EHF Champions League

This article is about the men's EHF Champions League. For the women's EHF Champions League, see Women's EHF Champions League.

EHF Champions League

Upcoming season or competition: 2024–25 EHF Champions League
Sport	Handball
Founded	1956; 69 years ago (1956)
No. of teams	16 (Group phase)
Country	EHF members
Confederation	EHF (Europe)
Most recent champion(s)	FC Barcelona (12th title)
Most titles	FC Barcelona (12 titles)
Level on pyramid	1
Official website	ehfcl.eurohandball.com

The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's competition is the EHF Champions League Men.

The EHF coefficient rank decides which teams have access and in which stage they enter.

Eligibility and qualifying

See also: EHF coefficient rank

Each year, the EHF publishes a ranking list of its member federations. The first 9 nations are automatically permitted to participate in the tournament with their national champion.^[1] The national federation ranked first place in the EHF European League, currently Germany,^[2] is awarded a second qualification berth for the domestic runner-up.^[3] The remaining six positions are designated through wildcards, with each national federation without two teams already qualified able to submit a single applicant.^[3] The wildcards are judged on five criteria: venue, TV, spectators, results in past EHF competitions and product management and digital.^[3]

Tournament format

Each year, the EHF publishes a ranking list of its member federations. The first nine nations are allowed to participate in the tournament with their national champion. In addition, the tenth spot is reserved for the best ranked national federation of the EHF European League Men. The national federations are allowed to request upgrades for their teams eligible to play in the EHF European League and based on the criteria list the EHF Executive Committee approves six upgrades.

The EHF Champions League is divided into four stages. All participating teams enter the competition in the group phase.

The current playing system has been introduced before the 2020/21 season.

Group phase

Since the 2020/21 season, the format sees two groups formed, with eight teams each in Group A and B. All the teams in each group play each other twice, in home and away matches (14 rounds in total). The first two teams in Groups A and B advance directly to the quarter-finals, while teams from positions three to six in each of these groups proceed to the playoff. The season is over for the last two teams in each group after the completion of the group phase.

Play off

The pairings for the playoff are decided by the placement of the teams at the end of the group phase (A6 vs B3, B6 vs A3, A5 vs B4 and B5 vs A4). Each pairing is decided via a home and away format, with the aggregate winners over the two legs advancing to the quarter-finals. The higher ranked teams in the group phase have the home right advantage in the second leg.

Quarter-finals

The pairings for the quarter-finals are also decided by the placement in the group phase (Winner of A5/B4 vs A1, Winner B5/A4 vs B1, Winner A6/B3 vs A2, Winner B6/A3 vs B2). The ties are decided through a home and away format, with the four winners over the two legs played in each pairing advancing to the EHF FINAL4. The higher ranked teams in the group phase have the home right advantage in the second leg.

EHF FINAL4

The official name for the men's EHF FINAL4 is the EHF FINAL4 Men. The participating EHF FINAL4 teams are paired for the semifinals through a draw and play the last two matches of the season over a single weekend at one venue. The two semi-finals are played on a Saturday, with the third-place game and final on a Sunday.

Brand Sound

Much like the visual brand identity, the brand sound identity will acoustically connect the various leagues and tournaments which fit under the EHF umbrella. For the EHF Brand Sound, the authors got to the core of "The Sound of Handball" and created a handball sound DNA as the recurring element across all audio-visual applications. The jump shot was identified as the most iconic and defining handball movement.

Through video analysis and motion tracking, the jump shot was extracted into a rhythmic design pattern. There are numerous application opportunities of the brand sound, which will be developed over time. First implementations of the new EHF Brand Sound will be heard in the EHF Champions League. The premium character of this tournament was translated into a modern sound design through a new EHF Champions League sound logo and anthem. Both will come to life in the arena and will consistently complement all audio-visual communications.

The previous anthem for the EHF Champions League is "Hymn of the Champions", used until the end of the 2019/20 season and exclusively written by Austrian film composer Roman Kariolou in 2007. The recording played during the entry ceremony before every game was performed by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Hernando.^[4]

Winners

European Champions Cup (organised by IHF)

Year		Final				Semi-final losers
		Champion	Score	Second place
1956–57 Details		Dukla Prague	21–13	Örebro SK		HG Kopenhagen	Paris UC
1958–59 Details		Redbergslids IK	18–13	Frisch Auf Göppingen		Helsingør IF	Dinamo București
1959–60 Details		Frisch Auf Göppingen	18–13	Aarhus GF		Dinamo București	Paris UC
1961–62 Details		Frisch Auf Göppingen	13–11	Partizan Bjelovar		Dukla Prague	IK Skovbakken
1962–63 Details		Dukla Prague	15–13	Dinamo București		Frisch Auf Göppingen	Ajax København
1964–65 Details		Dinamo București	13–11	Medveščak Zagreb		Grasshopper	Ajax København
1965–66 Details		SC DHfK Leipzig	16–14	Budapest Honvéd		Dukla Prague	Aarhus GF
1966–67 Details		VfL Gummersbach	17–13	Dukla Prague		SK Cuncevo	Dinamo București
1967–68 Details		Steaua București	13–11	Dukla Prague		Dynamo Berlin	Partizan Bjelovar
1969–70 Details		VfL Gummersbach	14–11	Dynamo Berlin		Steaua București	RK Crvenka
1970–71 Details		VfL Gummersbach	17–16	Steaua București		Sporting CP	Partizan Bjelovar
1971–72 Details		Partizan Bjelovar	19–14	VfL Gummersbach		MAI Moskva	Tatran Prešov
1972–73 Details		MAI Moskva	26–23	Partizan Bjelovar		SC Leipzig	SoIK Hellas
1973–74 Details		VfL Gummersbach	19–17	MAI Moskva		Oppsal IF Oslo	Červená Hviezda Bratislava
1974–75 Details		ASK Frankfurt/Oder	19–17	Borac Banja Luka		VfL Gummersbach	Steaua București
1975–76 Details		Borac Banja Luka	17–15	Fredericia KFUM		VfL Gummersbach	Fredensborg/Ski
1976–77 Details		Steaua București	21–20	CSKA Moscow		Fredericia KFUM	VfL Gummersbach
1977–78 Details		Magdeburg	28–22	Śląsk Wrocław		Honvéd	Calpisa
1978–79 Details		TV Großwallstadt	30–28 (14–10 / 18–16)	Empor Rostock		Budapest Honvéd	Dinamo București
1979–80 Details		TV Großwallstadt	21–12	Valur		Dukla Prague	Atlético de Madrid
1980–81 Details		Magdeburg	52–43 (25–23 / 29–18)	Slovan Ljubljana		LUGI HF	CSKA Moscow
1981–82 Details		Budapest Honvéd	49–34 (25–16 / 18–24)	TSV St. Otmar St. Gallen		Helsingør IF	TV Großwallstadt
1982–83 Details		VfL Gummersbach	32–29 (15–19 / 13–14)	CSKA Moscow		Barcelona	Metaloplastika
1983–84 Details		Dukla Prague	38–38 (21–17 / 21–17)	Metaloplastika		VfL Gummersbach	Budapest Honvéd
1984–85 Details		Metaloplastika	49–32 (19–12 / 20–30)	Atlético de Madrid		FH	Dukla Prague
1985–86 Details		Metaloplastika	54–52 (29–24 / 30–23)	Wybrzeże Gdańsk		Steaua București	Atlético de Madrid
1986–87 Details		SKA Minsk	62–49 (32–24 / 25–30)	Wybrzeże Gdańsk		TUSEM Essen	Metaloplastika
1987–88 Details		CSKA Moscow	36–36 (18–15 / 21–18)	TUSEM Essen		Metaloplastika	Elgorriaga Bidasoa
1988–89 Details		SKA Minsk	61–53 (30–24 / 37–23)	Steaua București		SC Magdeburg	HK Drott
1989–90 Details		SKA Minsk	53–50 (26–21 / 29–27)	Barcelona		TUSEM Essen	US Créteil Handball
1990–91 Details		Barcelona	41–40 (23–21 / 20–17)	Proleter Zrenjanin		ETİ Bisküvi	Dinamo Astrakhan
1991–92 Details		Zagreb	50–38 (22–20 / 18–28)	TEKA Santander		Kolding IF	Barcelona
1992–93 Details		Zagreb	40–39 (22–17 / 22–18)	SG Wallau-Massenheim		Vénissieux Handball	Barcelona

EHF Champions League

Year		Final				Semi-final losers
		Champion	Score	Second place		Third place
1993–94 Details		TEKA Santander	45–43 (22–22 / 23–21)	ABC Braga		UHK West Wien	USAM Nîmes
1994–95 Details		Elgorriaga Bidasoa	56–47 (30–20 / 27–26)	Zagreb		THW Kiel	Cantabria Santander
1995–96 Details		Barcelona	46–38 (23–15 / 23–23)	Elgorriaga Bidasoa		Pfadi Winterthur	THW Kiel
1996–97 Details		Barcelona	61–45 (31–22 / 23–30)	Zagreb		RK Celje	THW Kiel
1997–98 Details		Barcelona	56–40 (28–18 / 22–28)	Zagreb		TBV Lemgo	RK Celje
1998–99 Details		Barcelona	51–40 (22–22 / 29–18)	Zagreb		RK Celje	Portland San Antonio
1999–00 Details		Barcelona	54–52 (28–25 / 29–24)	THW Kiel		RK Celje	Zagreb
2000–01 Details		Portland San Antonio	52–49 (30–24 / 25–22)	Barcelona		RK Celje	THW Kiel
2001–02 Details		SC Magdeburg	51–48 (23–21 / 30–25)	Veszprém		Kolding IF	Portland San Antonio
2002–03 Details		Montpellier	50–46 (27–19 / 31–19)	Portland San Antonio		RD Prule 67	Veszprém
2003–04 Details		RK Celje	62–58 (34–28 / 30–28)	Flensburg-Handewitt		Ciudad Real	SC Magdeburg
2004–05 Details		Barcelona	56–55 (28–27 / 29–27)	Ciudad Real		RK Celje	Montpellier
2005–06 Details		Ciudad Real	62–47 (19–25 / 37–28)	Portland San Antonio		Flensburg-Handewitt	Veszprém
2006–07 Details		THW Kiel	57–55 (28–28 / 29–27)	Flensburg-Handewitt		Portland San Antonio	Valladolid
2007–08 Details		Ciudad Real	58–54 (27–29 / 25–31)	THW Kiel		HSV Hamburg	Barcelona
2008–09 Details		Ciudad Real	67–66 (39–34 / 33–27)	THW Kiel		HSV Hamburg	Rhein-Neckar Löwen
New Qualifying Format + Third Place Match
2009–10 Details	THW Kiel	36–34	Barcelona	Ciudad Real	Chekhovskiye Medvedi
2010–11 Details	Barcelona	27–24	Ciudad Real	Rhein-Neckar Löwen	HSV Hamburg
2011–12 Details	THW Kiel	26–21	Atlético de Madrid	AG København	Füchse Berlin
2012–13 Details	HSV Hamburg	30–29	Barcelona	Vive Kielce	THW Kiel
2013–14 Details	Flensburg-Handewitt	30–28	THW Kiel	Barcelona	Veszprém
2014–15 Details	Barcelona	28–23	Veszprém	Vive Kielce	THW Kiel
2015–16 Details	Vive Kielce	39–38	Veszprém	Paris Saint-Germain	THW Kiel
2016–17 Details	RK Vardar	24–23	Paris Saint-Germain	Veszprém	Barcelona
2017–18 Details	Montpellier	32–26	HBC Nantes	Paris Saint-Germain	RK Vardar
2018–19 Details	RK Vardar	27–24	Veszprém	Barcelona	Vive Kielce
2019–20 Details	THW Kiel	33–28	Barcelona	Paris Saint-Germain	Veszprém
2020–21 Details	Barcelona	36–23	Aalborg Håndbold	Paris Saint-Germain	HBC Nantes
2021–22 Details	Barcelona	37–35	Vive Kielce	THW Kiel	Veszprém
2022–23 Details	SC Magdeburg	30–29	Vive Kielce	Barcelona	Paris Saint-Germain
2023–24 Details	Barcelona	31–30	Aalborg Håndbold	THW Kiel	SC Magdeburg

Notes:
Bold : Aggregate
Bold-italic : Winner's goals

Records and statistics

Main article: European Cup and EHF Champions League records and statistics

Winning clubs

Redbergslids IK

Leipzig

Frankfurt

Montpellier

Celje

Hamburg

Vive Kielce

Bidasoa

CB Cantabria

Honvéd

Borac

MAI Moscow

Dinamo

Flensburg-Handewitt

San Antonio

CSKA Moscow

Bjelovar

Großwallstadt

Metaloplastika

Frisch Auf Göppingen

Steaua

Zagreb

SKA Minsk

Magdeburg

Ciudad Real

Dukla Prague

THW Kiel

Gummersbach

FC Barcelona

Vardar

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Locations of the IHF European Champions Cup (1956–1993) and EHF Champions League winners (from 1994)

Performance in the European Cup/EHF Champions League by club

v t e Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Barcelona	12	5	1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2011, 2015, 2021, 2022, 2024	1990, 2001, 2010, 2013, 2020
VfL Gummersbach	5	1	1967, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1983	1972
THW Kiel	4	4	2007, 2010, 2012, 2020	2000, 2008, 2009, 2014
SC Magdeburg	4	0	1978, 1981, 2002, 2023	—
Dukla Prague	3	2	1957, 1963, 1984	1967, 1968
Ciudad Real	3	2	2006, 2008, 2009	2005, 2011
SKA Minsk	3	0	1987, 1989, 1990	—
Zagreb	2	4	1992, 1993	1995, 1997, 1998, 1999
Steaua Bucureşti	2	2	1968, 1977	1971, 1989
Frisch Auf Göppingen	2	1	1960, 1962	1959
Metaloplastika	2	1	1985, 1986	1984
TV Großwallstadt	2	0	1979, 1980	—
Montpellier	2	0	2003, 2018	—
RK Vardar	2	0	2017, 2019	—
Bjelovar	1	2	1972	1962, 1973
CSKA Moscow	1	2	1988	1977, 1983
Portland San Antonio	1	2	2001	2003, 2006
Flensburg-Handewitt	1	2	2014	2004, 2007
Vive Kielce	1	2	2016	2022, 2023
Dinamo Bucureşti	1	1	1965	1963
MAI Moscow	1	1	1973	1974
Borac Banja Luka	1	1	1976	1975
Honvéd	1	1	1982	1966
CB Cantabria	1	1	1994	1992
Bidasoa Irún	1	1	1995	1996
Redbergslids IK	1	0	1959	—
DHfK Leipzig	1	0	1966	—
ASK Frankfurt/Oder	1	0	1975	—
Celje	1	0	2004	—
HSV Hamburg	1	0	2013	—
Veszprém KC	0	4	—	2002, 2015, 2016, 2019
Wybrzeże Gdańsk	0	2	—	1986, 1987
Aalborg Håndbold	0	2	—	2021, 2024
Örebro SK	0	1	—	1957
Aarhus GF	0	1	—	1960
Medveščak Zagreb	0	1	—	1965
Dynamo Berlin	0	1	—	1970
Fredericia KFUM	0	1	—	1976
Śląsk Wrocław	0	1	—	1978
Empor Rostock	0	1	—	1979
Valur	0	1	—	1980
Slovan Ljubljana	0	1	—	1981
TSV St. Otmar St. Gallen	0	1	—	1982
Atlético Madrid	0	1	—	1985
TUSEM Essen	0	1	—	1988
Proleter Zrenjanin	0	1	—	1991
Wallau-Massenheim	0	1	—	1993
ABC Braga	0	1	—	1994
Atlético de Madrid	0	1	—	2012
Paris Saint-Germain	0	1	—	2017
HBC Nantes	0	1	—	2018

Performance by country (1957-2024)

Rank	Country	Winners	Runners-up	Semi-finals	Total
1	Spain	18	13	19	50
2	Germany	17	10	27	54
3	Soviet Union ^[A]	5	3	4	12
4	Yugoslavia ^[B]	4	7	6	17
5	East Germany	4	2	3	9
6	Romania	3	3	7	13
7	Czechoslovakia ^[C]	3	2	6	11
8	Croatia	2	4	1	7
9	France	2	2	12	16
10	North Macedonia	2	0	1	3
11	Hungary	1	5	9	15
12	Poland	1	5	3	9
13	Sweden	1	1	3	5
14	Slovenia	1	0	7	8
15	Denmark	0	4	11	15
16	Switzerland	0	1	2	3
17	Iceland	0	1	1	2
18	Portugal	0	1	1	2
19	Norway	0	0	2	2
20	Austria	0	0	1	1
21	Russia	0	0	1	1
22	Turkey	0	0	1	1
Total		64	64	128	256

• Since 2009–10 EHF Champions League have Third Place Match.

Notes

• ^A Results until the Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Three out of five titles were won by clubs from present day Belarus, while two titles and the additional three times runners-up were achieved by clubs from present day Russia.
• ^B Results until the Breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Clubs from present day Serbia won the title two times and were runners-up additional two times, clubs from present day Croatia won the title once and were runners-up three times, clubs from present day Bosnia and Herzegovina won the title once and were runners-up once, while clubs from present day Slovenia were runners-up one time.
• ^C Results until the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Three titles and two times runners-up were all achieved by HC Dukla Prague.

All-time top scorers As of the end of the 2023/24 season Rank Player Goals Seasons ref. 1 Kiril Lazarov 1363 20 [5] 2 Nikola Karabatić 1211 18 [6] 3 Mikkel Hansen 1194 17 [7] 4 Timur Dibirov 1164 20 [8] 5 Momir Ilić 969 14 [9] 6 Marko Vujin 861 14 [10] 7 Ivan Čupić 843 17 [11] 8 Siarhei Rutenka 838 13 [12] 9 Alex Dujshebaev 829 12 [13] 10 László Nagy 806 17 [14] 11 Niclas Ekberg 785 12 [15] 12 Zlatko Horvat 729 18 [16] 13 Domagoj Duvnjak 725 17 [17] 14 Víctor Tomás 717 17 [18] 15 Uwe Gensheimer 715 10 [19] 16 Jonas Källman 694 17 [20] 17 Vid Kavtičnik 683 15 [21] 18 Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson 676 14 [22] 19 Gašper Marguč 667 13 [23] 20 Igor Karačić 663 13 [24]

All-time Final Four top scorers As of the end of the 2023/24 season Rank Player Goals Apps. 1 Mikkel Hansen 81 8 2 Aleix Gómez 74 6 3 Kiril Lazarov 68 7 4 Aron Pálmarsson 59 9 5 Momir Ilić 58 8 6 Niclas Ekberg 57 7 7 Filip Jícha 56 6 Dika Mem 56 7 9 László Nagy 55 7 10 Timothey N'Guessan 52 6 11 Domagoj Duvnjak 51 6 12 Ivan Čupić 49 7 13 Siarhei Rutenka 47 4 Víctor Tomás 47 7 Luka Cindrić 47 7 16 Juanín García 44 4 17 Nedim Remili 43 4 18 Alex Dujshebaev 42 4 19 Nikola Karabatić 39 7 20 Jesper Nøddesbo 38 6

Goals scored in the Final Four by nations

All the goals (3573) scored in the Final Four by the nationality of the players.

Last updated after the 2023/24 season.

Rank Nation Goals 1 France 550 2 Spain 539 3 Denmark 311 4 Germany 306 5 Croatia 255 6 Sweden 218 7 Poland 189 8 Iceland 167 9 Serbia 159 10 Slovenia 157 11 Hungary 123

Rank Nation Goals 12 Belarus 85 13 Russia 78 14 North Macedonia 76 15 Norway 76 16 Czech Republic 56 17 Netherlands 35 18 Montenegro 33 19 Latvia 32 20 Brazil 25 21 Egypt 25 22 Austria 17

Rank Nation Goals 23 Portugal 17 24 Ukraine 11 25 Tunisia 9 26 Argentina 7 27 Lithuania 4 28 Switzerland 4 29 Bosnia and Hercegovina 3 30 Italy 3 31 Iran 2 32 Slovakia 2 33 Faroe Islands 1

Coaches with most titles

Coach	Titles	Clubs
		#	List
Valero Rivera	6	1	Barcelona 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
Talant Dujshebaev	4	2	Ciudad Real 2006, 2008, 2009, Kielce 2016
Xavier Pascual	3	1	Barcelona 2011, 2015, 2021
Alfreð Gíslason	3	2	Magdeburg 2002, Kiel 2010, 2012
Spartak Mironovitch	3	1	SKA Minsk 1987, 1989, 1990

* Horst Dreischang won titles with Gummersbach in 1967 and 1970. He was Gummersbach's coach until 29 January 1971, just after 1st game of Champions League 1/4 finals, which Gummersbach won with 11 goals lead. Gummersbach won the title that year.^[25][26]

As Player and Coach combined

Player/Coach	Titles	as Player		as Coach
		#	List	#	List
Carlos Ortega	8	6	Barcelona 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005	2	Barcelona 2022, 2024
Talant Dujshebaev	6	2	CSKA Moscow 1988, Teka Santander 1994	4	Ciudad Real 2006, 2008, 2009, Kielce 2016
Roberto García Parrondo	3	2	Ciudad Real 2008, 2009	1	Vardar 2019
Filip Jicha	3	2	THW Kiel 2010, 2012	1	THW Kiel 2020

Sponsorship

• Select Sport
• Hummel International^[27]

See also

• EHF European League
• EHF European Cup

References

1. "EHF releases place distribution for 2021/22 European club competitions".
2. "22 clubs vying for a place in the new EHF Champions League Men season".
3. "REGULATIONS EHF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MEN SEASON 2021/22" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 July 2021.
4. eurohandball.com Hymn of the Champions^{[permanent dead link‍]}
5. Kiril Lazarov
6. Nikola Karabatić
7. Mikkel Hansen
8. Timur Dibirov
9. Momir Ilić
10. Marko Vujin
11. Ivan Čupić
12. Siarhei Rutenka
13. Alex Dujshebaev
14. László Nagy
15. Niclas Ekberg
16. Zlatko Horvat
17. Domagoj Duvnjak
18. Víctor Tomás
19. Uwe Gensheimer
20. Jonas Källman
21. Vid Kavtičnik
22. Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson
23. Gašper Marguč
24. Igor Karačić
25. "Leseprobe – VFL Gummersbach. Die Chronik by Verlag die Werkstatt - Issuu". 19 November 2015.
26. "Men Handball European Champions Cup 1971 Winner VFL Gummersbach (FRG)".
27. "EHF and EHF Marketing strike four-year deal with hummel". www.eurohandball.com. Retrieved 3 July 2020.

External links

• Official website