EXEC announces the starting grid for the 2020/21 season
All 16 teams for the EHF Champions League Men have been detemined as the EHF Executive Committee reached its decision on the teams taking part in the 2020/21 season.
In the 28th edition of the Europe's premier club competition the new playing system will be adopted with only 16 teams. They will start the group phase in two groups of eight teams, while Wednesdays and Thursdays have been confirmed as playing days.
In total, there will be six former winners of the EHF Champions League (Barcelona 8x, Kiel 3x, Vardar 2x, Flensburg, Celje and Kielce), when the group phase of the new season commence on 16-17 September.
After formally approving the 10 teams registered as national champions with fixed places (HC PPD Zagreb, Aalborg Handbold, Barça, Paris Saint-Germain HB, THW Kiel, SG Flensburg-Handewitt, Telekom Veszprém, HC Vardar 1961, PGE VIVE Kielce and FC Porto Sofarma) the EHF Executive
Committee members also evaluated all 14 requests for upgrades from the second tier EHF European League.
Based on the criteria catalogue with five different fields (venue, TV, spectators, results in past EHF competitions, product management and digital) six requests for upgrades have been approved (HC Meshkov Brest, HBC Nantes, MOL-Pick Szeged, Elverum Handball, RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko and HC Motor).
The remaining eight requests were not granted, however the EXEC assigned two teams - Orlen Wisla Plock and Dinamo Bucuresti - as substitution teams for the cases where one or more teams will experience serious difficulties with a proper participation and carrying out of home matches in the group phase due to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Group phase draw
The group phase draw will take place on Wednesday 1 July at 18:00 CEST in Vienna and will be streamed on ehfTV.com but also on ehfTV YouTube channel and EHF Champions League Facebook page.
A draw preview and the seeding list with pots will be published in the upcoming days at ehfCL.com.
EHF Champions League Men 2020/21 group phase
HC Meshkov Brest (BLR)
HC PPD Zagreb (CRO)
Aalborg Handbold (DEN)
Barça (ESP)
HBC Nantes (FRA)
Paris Saint-Germain HB (FRA)
SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER)
THW Kiel (GER)
MOL-Pick Szeged (HUN)
Telekom Veszprém HC (HUN)
HC Vardar 1961 (MKD)
Elverum Handball (NOR)
PGE VIVE Kielce (POL)
FC Porto Sofarma (POR)
RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko (SLO)
HC Motor (UKR)
Substitution teams:
1 - Orlen Wisla Plock (POL)
2 - Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU)
TEXT:
EHF / br