The line-up of teams for the new season in Europe’s top flight was confirmed on Monday, which leaves just one question: who is going to play against who in the group phase?
The group phase draw takes place in Vienna on Friday 1 July at 11:00 CEST and will be streamed live on EHFTV and the EHF Champions League Facebook page, with further coverage on EHF's dedicated social media channels and eurohandball.com.
For 2022/23, the competition format remains the same as in the past two seasons: two groups of eight teams each, with the top-six ranked teams qualifying for the knockout phase. Both the group winners and runners-up from each group will be heading directly into the quarter-finals, and the teams ranked third through sixth will advance to the play-offs.
So, how will the 16 teams be divided into the two groups at Friday's draw?
First of all, each team has been allocated to one of those four pots based on the current seeding:
Pot 1
Barça (ESP)
SC Magdeburg (GER)
Paris Saint-Germain Handball (FRA)
Pick Szeged (HUN)
Pot 2
GOG (DEN)
Lomza Industria Kielce (POL)
FC Porto (POR)
RK Celje Pivovarna Laško (SLO)
Pot 3
CS Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU)
THW Kiel (GER)
HBC Nantes (FRA)
Telekom Veszprém HC (HUN)
Pot 4
Elverum Håndball (NOR)
HC PPD Zagreb (CRO)
Aalborg Håndbold (DEN)
Orlen Wisla Plock (POL)
Based on those pots, the draw procedure will follow these five steps:
- STEP 1: A team from Pot 1 is drawn to Row 1 or 2 (4x)
- STEP 2: A team from Pot 2 is drawn to Row 3 or 4 (4x)
- STEP 3: All teams from Pot 3 are allocated to Rows 5 and 6 (no draw)
- STEP 4: Aalborg and Plock are allocated to Row 7 or 8
- STEP 5: Elverum and Zagreb are drawn to Row 7 or 8
Some teams have to be allocated due to the country protection rule, as two teams from the same nation cannot be drawn into the same group.
