th) CS Minaur Baia Mare (4th)
Withdrawn
HB Ludwigsburg (1st)

Group stage

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

The 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight. The draw took place on 27 June 2025.[4][9]

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 was 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

This season, nine national associations are present. Sola HK will make their debut this season. Borussia Dortmund made their return to the Champions League for the first time since 2021–22. Ikast Håndbold and DVSC Schaeffler return after a one edition absence.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification GYO MET BIS ESB DEB STO DOR BUD
1 Győri Audi ETO KC 8 8 0 0 282 203 +79 16 Quarterfinals — 31–27 33–18 31–30 17 Jan 40–23 22 Feb 7 Feb
2 Metz Handball 8 7 0 1 259 211 +48 14 10 Jan — 7 Feb 22 Feb 33–26 17 Jan 38–29 38–18
3 CS Gloria Bistrița 8 6 0 2 244 248 −4 12 Playoffs 25 Jan 24–31 — 38–35 15 Feb 29–26 36–32 10 Jan
4 Team Esbjerg 8 4 1 3 262 239 +23 9 14 Feb 29–30 18 Jan — 25 Jan 30–24 36–29 36–24
5 DVSC Schaeffler 8 2 0 6 229 250 −21 4 30–36 30–35 33–34 29–32 — 10 Jan 7 Feb 22 Feb
6 Storhamar HE 8 2 0 6 201 224 −23 4 25–32 24–2 22 Feb 7 Feb 28–30 — 25 Jan 25–14
7 Borussia Dortmund 8 2 0 6 232 265 −33 4 30–43 15 Feb 32–36 11 Jan 28–26 22–26 — 30–24
8 OTP Group Budućnost 8 0 1 7 184 253 −69 1 20–36 25 Jan 26–29 34–34 24–25 15 Feb 17 Jan —
Updated to match(es) played on 16 November 2025. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BRE ODE FER IKA BUC KOP KRI SOL
1 Brest Bretagne Handball 8 7 0 1 263 224 +39 14 Quarterfinals — 24 Jan 34–31 17 Jan 34–31 33–25 32–20 14 Feb
2 Odense Håndbold 8 6 1 1 267 239 +28 13 31–40 — 21 Feb 35–28 11 Jan 7 Feb 30–21 32–27
3 FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria 8 5 0 3 243 231 +12 10 Playoffs 29–28 32–34 — 27–24 14 Feb 18 Jan 24 Jan 26–25
4 Ikast Håndbold 8 5 0 3 240 231 +9 10 33–36 15 Feb 10 Jan — 28–27 36–30 27–25 25 Jan
5 CSM București 8 4 0 4 252 242 +10 8 7 Feb 30–36 31–28 21 Feb — 34–24 18 Jan 34–31
6 HC Podravka Vegeta 8 2 1 5 230 252 −22 5 11 Jan 31–31 33–37 29–33 24 Jan — 14 Feb 31–26
7 RK Krim Mercator 8 2 0 6 206 242 −36 4 21 Feb 30–38 22–33 8 Feb 31–27 22–27 — 11 Jan
8 Sola HK 8 0 0 8 213 253 −40 0 24–26 17 Jan 7 Feb 22–31 30–38 21 Feb 28–35 —
Updated to match(es) played on 16 November 2025. Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Knockout stage

Playoffs

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
B6 M1 A3 21–22 Mar 28–29 Mar
A6 M2 B3 21–22 Mar 28–29 Mar
B5 M3 A4 21–22 Mar 28–29 Mar
A5 M4 B4 21–22 Mar 28–29 Mar

Quarterfinals

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
M4 – A1 18–19 Apr 25–26 Apr
M3 – B1 18–19 Apr 25–26 Apr
M2 – A2 18–19 Apr 25–26 Apr
M1 – B2 18–19 Apr 25–26 Apr

Final four

The final four will held at the MVM Dome, Budapest, Hungary on 6 and 7 June 2026.

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
6 June
 
 
 
 
7 June
 
 
 
 
 
6 June
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Third place
 
 
7 June
 
 
 
 
 
 

Top goalscorers

As of 16 November 2025[10]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Henny Reistad Team Esbjerg 59
2 Sarah Bouktit Metz Handball 52
Katarina Pandza HC Podravka Vegeta
Julie Scaglione Ikast Håndbold
5 Elizabeth Omoregie CSM București 47
6 Katrin Klujber FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria 45
Matea Pletikosić HC Podravka Vegeta
8 Danila So Delgado CS Gloria Bistrița 44
Anna Vyakhireva Brest Bretagne Handball
10 Alicia Toublanc DVSC Schaeffler 43

See also

References

  1. ^ "Place distribution released for 2025/26 season". eurohandball.com. 2 August 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  2. ^ "EHF Club Competitions 2025/26" (PDF). eurohandball.com. 2 August 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  3. ^ "19 clubs registered for EHF Champions League Women 2025/26". eurohandball.com. 5 June 2025. Retrieved 5 June 2025.
  4. ^ a b "EHF confirms upgrades to EHF Champions League". eurohandball.com. 24 June 2025. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  5. ^ "EHF Court of Handball rejects Russia appeal against ban". insidethegames.biz. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  6. ^ "EHF statement regarding the situation of HB Ludwigsburg". www.eurohandball.com.
  7. ^ "Sola HK replace HB Ludwigsburg at EHFCL Women 2025/26". www.eurohandball.com.
  8. ^ Media, Tekst: Sola; McDowell 05/08/2025, Foto: Kenneth. "Vi skal spille Champions League 2025/26!". Retrieved Sep 14, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "EHF Champions League 2025/26 takes shape after group phase draws". EHF. 27 June 2025.
  10. ^ "Top Scorers". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
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