The 2019–20 EHF Champions League was the 60th edition of Europe's premier club

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor 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 thr ...

tournament and the 27th edition under the current

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

format. Because of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Europe The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and al ...

, the knockout stage matches were postponed and later cancelled. The Final Four, which took place at the

Lanxess Arena Lanxess Arena (stylized as 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 and as one of Germany's major ...

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, Germany, was moved from May to December and was contested by the top two teams from Groups A and B – Barça,

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THW Kiel THW Kiel is a professional handball club from Kiel, Germany. Currently, they compete in the Handball-Bundesliga and are the record champion with 23 titles. 2007 and 2012 were the most successful years in the club's history, as THW completed t ...

and

Telekom Veszprém Telekom may refer to: *A1 Telekom Austria Group, Austria **A1 Telekom Austria *Deutsche Telekom, Germany **Hrvatski Telekom, Croatia **Magyar Telekom, Hungary **Crnogorski Telekom, Montenegro **Makedonski Telekom, North Macedonia **Telekom Romania ...

. As a result, reigning champions

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were not able to defend their title.

Format

The competition begins with a group stage featuring twenty-eight teams divided in four groups: Groups A and B contain eight teams, while Groups C and D contain six teams. Matches are played in a double round-robin system with home-and-away fixtures. In Groups A and B, the top six teams qualify for the knockout stage, with teams ranked 2nd–6th entering the round of 16 and the group winners advancing directly to the quarter-finals. In Groups C and D, only the top two teams advance to a compete in a two-legged play-off round, with the two winners going through to the knockout stage round of 16. The knockout stage includes four rounds: the round of 16, quarterfinals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. In the round of 16, twelve teams (ten from Groups A and B, and the two play-off winners from Groups C and D) are paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches. The six aggregate winners of the round of 16 advance to the quarterfinals, joining the winners 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.

Team allocation

A total of 35 teams from 21 countries submitted their application for a place in the competition's group stage before the deadline of 12 June. The final list of 28 participants was revealed by the EHF Executive Committee on 21 June.

Round and draw dates

The draw was held on 27 June 2019 in

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Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 27 June 2019 in

. The teams were drawn into four groups, two containing eight teams (Groups A and B) and two containing six teams (Groups C and D). The only restriction was that teams from the same national association could not face each other in the same group. In each group, teams played against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches. After completion of the group stage matches, the teams advancing to the knockout stage were determined in the following manner: *Groups A and B – the top team qualified directly for the quarterfinals, and the five teams ranked 2nd–6th advanced to the first knockout round. *Groups C and D – the top two teams from both groups contested a playoff to determine the last two sides joining the 10 teams from Groups A and B in the first knockout round.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Playoffs

Knockout stage

The winners of Groups A and B would have advanced directly to the quarterfinals, while the teams ranked 2nd–6th to the round of 16 alongside the playoff winners. After the cancellation of the last 16 and quarterfinals on 24 April 2020, the top-two placed teams from each group played the final four.

Round of 16

Quarterfinals

Final four

Final

Statistics and awards

Top goalscorers

Awards

The all-star team was announced on 12 June 2020. *Goalkeeper: Niklas Landin *Right wing: Niclas Ekberg *Right back: Alex Dujshebaev *Centre back:

Mikkel Hansen Mikkel Hansen (born 22 October 1987) is a Danish former professional handball player. Widely regarded as the greatest handball player of all timeHansen has won the IHF World Player of the Year a record-tying three times. He played as a left bac ...

*Left back: Sander Sagosen *Left wing: Manuel Štrlek *Pivot: Bence Bánhidi ;Other awards *Best Defender: Blaž Blagotinšek *Best Young player:

Aleix Gómez Aleix Gómez Abelló (born 7 May 1997) is a Spanish professional handball player for FC Barcelona Handbol, FC Barcelona and the Spain men's national handball team, Spain national team. He participated at the 2019 World Men's Handball Championsh ...

*Best Coach: David Davis

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:EHF Champions League

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2019 in handball 2020 in handball 2019 in European sport 2020 in European sport Handball events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic