Seeding for the group phase draw released

All clubs of the continent’s premium competition are to discover their European travel schedule up to March 2018 as the draw for the VELUX EHF Champions League 2017/18 Group Phase will take place later this week.

Qualification pairings set

Friday’s main draw event will be preceded by the qualification draw on Thursday. As there is just one qualification group, the semi-final pairings have been automatically determined by the seeding and only the right to organise the tournament will be drawn on Thursday.

In the semi-final on Saturday 2 September Sporting CP (POR) will meet Cocks (FIN), while Tatran Presov (SVK) face Alpla HC Hard (AUT).

The hosting rights draw will be carried out on Thursday 29 June at 11:00 hrs at the EHF Office in Vienna. Since Presov hosted a qualification tournament last season, according to the regulations they will automatically be placed on the last position of the order and only three other clubs will be drawn for the rights.

Qualification tournament 1 (2-3 September 2017)

Semi-final pairings

Sporting CP (POR) vs Cocks (FIN)
Tatran Presov (SVK) vs Alpla HC Hard (AUT)

Group Phase draw

The 27 teams directly seeded for the group phase and one qualifier will learn their fate in the new season as the draw both for the Groups A&B and Groups C&D is to be conducted on Friday 30 June evening at the Ljubljana castle (live on ehfTV.com)

There are eight pots of two teams in the Groups A&B and six pots in the Groups C&D. The defending champions HC Vardar will be drawn from the Pot 2 together with the 2016 trophy holders Vive Tauron Kielce.

The last season’s runners-up Paris Saint-Germain Handball will be in the Pot 3 together with the German champions Rhein-Neckar Löwen, while the record winners of the European top flight FC Barcelona Lassa are seeded in the top pot alongside the third team of the 2016/17 edition Telekom Veszprem.

The teams will not be able to face opponents from the same country in the group what applies to sides from France, Germany, Poland and Hungary.

The only exception will be the three-time winners THW Kiel, who will play against one of the two German Bundesliga rivals in the group.

During the draw of Group A and Group B the first four pots will be completely open, but due to the country protection the remaining four pots will be allocated.

In the Pot 5 Orlen Wisla Plock will go to the group with the defending champions to avoid Kielce, while MOL-Pick Szeged in the Pot 6 will land in the group with Barcelona to prevent them from meeting Veszprém.

SG Flensburg-Handewitt from the Pot 7 will join the group with PSG and as the second French team HBC Nantes have to avoid their domestic champions and end up in the group with Rhein-Neckar Löwen, Kiel will consequently join PSG and Flensburg in the group.

All six pots for Group C and D will be drawn.

The group phase will commence with the first round matches on 13-17 September, the last round in A and B is scheduled for 28 February - 4 March 2018.

Seeding for the group phase draw:

Download the file with the seedings and all dates of the new season here