Three participants of May’s DELO EHF FINAL4 2021, Vipers Kristiansand, Brest Bretagne Handball and CSKA will be seeded in the first pot alongside the new Hungarian champions FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria when the draw for the DELO EHF Champions League 2021/22 divides all 16 participants into two groups of eight on Friday 2 July.

The teams, which were approved by the EHF Executive Committee earlier this week will enter Friday’s draw in Vienna in four pots. From each pot, two teams will be drawn into group A, while the other two will be in group B.

Country protection will be applied, therefore, the teams from Hungary, France, Russia and Denmark will not meet their national league opponents in the group phase. In addition, two teams from the same country cannot both play their matches at home or away in the same round.

Consequently, all teams in the third pot cannot be drawn but they will be allocated. (Example: If Brest Bretagne are drawn to a position A1, Metz Handball from the third pot must be allocated to B6 in order to avoid that both teams from France play their home or away matches in the same round).

CSM Bucuresti, Buducnost BEMAX, Odense Håndbold and RK Krim Mercator have been seeded in the second pot, while BV Borussia 09 Dortmund, Metz Handball and Rostov-Don are in the third together with the record winners of the EHF Champions League, Györi Audi ETO KC. The fourth pot consists of HC Podravka Vegeta, IK Sävehof, Team Esbjerg and the competition’s newcomers Kastamonu Belediyesi GSK.

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. 

Follow the draw live

The group phase draw will take place on Friday 2 July at 11:00 CEST in Vienna and will be streamed on EHFTV, the Home of Handball YouTube channel and the Home of Handball Facebook page.

DELO EHF Champions League 2021/22 group phase

Pot 1

HUN – FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria
FRA – Brest Bretagne Handball
RUS – CSKA
NOR – Vipers Kristiansand

Pot 2
ROU – CSM Bucuresti
MNE – Buducnost BEMAX
DEN – Odense Håndbold
SLO – RK Krim Mercator

Pot 3

GER – BV Borussia 09 Dortmund *
HUN – Györi AUDI ETO KC
FRA – Metz Handball
RUS – Rostov-Don

Pot 4

CRO – HC Podravka Vegeta
SWE – IK Sävehof
TUR – Kastamonu Belediyesi GSK
DEN – Team Esbjerg

Draw procedure

Step 1: a team from Pot 1 => drawn to one of these positions: A1, B1, A2, B2 (4x)

Step 2: a team from Pot 2 => drawn to one of these positions: A3, B3, A4, B4 (4x)

Step 3: a team from Pot 3 => allocated one of these positions: A5, B5, A6, B6 (4x) – the country protection and the home/away rule of two teams from the same country to be respected

Step 4: Team Esbjerg => allocated one of these positions: A5, B5, A6, B6 – the country protection and the home/away rule of two teams from the same country to be respected

Step 5: a team from Pot 4 => drawn to one of these positions: A7, B7, A8, B8 (3x)

Group phase schedule

The group phase shall be played in accordance with the schedule set out below, which is a guideline only.

The EHF has the right to adapt this schedule in each group individually based on appropriate input and reason by any of the stakeholders. All final decisions lie with the EHF.

Round 1: 5 vs 2 and 6 vs 1 and 7 vs 4 and 8 vs 3
Round 2: 1 vs 7 and 2 vs 8 and 3 vs 5 and 4 vs 6
Round 3: 5 vs 1 and 6 vs 2 and 7 vs 3 and 8 vs 4
Round 4: 1 vs 8 and 2 vs 7 and 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5
Round 5: 2 vs 1 and 4 vs 3 and 6 vs 5 and 8 vs 7
Round 6: 1 vs 4 and 3 vs 2 and 5 vs 8 and 7 vs 6
Round 7: 1 vs 3 and 4 vs 2 and 5 vs 7 and 8 vs 6
Round 8: 3 vs 1 and 2 vs 4 and 7 vs 5 and 6 vs 8
Round 9: 4 vs 1 and 2 vs 3 and 8 vs 5 and 6 vs 7
Round 10: 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4 and 5 vs 6 and 7 vs 8
Round 11: 8 vs 1 and 7 vs 2 and 6 vs 3 and 5 vs 4
Round 12: 1 vs 5 and 2 vs 6 and 3 vs 7 and 4 vs 8
Round 13: 7 vs 1 and 8 vs 2 and 5 vs 3 and 6 vs 4
Round 14: 2 vs 5 and 1 vs 6 and 4 vs 7 and 3 vs 8