EHF Champions League

Eligibility and qualifying

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. The national federation ranked first place in the EHF European League, currently Germany, is awarded a second qualification berth for the domestic runner-up. The remaining six positions are designated through wildcards, with each national federation without two teams already qualified able to submit a single applicant. The wildcards are judged on five criteria: venue, TV, spectators, results in past EHF competitions and product management and digital.

Tournament format

Current

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.

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. 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. 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. 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.

New format (2026–)

The new format will see 24 teams being split into six groups of four teams. The two top-placed teams advance to the main round, which conists of two groups of six, where the top four-placed teams advance to the quarterfinals.

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.

Winners

Notes:

** Bold **: Aggregate

*** Bold-italic ***: Winner's goals

Records and statistics

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

Winning clubs

Performance by country (1957-2024)

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

Notes

• 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.
• 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.
• 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

All-time Final Four top scorers

Goals scored in the Final Four by nations

All the goals (3805) scored in the Final Four by the nationality of the players. :Last updated after the 2024/25 season.

Coaches with most titles

** GER 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.*

As Player and Coach combined

Prize money

In addition to the sporting prestige of winning the EHF Champions League, the competition also provides financial rewards for participating clubs. For the EHF FINAL4, the European Handball Federation (EHF) allocates a total prize fund of €750,000: the winners receive €300,000, the runners-up €225,000, while the third- and fourth-placed teams obtain €150,000 and €75,000 respectively.

Clubs also receive income throughout the competition. During the group stage, each participating team earns €10,000 per match played, as well as an additional €5,000 for every point won. The first two teams in each group are awarded a further €20,000 qualification bonus for direct entry into the quarter-finals. In the play-offs and quarter-finals, teams continue to receive €10,000 per match, with bonuses between €6,000 and €7,000 per point depending on the stage.

As a result, the overall revenues can be significant. In the 2024–25 season, for example, Füchse Berlin (runners-up) earned around €540,000, HBC Nantes approximately €455,000 after finishing third, and FC Barcelona about €379,000 following their semi-final exit. The 2025 champions, SC Magdeburg, received €300,000 for the title and became eligible for an additional prize of up to €300,000 by participating in the IHF Super Globe in Saudi Arabia in November 2025.

Sponsorship

• Select Sport
• Hummel International

References

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".
4. (21 October 2025). "EHF EXEC confirms: Champions League with 24 teams, new system for European League". eurohandball.com.
5. (September 2017)
6. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2020-21/player/501618/KirilLazarov Kiril Lazarov]
7. https://ehfcl.eurohandball.com/men/2024-25/news/en/kiril-lazarov-retires-his-legacy-stays-forever/
8. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2020-21/player/523016/Dibirov+Timur Timur Dibirov]
9. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2020-21/player/512194/NikolaKarabatic Nikola Karabatić]
10. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2020-21/player/527073/Hansen+Mikkel Mikkel Hansen]
11. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2017-18/player/522690/MomirIlic Momir Ilić]
12. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2020-21/player/518452/MarkoVujin Marko Vujin]
13. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2021-22/player/540036/Dujshebaev+Dovichebaeva+Alex Alex Dujshebaev]
14. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2020-21/player/518560/IvanCupic Ivan Čupić]
15. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2014-15/player/507569/SiarheiRutenka Siarhei Rutenka]
16. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2020-21/player/500459/L%c3%a1szl%c3%b3+Zolt%c3%a1nNagy László Nagy]
17. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2021-22/player/530733/Ekberg+Niclas Niclas Ekberg]
18. [https://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2024-25/player/538534/Syprzak+Kamil Kamil Syprzak]
19. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2018-19/player/518316/ZlatkoHorvat Zlatko Horvat]
20. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2020-21/player/527539/DomagojDuvnjak Domagoj Duvnjak]
21. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2017-18/player/518536/VictorTomas+Gonzalez Víctor Tomás]
22. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2018-19/player/527535/UweGensheimer Uwe Gensheimer]
23. [https://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2024-25/player/550526/Remili+Nedim Nedim Remili]
24. [https://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2024-25/player/557563/Mem+Dika Dika Mem]
25. [http://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2020-21/player/512071/JonasK%c3%a4llman Jonas Källman]
26. [https://history.eurohandball.com/ec/cl/men/2023-24/player/531532/IgorKaracic Igor Karačić]
27. (19 November 2015). "Leseprobe – VFL Gummersbach. Die Chronik by Verlag die Werkstatt - Issuu".
28. "Men Handball European Champions Cup 1971 Winner VFL Gummersbach (FRG)".
29. Source: EHF, "Ligue des Champions : combien rapporte réellement une victoire ?", consulté en septembre 2025.
30. Source: EHF, "Ligue des Champions : combien rapporte réellement une victoire ?", consulté en septembre 2025.
31. Source: EHF, "Ligue des Champions : combien rapporte réellement une victoire ?", consulté en septembre 2025.
32. "EHF and EHF Marketing strike four-year deal with hummel".