The Executive Committee of the European Handball Federation at its meeting in Rotterdam on Saturday, 13 December has paved the way for a new era of European club handball.

Less than two months after it was announced that the EHF Champions League Men would expand to 24 teams and a new format for the EHFCL and the EHF European League Men would be established as of the 2026/27 season, the EXEC confirmed the place distribution system for both competitions.

While the EHF Champions League Men continues to summon the best of the best in European club handball, more markets than before will be reached.

The basis for the distribution is federation ranking for the club competitions which for the 2026/27 season includes results from the seasons 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25.

The federations ranked 1 to 10 have one fixed place in the competition. For the next season these federations are Germany, Spain, France, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Portugal, Croatia and Norway.

Each of these top 10 federations has the right to request up to two additional upgrades from the EHF European League to the EHF Champions League. From the upgrade requests received a maximum of eight teams will be admitted.

A maximum of four places is open to upgrade requests from federations without a fixed place in the EHF Champions League.

The remaining places are subject to a decision of the European Handball Federation. Possibilities include awarding the place to the winners of the EHF Champions League and/or the EHF European League. The EHF also reserves the right to award wild cards for participation, including to non-European clubs. 

The number of teams per federation is limited to a maximum of three. For all places fulfilling the minimum criteria according will be mandatory.

EHF President Michael Wiederer said: "The level of quality among Europe’s handball clubs is so high that the EHF Champions League will be incredibly competitive, increasing its attractiveness for fans, media and partners alike and positioning a product on the market which will be even stronger than it is already now."

The 24 teams will be drawn to six groups of four. Twelve teams will qualify for a main round of two groups of six, followed by quarter-finals and the EHF FINAL4. The draw is planned to be held on 26 June 2026.

New EHF European League Men with 32 teams

The new EHF European League starts with 32 teams, being drawn to eight groups of four at the start – and therefore no qualification matches are played ahead of the group phase.

According to the place distribution ranking, 36 teams have a place in the EHF European League. However, with twelve teams being upgraded to the EHF Champions League, there are eight spots available for distribution.

Five of them are upgrades respectively additional clubs from federations which received an upgrade to the EHF Champions League. Priority will be given to those federations which because of an upgrade to their club(s) to the EHF Champions League are not represented in the EHF European League any longer.

Two upgrades are open for clubs from federations with neither a fixed place in the EHF Champions League nor in the EHF European League.

For the final spot, the EHF reserves the right to allocate this through a wild card.

As part of the motion the EXEC also confirmed that a reform of the playing systems for the women’s club competitions will be dealt with in spring 2026 for an implementation as of the 2027/28 season.