2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League

This article is about the women's competition. For the men's competition, see 2025–26 EHF Champions League.
Women's EHF Champions League
2025–26
Tournament information
SportHandball
Dates6 September 2025–7 June 2026
Teams16
Websiteehfcl.com
Tournament statistics
Matches played112
Goals scored6665 (59.51 per match)
Attendance230,614 (2,059 per match)
Top scorer(s) Henny Reistad
(99 goals)

The 2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League is the 33rd edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament, running from 6 September 2025 to 7 June 2026.

Győri Audi ETO KC are the defending champions

Format

The tournament will use the same format as the previous seasons. The competition begins with a group stage featuring sixteen teams divided into two groups. Matches will be 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 enter the playoff round.

The knockout stage include four rounds: the playoffs, quarter-finals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. In the playoffs, eight teams will be 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 will be 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 will be played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue.

Rankings

The rankings are based on the performances from the three most recent seasons.[1]

  • Associations 1–9 have their league champion qualify for the group stage and apply up to two wildcards.
  • The best-ranked association in the Women's EHF European League can have its league champion and runner-up qualified for the group stage and can apply for one wildcard.
  • Associations below the top 9 have their league champion apply for a wildcard.

Ranking facts

Teams

19 teams applied for a place, with nine having a fixed place.[3] The final list was announced on 24 June 2025.[4]

The fixed place for Russia was vacant since the country and its clubs were not admitted to participate in the EHF competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[5]

On 5 August 2025, after previously monitoring HB Ludwigsburg's financial situation,[6] the EHF decided to disqualify them after they failed to raise enough funds to play in the Champions League. They would be replaced by Sola HK.[7][8]

Participating teams
Entry round Teams
Fixed spots Győri Audi ETO KC (1st) Storhamar HE (1st) Team Esbjerg (2nd) Odense Håndbold (1st)
Metz Handball (1st) CSM București (1st) RK Krim Mercator (1st) OTP Group Budućnost (1st)
Wildcards FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria (2nd) DVSC Schaeffler (4th) Sola HK (2nd) Ikast Håndbold (3rd)
Brest Bretagne Handball (2nd) CS Gloria Bistrița (3rd) Borussia Dortmund (2nd) HC Podravka Vegeta (1st)
Rejected upgrades
Tertnes HE (5th) CS Minaur Baia Mare (4th)
Withdrawn
HB Ludwigsburg (1st)

Group stage

Location of teams of the 2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B.
Main article: 2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League group stage

The 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight. The draw took place on 27 June 2025.[4][9]

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 was determined as follows:

  1. Highest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved;
  2. Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved;
  3. Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved;
  4. Superior goal difference in all matches of the group;
  5. Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group;
  6. Drawing of Lots

This season, nine national associations are present. Sola HK will make their debut this season. Borussia Dortmund made their return to the Champions League for the first time since 2021–22. Ikast Håndbold and DVSC Schaeffler return after a one edition absence.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification GYO MET ESB BIS DEB DOR STO BUD
1 Győri Audi ETO KC 14 12 0 2 467 363 +104 24[a] Quarterfinals — 31–27 31–30 33–18 30–31 39–28 40–23 34–22
2 Metz Handball 14 12 0 2 453 364 +89 24[a] 24–27 — 40–26 29–26 33–26 38–29 29–27 38–18
3 Team Esbjerg 14 9 1 4 462 422 +40 19 Playoffs 33–28 29–30 — 32–28 39–30 36–29 30–24 36–24
4 CS Gloria Bistrița 14 8 0 6 420 435 −15 16 22–27 24–31 38–35 — 32–31 36–32 29–26 34–38
5 DVSC Schaeffler 14 6 0 8 408 428 −20 12 30–36 30–35 29–32 33–34 — 29–23 26–24 30–34
6 Borussia Dortmund 14 4 0 10 387 449 −62 8 30–43 24–33 24–31 32–36 28–26 — 22–26 30–24
7 Storhamar HE 14 3 0 11 371 405 −34 6 25–32 24–27 33–39 32–30 28–30 30–31 — 25–14
8 OTP Group Budućnost 14 1 1 12 341 443 −102 3 20–36 23–39 34–34 26–29 24–25 22–25 22–26 —
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Győri Audi ETO KC 58–51 Metz Handball

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BRE BUC FER ODE IKA KOP KRI SOL
1 Brest Bretagne Handball 14 11 0 3 476 414 +62 22 Quarterfinals — 34–31 34–31 40–33 35–37 33–25 32–20 36–25
2 CSM București 14 10 0 4 452 402 +50 20[a] 40–34 — 31–28 30–36 33–24 34–24 26–20 34–31
3 FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria 14 10 0 4 428 399 +29 20[a] Playoffs 29–28 30–35 — 32–34 27–24 31–23 38–31 26–25
4 Odense Håndbold 14 9 1 4 467 421 +46 19 31–40 24–33 28–30 — 35–28 42–24 30–21 32–27
5 Ikast Håndbold 14 8 0 6 425 416 +9 16 33–36 28–27 27–28 30–33 — 36–30 27–25 32–23
6 HC Podravka Vegeta 14 3 1 10 383 445 −62 7 30–31 28–33 33–37 31–31 29–33 — 24–23 31–26
7 RK Krim Mercator 14 2 1 11 360 424 −64 5 24–37 31–27 22–33 30–38 33–35 22–27 — 22–22
8 Sola HK 14 1 1 12 365 435 −70 3 24–26 30–38 24–28 25–40 22–31 33–24 28–35 —
Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ a b CSM București 4 pts, FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria 0 pts.

Knockout stage

Main article: 2025–26 Women's EHF Champions League knockout stage

Playoffs

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
HC Podravka Vegeta M1 Team Esbjerg 21 Mar 29 Mar
Borussia Dortmund M2 FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria 22 Mar 28 Mar
Ikast Håndbold M3 CS Gloria Bistrița 22 Mar 28 Mar
DVSC Schaeffler M4 Odense Håndbold 21 Mar 29 Mar

Quarterfinals

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
M4 – Győri Audi ETO KC 18–19 Apr 25–26 Apr
M3 – Brest Bretagne Handball 18–19 Apr 25–26 Apr
M2 – Metz Handball 18–19 Apr 25–26 Apr
M1 – CSM București 18–19 Apr 25–26 Apr

Final four

The final four will be held at the MVM Dome in Budapest, Hungary on 6 and 7 June 2026.

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
6 June
 
 
 
 
7 June
 
 
 
 
 
6 June
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Third place
 
 
7 June
 
 
 
 
 
 

Final

7 June 2026
18:00 		WSF1 v WSF2 MVM Dome, Budapest

Top goalscorers

As of 22 February 2026[10]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Henny Reistad Team Esbjerg 99
2 Anna Vyakhireva Brest Bretagne Handball 93
3 Julie Scaglione Ikast Håndbold 90
4 Sarah Bouktit Metz Handball 89
5 Elizabeth Omoregie CSM București 84
6 Alicia Toublanc DVSC Schaeffler 83
7 Anniken Obaidli Storhamar HE 81
8 Danila So Delgado CS Gloria Bistrița 79
9 Dione Housheer Győri Audi ETO KC 75
Stine Skogrand Ikast Håndbold

See also

References

  1. ^ "Place distribution released for 2025/26 season". eurohandball.com. 2 August 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  2. ^ "EHF Club Competitions 2025/26" (PDF). eurohandball.com. 2 August 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  3. ^ "19 clubs registered for EHF Champions League Women 2025/26". eurohandball.com. 5 June 2025. Retrieved 5 June 2025.
  4. ^ a b "EHF confirms upgrades to EHF Champions League". eurohandball.com. 24 June 2025. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  5. ^ "EHF Court of Handball rejects Russia appeal against ban". insidethegames.biz. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  6. ^ "EHF statement regarding the situation of HB Ludwigsburg". www.eurohandball.com.
  7. ^ "Sola HK replace HB Ludwigsburg at EHFCL Women 2025/26". www.eurohandball.com.
  8. ^ Media, Tekst: Sola; McDowell 05/08/2025, Foto: Kenneth. "Vi skal spille Champions League 2025/26!". Retrieved Sep 14, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "EHF Champions League 2025/26 takes shape after group phase draws". EHF. 27 June 2025.
  10. ^ "Top Scorers". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
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