The 2011–12 EHF Women's Champions League was the nineteenth edition of the

EHF Women's Champions League The Women's EHF Champions League is the competition for the top women's handball clubs in Europe, organised annually by the European Handball Federation (EHF). It is the most prestigious tournament for clubs, with the champions of Europe's top na ...

, the top continental handball event for club teams in Europe, organized and supervised by the

European Handball Federation The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for European handball. Founded on 17 November 1991, it is made of 50 member federations and two associated federations (England and Scotland), and is headquartered in Vienna, ...

Larvik HK Larvik Håndballklubb, is a women's handball club from Larvik, Norway. History Larvik HK was founded in 1990 as a merger of the handball departments in the two clubs Larvik Turn and Halsen. They played in the top division since 1992/93. During ...

entered the competition as title holders after beating

SD Itxako Sociedad Deportiva Itxako, known as Asfi Itxako for sponsorship reasons, was a Spanish women's team handball, handball team from Estella-Lizarra, Navarre. Itxako were four times División de Honor Femenina de Balonmano, Spanish league winners and ...

in past season's final. Budućnost Podgorica won the title for the first time by defeating Győri Audi ETO KC in the big final.

Overview

Format change

Following the decision of the Executive Committee of the European Handball Federation in April 2011, the system of the EHF Women's Champions League qualifying tournaments have changed. Starting from this season, the second qualification tournaments will be played under a final four format, with the semifinals held on a Saturday while the final on the following day. The winners of each tournaments will qualify for the group stage. The method of the first qualification round did not change. In addition, unlike in previous years, clubs that are eliminated during the qualifying phase will directly go to the

EHF Women's Cup Winners' Cup The Women's EHF Cup Winners' Cup was the official competition for women's handball clubs of Europe that won their national cup, and took place every year from 1976 to 2016 (until 1993 organized by IHF instead of EHF). From the 2016–17 season, th ...

Team allocation

A total of 32 teams participated in the 2011–12 EHF Champions League from 23 federations. Places were distributed according to the EHF league coefficient, which took into account the performances in European competitions from 2007–08 to 2009–10. Norway have been awarded an additional entry as the title holder country.

Round and draw dates

All draws will be held at the EHF headquarters in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Qualifying rounds

The draw for both qualifying tournaments took place on 27 June 2011 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The rights to organize and host the group matches were also decided in this draw.

Qualification Tournaments 1

In the first stage of the qualifying process eight clubs were drawn into two groups of four. The sides played against each other once and the top two teams of each group advanced to the second qualifying phase, where they were classified automatically into the fourth pot. The four losing teams entered the 2011–12 EHF Cup Winners' Cup second round.

Seedings

Group A

The tournament was organised by the Greek club AC Ormi-Loux Patras. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group B

The tournament was organised by the Slovakian side

HK IUVENTA Michalovce MKS IUVENTA Michalovce is a Slovak handball club based in Michalovce, that plays in the Women's Handball International League (WHIL), an international championship organized for Czech and Slovak teams. European record Team Current squad ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Qualification Tournaments 2

Sixteen clubs were set to participate in the second qualifying stage, divided into four groups of four. For the first time in the competition's history, a final four format was used to determine the group winners, that were qualified for the Group matches. According to the seeding list, teams in Pot 1 were drawn together with Pot 4 sides, while clubs from Pot 2 met Pot 3 teams in the semifinals of the tournaments. However, as stated in the EHF regulations, clubs from the same federation enjoyed protection and could not be selected into the same group. Teams that finished bottom of their respective groups went to the second round of the 2011–12 EHF Cup Winners' Cup, while second and third placed teams joined that competition in the third round.

Seedings

Group 1

The tournament was organised by the Danish club

Viborg HK Viborg HK (Viborg Håndbold Klub) is the name of a Danish handball club from Viborg. The club has many teams for both women and men, but especially the professional women's team is one of the most successful in Danish and European handball sin ...

= Bracket

= Semifinals

= ----

= Third place match

= Final

Group 2

The tournament was organised by the Macedonian club

ŽRK Metalurg WHC Metalurg ( mk, ЖРК Металург) is a women's team handball, handball club from Skopje, North Macedonia. The team currently competes in the Macedonian women's First League of Handball. History The club was established in 1964 under the ...

= Bracket

= Semifinals

= ----

= Third place match

= Final

Group 3

The tournament was organised by the Polish club

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by local members of the ''Yo ...

= Bracket

= Semifinals

= ----

= Third place match

= Final

Group 4

The tournament was organised by the Swedish club

IK Sävehof IK Sävehof is a Swedish handball team located in Partille. Their home matches are played at the Partille Arena which has a capacity of 4,000. Women's team The women's team competes in Svensk Handbollselit. They won the championship 15 times ( ...

= Bracket

= Semifinals

= ----

= Third place match

= Final

Group matches

The draw of the group matches was held on June 28 at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. A total of sixteen teams were concerned in the process, having divided into four pots of four. Similar to the qualifying phase, clubs from the same country could not been drawn into the same group, therefore, instead of direct draw, Pot 4 teams were allocated to the first possible position from Group A to Group D.

Seedings

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Main round

The draw of the main round was held on November 15 at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. A total of eight teams advanced from the group stage to the main round and were located in two pots, with the group winners being in Pot 1 and the runners-up in Pot 2. Teams from the same groups at the group stage were not able to be drawn together.

Seedings

Group 1

Group 2

Knockout stage

Semifinals

Final

Top scorers

:''Final statistics''

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2011-12 Ehf Women's Champions League Women's EHF Champions League EHF EHF