The 2019–20 EHF Champions League was the 60th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 27th edition under the current

EHF Champions League The Men's 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 ...

format. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the knockout stage matches were postponed and later cancelled. The Final Four, which took place 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 state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

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

Barça Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

THW Kiel THW Kiel is a handball club from Kiel, Germany. Currently, they compete in the Handball-Bundesliga and are the record champion with 22 titles. 2007 and 2012 were the most successful years in the club's history, as THW completed the treble, wi ...

and Telekom Veszprém. As a result, reigning champions

Vardar The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

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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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 ...

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 27 June 2019 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 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 handball player for Aalborg Håndbold and the Danish national team. Hansen is regarded as one of the greatest players in handball history, and has been named the IHF World Player of the Year for a ...

*Left back: Sander Sagosen *Left wing:

Manuel Štrlek Manuel Štrlek (born 1 December 1988) is a Croatian handball player for Telekom Veszprém and for the Croatian national team. He was named into the All Star Team both at the 2010 and the 2016 EHF European Men's Handball Championship. Honours ...

*Pivot:

Bence Bánhidi Bence Bánhidi (born 9 February 1995) is a Hungarian handballer for SC Pick Szeged and the Hungarian national team. He represented Hungary at the 2019 World Men's Handball Championship. Individual awards * Hungarian Junior Handballer of the Ye ...

;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 and the Spain national team. He participated at the 2019 World Men's Handball Championship. International honours *EHF Champions League: **''Winne ...

*Best Coach: David Davis

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:EHF Champions League

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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