The 2023–24 EHF Champions League is the 64th edition of Europe's premier club

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

tournament, running from 13 September 2023 to 9 June 2024.

SC Magdeburg SC Magdeburg is a handball club from Magdeburg, Germany, and is competing in the Handball-Bundesliga. History During the time in the GDR, the club won 10 national championships (1970, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1991) and ...

are the reigning champions.

Format

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 3rd to 6th 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.

Rankings

This season, the EHF decided to make separate

rankings A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...

for each club competition. *Associations 1–9 can have their league champion qualify for the Group Stage and apply for a wildcards. *The Association that won the past season's

EHF European League The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previ ...

can have their league champion and runner up qualify for the Group Stage but cannot apply for a wildcard. *Associations below the top 9 can only have their league champion apply for a Wildcard.

Teams

20 teams applied for a place, with ten having a fixed place. The final list was announced in June 20, 2023. The fixed place for Russia is vacant since the country and its clubs are currently not admitted to participate in the EHF competitions due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. *^WC Accepted wildcards

Draw

The draw took place on 27 June 2023.

Group stage

The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four. Teams from the same national association could not be drawn into the same group. 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: #Highest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved; #Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved; #Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved; #Superior goal difference in all matches of the group; #Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group; #Drawing of Lots A total of 11 national associations will be represented in the group stage. North Macedonia are the only returnees, after Vardar 1961 was disqualified last season.

Kolstad Håndball Kolstad Håndball is a Norwegian handball club found in 1972, and based in the city of Trondheim in Norway. The club is the handball department of the Norwegian multi-sports club Kolstad IL and as an independent sports team in 1996. The team p ...

are the only debutants.

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Final four

The final four will be held at the

Lanxess Arena Lanxess Arena (originally Kölnarena, German for ''Cologne Arena'') is an indoor arena, in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is known as the 18,500-capacity home of the Kölner Haie. The arena opened in 1998 and can accommodate 20,000 p ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Germany on 8 and 9 June 2024.

Bracket

Final

Top goalscorers

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:EHF Champions League

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

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