The 2012–13 EHF Women's Champions League was the 20th edition of the

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

, the competition for top women's clubs of 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, Au ...

Budućnost Podgorica Budućnost means "the future" in many Slavic languages, and it may also refer to: * SD Budućnost Podgorica, a sports society from Podgorica, Montenegro ** KK Budućnost Podgorica, a professional basketball club FK Budućnost may refer to: * FK B ...

was title holder, after beating Győri Audi ETO KC in past season's final. Győri redeemed themselves by winning this season's edition. They defeated

Larvik HK Larvik Håndballklubb, is a professional women's handball club from Larvik, Norway. The club has won 36 titles total in both the Eliteserien (women's handball), Norwegian League and the Norwegian Women's Handball Cup, Norwegian Cup, and won the ...

47–43 in the final.

Overview

Format

A few changes had been made in the competition's format. The first qualifying tournament has been deleted. As past season the second qualifying tournament was played under a final four format. A Wild Card Tournament with three teams was organized, the winner were qualified for the Group Phase. In addition, a knock-out match between one team from Pot 1 of the QT2 and a team from Pot 2 of the QT2 was played. The winner also qualified for the Group Phase.

Team allocation

28 teams from 19 federations participated to the Women's Champions League this season. Places were distributed according to the EHF league coefficient, which took into account the performances in European competitions from 2008–09 to 2010–11. th Title Holder

Round and draw dates

The draws will be held in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Herzogenaurach Herzogenaurach (; ) is a town in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. It is home to two major international sporting goods companies, Adidas and Puma, and Schaeffler Group, a car parts manufacturer. Geography Herzogenaura ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Qualification stage

Qualification tournament

A total of 14 teams took part in the qualification tournaments. The clubs were drawn into three groups of four and played a semifinal and the final. The winner of the qualification groups advanced to the group stage, while the eliminated clubs went to the

EHF Cup 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. Previo ...

. Matches were played at 8–9 September 2011. The draw took place on 3 July, at 11:00 local time at

Seedings

The two remaining teams from Pot 1 and 4 played a knock-out match, the winner went into the group stage. The draw was held on 3 July 2012.

Qualification tournament 1

Viborg HK Viborg HK (Viborg Håndbold Klub) is a Danish professional handball club from Viborg, Denmark, 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 Euro ...

organized the event.

Qualification tournament 2

Byåsen HE Byåsen Håndball Elite is the women's handball team of the Norwegian multi-sports club Byåsen IL based in Trondheim. The team plays in REMA 1000-ligaen, the top division in the country, since its promotion in 1982. The team's first success c ...

organized the event.

Qualification tournament 3

Universitatea Cluj organized the event.

Play-off

Wild card tournament

Issy-Paris Hand Paris 92 is a French professional handball club from Issy-les-Moulineaux, Paris. This team currently competes in the LFH Division 1 Féminine, French Women's Handball First League from 2010. The club was previously named Issy-les-Moulineaux Han ...

organized the event.

Group matches

The draw of the group matches was held on 6 July at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in

. A total of sixteen teams were concerned in the process, to be divided into four pots of four. Teams were divided into four pots, based on EHF coefficients. Clubs from the same pot or the same association could not be drawn into the same group, except the wild card tournament winner, which did not enjoy any protection.

Seedings

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Main round

The draw of the group matches was held on 20 November at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in

. A total of eight teams were concerned in the process, to be divided into two pots of four. Teams were divided into two pots, based on EHF coefficients. Clubs from the same pot or group could not be drawn into the same group.

Seedings

Group 1

Group 2

Knockout stage

Semifinals

Final

Top scorers

:''Excluding qualifying rounds''Top scorers
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2012-13 Ehf Women's Champions League Women's EHF Champions League EHF EHF