The EHF European Cup Men 2026/27 heats up as 64 participants look forward to discovering their next opponents on the path to the coveted title. The round 2 line-up features many fierce contenders, including defending champions GRK Ohrid and four other past winners — HC Alkaloid (2025), RK Vojvodina (2023), Nærbø IL (2022) and AEK (2021).
The country protection rule applies for round 2 of the competition, meaning that no teams from the same national federation can be drawn against each other.
Therefore, the draw will follow the same pool system used for the previous round, with clubs distributed according to their seedings. The participants will be divided into four pools of 16 each — namely eight teams in pot 1 and eight in pot 2.
The pools will be confirmed by the EHF on Monday 21 September afternoon and will be published on eurohandball.com.
The draw can be followed live on the Home of Handball YouTube channel on Tuesday 22 September, starting at 11:00 CEST.
Round 2 will begin with the first leg on 17/18 October, followed by the return leg on 24/25 October.
