Draw procedure for the EHF Champions League Women 2023/24 announced

European Handball Federation

23 June 2023, 12:00

Three participants of the EHF FINAL4 Women 2023, Vipers Kristiansand, Györi Audi ETO KC and Team Esbjerg will be seeded in the first pot alongside Metz Handball and CSM București when the draw for the EHF Champions League 2023/24 divides all 16 participants into two groups of eight on Tuesday 27 June.

The teams, which were approved by the EHF Executive Committee earlier this week will enter Tuesday’s draw in Vienna in four pots. In order to avoid many allocations due to the country protection, the EHF has adjusted the draw procedure and while there will be five teams in Pot 1 and Pot 3, there will be four clubs in the second pot and only two in Pot 4.

Country protection will still be applied, therefore, the Pot 1 and Pot 2 teams from Hungary, France, Romania and Denmark will not meet their national league opponents in the group phase. However, this will not apply on the third team from Denmark and Hungary in Pot 4 who will inevitably face one of their domestic league rivals.

The group phase will be played in a round-robin format. After 14 rounds, the top two teams in each group will qualify directly for the quarter-finals, while the teams that finish in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth places will contest the play-offs. The lowest-ranked two clubs in each group will be eliminated from the competition at the end of the group phase.

The first round is scheduled for 9-10 September 2023.

Draw procedure:

Step 1: 5 teams from Pot 1 drawn to five places out these six - A1, B1, A2, B2, A3, B3 (either A3 or B3 will remain vacant)

Step 2: 4 teams from Pot 2 drawn to four places out of these five - A3 or B3, A4, B4, A5, B5 (one position will remain vacant)

Step 3: 5 teams from Pot 3 drawn to five places - one from the previous step, A6, B6, A7, B7

Step 4: 2 teams from Pot 4 drawn to two remaining positions A8 and B8 (no country protection)

Follow the draw live

The group phase draw will take place on Tuesday 27 June at 11:00 CEST in Vienna and will be streamed on EHFTV and the Home of Handball YouTube channel.

EHF Champions League Women 2023/24 group phase

POT 1

NOR - Vipers Kristiansand

HUN - Györi Audi ETO KC

FRA - Metz Handball

DEN - Team Esbjerg

ROU - CSM București

POT 2

HUN - FTC Rail-Cargo Hungaria

FRA - Brest Bretagne Handball

DEN - Odense Håndbold

ROU - CS Rapid București