2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League

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.

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.

More information Rank, Association ...

Rank[2] Association Average points Teams 1 Hungary 210.33 3 2 Norway 198.33 2 3 Denmark 154.67 3 4 France 143.33 2 5 Romania 113.00 6 Russia 113.00 0 7 Germany 99.33 1 8 Slovenia 86.33 9 Montenegro 46.67

Rank Association Average points Teams 10 Sweden 29.00 0 11 Turkey 27.50 12 Croatia 27.50 1 13 Poland 26.00 0 14 Czech Republic 26.00 15 All other associations 0.00

Close

Ranking facts

More information Biggest rise, Pos ...

Biggest rise
Pos	Team	Ori	New	Move
1	Denmark	5	3	+2
	Germany	9	7
2	Hungary	2	1	+1
	Romania	6	5
	Sweden	11	10

Close

More information Biggest fall, Pos ...

Biggest fall
Pos	Team	Ori	New	Move
1	Russia	4	6	–2
	Croatia	10	12
2	Norway	2	1	–1
	France	5	4
	Slovenia	7	8
	Montenegro	8	9
	Czech Republic	13	14

Close

More information New entries ...

New entries
Poland

Close

More information Entries leaving ...

Entries leaving
None

Close

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]

More information Entry round, Teams ...

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)

Close

Rejected upgrades

Tertnes HE (5th)

CS Minaur Baia Mare (4th)

Withdrawn

HB Ludwigsburg (1st)

Podravka

Esbjerg

Odense

Ikast

Brest

Metz

Dortmund

Győr

FTC

DVSC

Budućnost

Storhamar

Sola

București

Gloria

Krim

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

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

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GYO	MET	ESB	BIS	DEB	DOR	STO	BUD
1	Győri Audi ETO KC	14	12	0	2	467	363	+104	24[a]	Quarterfinals		—	31–27	31–30	33–18	30–31	39–28	40–23	34–22
2	Metz Handball	14	12	0	2	453	364	+89	24[a]			24–27	—	40–26	29–26	33–26	38–29	29–27	38–18
3	Team Esbjerg	14	9	1	4	462	422	+40	19	Playoffs		33–28	29–30	—	32–28	39–30	36–29	30–24	36–24
4	CS Gloria Bistrița	14	8	0	6	420	435	−15	16			22–27	24–31	38–35	—	32–31	36–32	29–26	34–38
5	DVSC Schaeffler	14	6	0	8	408	428	−20	12			30–36	30–35	29–32	33–34	—	29–23	26–24	30–34
6	Borussia Dortmund	14	4	0	10	387	449	−62	8			30–43	24–33	24–31	32–36	28–26	—	22–26	30–24
7	Storhamar HE	14	3	0	11	371	405	−34	6			25–32	24–27	33–39	32–30	28–30	30–31	—	25–14
8	OTP Group Budućnost	14	1	1	12	341	443	−102	3			20–36	23–39	34–34	26–29	24–25	22–25	22–26	—

Close

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. [a]

   Győri Audi ETO KC 58–51 Metz Handball

Group B

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BRE	BUC	FER	ODE	IKA	KOP	KRI	SOL
1	Brest Bretagne Handball	14	11	0	3	476	414	+62	22	Quarterfinals		—	34–31	34–31	40–33	35–37	33–25	32–20	36–25
2	CSM București	14	10	0	4	452	402	+50	20[a]			40–34	—	31–28	30–36	33–24	34–24	26–20	34–31
3	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	14	10	0	4	428	399	+29	20[a]	Playoffs		29–28	30–35	—	32–34	27–24	31–23	38–31	26–25
4	Odense Håndbold	14	9	1	4	467	421	+46	19			31–40	24–33	28–30	—	35–28	42–24	30–21	32–27
5	Ikast Håndbold	14	8	0	6	425	416	+9	16			33–36	28–27	27–28	30–33	—	36–30	27–25	32–23
6	HC Podravka Vegeta	14	3	1	10	383	445	−62	7			30–31	28–33	33–37	31–31	29–33	—	24–23	31–26
7	RK Krim Mercator	14	2	1	11	360	424	−64	5			24–37	31–27	22–33	30–38	33–35	22–27	—	22–22
8	Sola HK	14	1	1	12	365	435	−70	3			24–26	30–38	24–28	25–40	22–31	33–24	28–35	—

Close

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

1. [a]

   CSM București 4 pts, FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria 0 pts.

As of 26 April 2026^[10]

More information Rank, Player ...

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Henny Reistad	Team Esbjerg	131
2	Danila So Delgado	CS Gloria Bistrița	121
3	Sarah Bouktit	Metz Handball	105
4	Anna Vyakhireva	Brest Bretagne Handball	104
5	Julie Scaglione	Ikast Håndbold	103
6	Petra Simon	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	98
7	Elizabeth Omoregie	CSM București	97
8	Dione Housheer	Győri Audi ETO KC	92
9	Stine Skogrand	Ikast Håndbold	91
	Alicia Toublanc	DVSC Schaeffler

Close

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