The 2024–25 EHF European League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club handball tournament organised by European Handball Federation (EHF), and the 5th season since it was renamed from the EHF Cup to the EHF European League.
The defending champions were SG Flensburg-Handewitt, who won their third title after defeating French side Montpellier Handball in the final.
Format Qualification Round: 20 teams will be drawn into 10 different home and away ties. The 10 winners will advance to the group stage.
Group Stage: The 22 teams already qualified along with the 10 winners of the qualification round will be drawn into 8 groups of 4 teams each, where they will play in a double round-robin format. The top 2 teams in each group will progress to the main round. Teams from the same country can't be drawn into the same group.
Main Round: The 16 group winners and runners-up will be placed in 4 groups of 4 teams each where they will play a single round-robin. The winners will advance directly to the quarterfinals, while 2nd and 3rd placed teams will qualify for the play-offs.
Play-offs: The 2nd and 3rd placed teams from each group in the main round will play in 4 different home and away ties. The winners will progress to the quarterfinals.
Quarter-finals: The main round group winners will face a play-off winner to determine who makes it to the European League finals.
EL finals: They will be played in a Final 4 format similar to the Champions League.
Rankings The rankings are based on the performances of each club from a respective country from a three-year period.
Associations 1–2 can have four clubs qualify. Associations 3–9 can have three clubs qualify. Associations 10–18 can have two clubs qualify. Associations below the top 18 are allowed to enter apply one club for a potential wildcard.
RankAssociationAverage pointsTeams1 Germany147.6742 Portugal88.673 France78.00 34 Spain 70.33 5 Poland68.33 26 Croatia67.67 37 Denmark63.67 8 Switzerland62.67 9 Sweden55.00 10 Russia48.50011 North Macedonia 41.33112 Hungary31,6713 Slovenia31.33214 Slovakia 27.671
RankAssociationAverage pointsTeams15 Austria22.00016 Iceland19.33217 Romania 18.00118 Ukraine 15.00019 Greece10.3320 Finland9.67021 Turkey8.0022 Norway7.33123 Serbia1.0024 Belarus 1.00025 Israel0.33026 Luxembourg0.33N/A Bosnia and Herzegovina0.001N/A Czech Republic0.00N/A Everyone else0.000
Qualified teams The full list of teams qualified for each stage of the 2024–25 EHF European League was announced on 9 July 2024.
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: EL: European League title holders EC: European Cup title holders CW: Cup winners CR: Cup runners-up 4th, 5th, etc.: League position of the previous season
+Group stage SG Flensburg-Handewitt (3rd)EL FC Porto (2nd) Montpellier Handball (3rd) RK Nexe (2nd) GOG Håndbold (3rd, CW) Kadetten Schaffhausen (1st) CD Bidasoa Irun (2nd) IK Sävehof (1st) Górnik Zabrze (3rd) CSM Constanța (2nd) RK Gorenje Velenje (1st) Vardar 1961 (2nd) MOL-Tatabánya KC (3rd) FH Hafnarfjarðar (1st) HT Tatran Prešov (1st, CW) THW Kiel (4th) SL Benfica (3rd) MRK Sesvete (3rd, CR) Fenix Toulouse Handball (4th) Bathco Torrelavega (11th, CR) KGHM Chrobry Głogów (4th) RK Vojvodina (1st)WC
+Qualification round MT Melsungen (5th) ABC Braga (4th) Bjerringbro-Silkeborg (4th) HC Kriens-Luzern (2nd) Fraikin BM Granollers (3rd) Ystads IF (2nd) RK Trimo Trebnje (2nd, CW) Valur (3rd, CW)EC VfL Gummersbach (6th) GC Amicitia Zürich (3rd) IFK Kristianstad (3rd) Limoges Handball (5th) Mors-Thy Håndbold (5th) Abanca Ademar León (5th) RK Spačva Vinkovci (4th) FTC-Green Collect (4th) Elverum Håndball (2nd) RK Izviđač (1st) HCB Karviná (1st)
WC Accepted Wildcard
Schedule All draws were held at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Phase Round Draw date Round dateQualification round First leg 16 July 2024 31 August–1 September 2024 Second leg 6–8 September 2024Group stage Matchday 1 19 July 2024 8 October 2024 Matchday 2 15 October 2024 Matchday 3 22 October 2024 Matchday 4 29 October 2024 Matchday 5 19 November 2024 Matchday 6 26 November 2024Main Round Matchday 7 11 February 2025 Matchday 8 18 February 2025 Matchday 9 25 February 2025 Matchday 10 4 March 2025Play offs First leg no draw 25 March 2025 Second leg 1 April 2025Quarterfinals First leg no draw 22 April 2025 Second leg 29 April 2025Final four Semi-finals TBD 24 May 2025 Final and Third place game 25 May 2025
Draw The draw took place on the at 11:00 CET in Vienna on 19 July 2024. The only restriction was that no clubs from the same country cannot be in the same group.
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 SG Flensburg-Handewitt FC Porto Montpellier Handball RK Nexe GOG Håndbold Kadetten Schaffhausen CD Bidasoa Irun IK Sävehof Górnik Zabrze CSM Constanța RK Gorenje Velenje Vardar 1961 MOL-Tatabánya KC FH Hafnarfjarðar HT Tatran Prešov THW Kiel SL Benfica MRK Sesvete Fenix Toulouse Handball Bathco BM Torrelavega KGHM Chrobry Głogów Play Off Winner 1 Play Off Winner 2 Play Off Winner 3 Play Off Winner 4 Play Off Winner 5 Play Off Winner 6 Play Off Winner 7 Play Off Winner 8 Play Off Winner 9 RK Vojvodina Special play off winner
Qualification round
The draw for the qualification round was conducted on 16 July 2024. The first legs will be held on 31 August to 1 September 2024 while the second legs will be held on 6–7 September 2024.
Seeding Seeded Unseeded MT Melsungen ABC Braga Bjerringbro-Silkeborg HC Kriens-Luzern Fraikin BM Granollers Ystads IF RK Trimo Trebnje Valur VfL Gummersbach Maritimo da Madeira Andebol SAD GC Amicitia Zürich IFK Kristianstad Limoges Handball Mors-Thy Håndbold Abanca Ademar León RK Spačva Vinkovci FTC-Green Collect Elverum Håndball
Special Qualification Play off Unlike the other Play offs, the losers of this tie will drop down to the European Cup.
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was conducted on 19 July 2024 at the EHF office in Vienna.
In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). After completion of the group stage, if two or more teams have scored the same number of points, the ranking will be determined as follows:
TiebreakersHighest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved; Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved; Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved; Superior goal difference in all matches of the group; Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group; Drawing of Lots
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Main round
In the Main Round, the remaining sixteen teams played in four groups of four. Teams were matched with two opponents they had not previously played against in the Group Stage, while points against the teams that advanced from the same group were carried over. At the end of the Main Round, the four group winners advanced to the Quarterfinals, while 2nd- and 3rd-placed teams from each group qualified for the Play-offs.
Group I
Group II
Group III
Group IV
Knockout stage In the play-offs, eight teams ranked 2nd and 3rd in Main Round Groups I through IV played against each other in home-and-away matches.
The four winning teams advanced to the Quarterfinals, where they were joined by winners of Main Round Groups I through IV for another round of home-and-away matches.
The four Quarterfinal winners qualified for the Final Four tournament.
Play-offs Overview
Matches
Quarterfinals Overview
Matches
Final Four The Final Four tournament was held at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
Bracket
Semifinals
Third place game
Final
Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Ian Barrufet MT Melsungen902 Ihor Turchenko Limoges Handball893 Luca Sigrist HC Kriens-Luzern874 Tobias Grøndahl GOG Håndbold795 Marin Šipić HC Kriens-Luzern786 Seif El-Deraa Limoges Handball757 Miro Schluroff VfL Gummersbach748 Antonio García Fraikin BM Granollers719 Emil Madsen THW Kiel6710 Kristian Olsen Ystads IF65
Notes
See also 2024–25 EHF Champions League 2024–25 EHF European Cup 2024–25 Women's EHF Champions League 2024–25 Women's EHF European League 2024–25 Women's EHF European Cup
References
External links Official website