Big draw day comes

One day after the qualification draw of the VELUX EHF Champions League set three groups for 12 national champions, the time has come for all European powerhouses to learn their fate in the new season as the group phase draw is to be carried out at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in Vienna on Friday at 18:00 hrs.

All 21 teams directly seeded for the group phase including the defending champions SG Flensburg-Handewitt are waiting in six pots.

The draw starts with teams from the Pot 1 and continues all the way down to the Pot 6, where Montpellier will be accompanied by three winners of the qualification groups.

The only change compared to the previous seasons will be that teams will not be able to face opponents from the same country in the group what applies to sides from France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Poland, Hungary and FYR Macedonia.

Seeding for the group phase draw:

Pot 1: THW Kiel (GER), FC Barcelona (ESP), MKB-MVM Veszprem (HUN), KS Vive Targi Kielce (POL)
Pot 2: KIF Kolding (DEN), HC Metalurg (MKD), RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko (SLO), Dunkerque Grand Littoral (FRA)
Pot 3: RK Zagreb (CRO), Chekhovskie Medvedi (RUS), Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI), Alingsas HK (SWE)
Pot 4: Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER), Naturhouse La Rioja (ESP), Pick Szeged (HUN), Orlen Wisla Plock (POL)
Pot 5: SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER), Aalborg Handbold (DEN), HC Vardar (MKD), PSG HB (FRA)
Pot 6: Montpellier AH (FRA), winner Qualification Group 1, winner Qualification Group 2, winner Qualification Group 3

Read about the results of the qualification draw here

Where to follow

All fans can enjoy an extensive coverage of the draw event. The live streaming of the draw commentated by Tom O Brannagain and followed by interviews with clubs' representatives will be available on ehfTV, while the live ticker will show all the results of the draw real-time on www.eurohandball.com.

The pairings will be also tweeted live on the official @ehfcl channel.