2025–26 EHF Champions League

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.

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.

More information Rank, Association ...

Rank[2] Association Average points Teams 1 Spain 215.00 1 2 Germany 182.33 2 3 Poland 166.33 4 Denmark 139.33 5 Hungary 127.00 6 France 127.00 7 Romania 56.50 1 8 Croatia 49.00

Rank Association Average points Teams 9 Portugal 47.00 1 10 Norway 46.33 11 North Macedonia 34.67 12 Ukraine 34.00 0 13 Belarus 30.00 14 Slovenia 29.00 15 All other associations 0.00

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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
OTP Bank – 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)

Zagreb

Aalborg

GOG

PSG

Nantes

Füchse

Magdeburg

Szeged

Veszprém

Kolstad

Sporting

Kielce

Płock

Pelister

Dinamo

Barcelona

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

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

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BER	AAL	KIE	NAN	VES	SPO	BUC	KOL
1	Füchse Berlin	14	11	0	3	470	433	+37	22	Quarterfinals		—	31–28	31–33	34–37	38–34	33–29	32–31	38–27
2	Aalborg Håndbold	14	10	1	3	457	407	+50	21			31–35	—	34–27	31–24	32–28	35–30	34–28	36–24
3	Industria Kielce	14	8	1	5	456	451	+5	17	Playoffs		32–37	32–32	—	27–35	36–35	39–33	34–32	38–27
4	HBC Nantes	14	8	0	6	456	416	+40	16			34–40	27–28	29–33	—	33–31	38–27	35–28	39–24
5	One Veszprém	14	7	0	7	471	449	+22	14[a]			31–32	33–38	35–33	30–25	—	32–31	35–28	42–34
6	Sporting CP	14	7	0	7	465	476	−11	14[a]			37–38	35–33	41–37	28–39	33–32	—	30–29	44–31
7	CS Dinamo București	14	2	0	12	395	430	−35	4			21–27	27–30	24–28	29–28	27–30	30–33	—	33–23
8	Kolstad Håndball	14	2	0	12	386	494	−108	4			28–24	26–35	26–27	26–33	29–43	30–34	31–28	—

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Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. [a]

   One Veszprém 64–64 Sporting CP. Veszprém ranked fifth because of the better overall goal difference.

Group B

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAR	MAG	PLO	PAR	GOG	SZE	PEL	ZAG
1	Barça	14	13	0	1	492	382	+110	26	Quarterfinals		—	21–22	30–24	38–33	37–32	31–28	47–27	46–26
2	SC Magdeburg	14	11	1	2	457	408	+49	23			29–36	—	27–26	37–31	37–30	40–32	36–26	27–22
3	Orlen Wisła Płock	14	8	2	4	424	410	+14	18	Playoffs		24–34	29–29	—	35–32	34–35	30–30	36–25	30–27
4	Paris Saint-Germain	14	6	1	7	446	436	+10	13[a]			27–30	34–26	29–30	—	34–36	29–28	33–27	35–32
5	GOG Håndbold	14	6	1	7	443	468	−25	13[a]			28–41	30–39	28–30	28–31	—	31–36	28–28	33–28
6	OTP Bank – Pick Szeged	14	5	1	8	428	424	+4	11			27–35	30–34	33–34	31–29	34–37	—	35–20	32–26
7	RK Eurofarm Pelister	14	2	2	10	369	447	−78	6			30–34	26–31	25–28	34–34	28–31	25–24	—	25–23
8	RK Zagreb	14	1	0	13	375	459	−84	2			25–32	35–43	26–34	24–35	31–36	23–28	27–23	—

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Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. [a]

   Paris Saint-Germain 65–64 GOG Håndbold

As of 30 April 2026^[6]

More information Rank, Player ...

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mathias Gidsel	Füchse Berlin	133
2	Francisco Costa	Sporting CP	123
3	Elohim Prandi	Paris Saint-Germain	120
4	Frederik Bjerre	GOG Håndbold	116
5	Martim Costa	Sporting CP	104
6	Melvyn Richardson	Orlen Wisła Płock	103
7	Yahia Omar	Paris Saint-Germain	96
8	Aleix Gómez	Barcelona	93
9	Nedim Remili	One Veszprém	85
10	Thomas Arnoldsen	Aalborg Håndbold	84

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• 2025–26 EHF European League
• 2025–26 EHF European Cup
• 2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League
• 2025–26 Women's EHF European League
• 2025–26 Women's EHF European Cup