In the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 10 men’s teams had a fixed place, while nine teams had a guaranteed spot in the EHF Champions League Women. The remaining places were awarded via upgrades, taking into consideration factors such as ‘venue’, ‘TV’, ‘spectators’, ‘past results in EHF competitions’ and ‘product management and digital’ according to the regulations.
Machineseeker EHF Champions League
With the summary of the Evaluation Group at hand, the EXEC confirmed upgrades for the following six teams in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League (in the alphabetic order by country):
- HC Zagreb (Croatia)
- Aalborg Håndbold (Denmark)
- Montpellier Handball (France)
- OTP Bank-Pick Szeged (Hungary)
- Kolstad Handball (Norway)
- Orlen Wisla Plock (Poland)
They will join the 10 teams with a fixed place in the competition: GOG (Denmark), Barça (Spain), Paris Saint-Germain Handball (France), SC Magdeburg, THW Kiel (both Germany), Telekom Veszprém (Hungary), HC Eurofarm Pelister (North Macedonia), Barlinek Industria Kielce (Poland), FC Porto (Portugal), and RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko (Slovenia).
In the case of Kolstad Handball, the Norwegian team was awarded with a wild card for the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2023/24. This option was confirmed by the EXEC in its March meeting, granting the possibility to award one place with a wild card instead of via the existing criteria catalogue.
Upgrade requests from the following clubs were not taken into consideration: Sporting CP (Portugal), CS Dinamo Bucuresti (Romania), Kadetten Schaffhausen (Switzerland), IFK Kristianstad (Sweden).
The four teams whose upgrade requests have been rejected have a place in the EHF European League Men.
EHF Champions League Women
In the EHF Champions League Women, upgrade requests from the following teams have been confirmed:
- Ikast Håndbold (Denmark)
- Brest Bretagne Handball (France)
- DVSC Schaeffler (Hungary)
- FTC Rail-Cargo Hungaria (Hungary)
- MKS Zaglebie Lubin (Poland)
- CS Rapid Bucuresti (Romania)
- IK Sävehof (Sweden)
Teams with a fixed place are: Odense Håndbold, Team Esbjerg (both Denmark), Metz Handball (France), SG BBM Bietigheim (Germany), Györi Audi ETO KC (Hungary), WHC Buducnost (Montenegro), Vipers Kristiansand (Norway), CSM Bucuresti (Romania), and Krim Mercator Ljubljana (Slovenia).
In the EHF Champions League Women, the national federations of France, Hungary, Norway made use of the possibility, which was also confirmed by the EXEC in March, to request two upgrades from the EHF European League to the EHF Champions League. The national federation of Denmark had the chance to make one request in addition to the two places they had available already.
The upgrade requests from Lokomotiva Zagreb (Croatia), Neptunes de Nantes (France), Sola HK, Storhamar Handball Elite (both Norway) and Kastamonu Belediyesi GSK (Türkiye) were not confirmed. The clubs subsequently have a place in the EHF European League Women.
Next steps
The draw for the men’s and women’s EHF Champions League will take place on 27 June at 11:00 CEST in Vienna. For both competitions, teams will be drawn in two groups of eight.
The first playing day for the EHF Champions League Women is the weekend of 9-10 September 2023. The men’s teams will play their first matches on 13-14 September 2023.
About the EHF Champions League
The EHF Champions League is the premium competition of European club handball. Starting with the group phase in September, 16 teams compete for a place in club handball’s benchmark events, the EHF FINAL4 Women in the MVM Dome in Budapest, Hungary and the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 in the LANXESS arena in Cologne, Germany. Both events are played in June.
The current playing system has Wednesdays and Thursdays reserved for the men’s club teams, while the women play on Saturdays and Sundays. The 2023/24 season starts on 9 September for the women’s teams and on 13 September for the men with the EHF FINAL4 events being played on 1/2 June 2024 in Budapest and on 8/9 June 2024 in Cologne.
Photo © Uros Hocevar / kolektiff
