The 2026–27 EHF European League will be the 46th season of Europe's secondary club handball tournament organised by European Handball Federation (EHF), and the 7th season since it was renamed from the EHF Cup to the EHF European League.
Format The tournament will see a new format as follows: Group Stage: 32 teams will be split into eight groups of four teams and play a round-robin with home and away matches. The top 2 teams in each group will progress to the play-offs. Teams from the same country can't be drawn into the same group. Play-offs: The 16 group winners and runners-up will be joined by the 12 teams that finished third and fourth in the group phase of the EHF Champions League, and play in 14 different home and away matches. The winners will advance to the Last 16. Last 16: The 14 winners from the play-offs will be joined by two more teams that finished fifth in the Champions League main round and will play in 8 different home and away ties. The winners will progress to the quarterfinals. Quarter-finals: The 8 winners of the Last 16 will play a knockout system 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 3–5 can have three clubs qualify. Associations 6–11 can have two clubs qualify. Associations 12–18 can have one club qualify. Associations below the top 18 are allowed to enter apply one club for a potential wildcard.
RankPlace distribution for the 2026/27 season eurohandball.comAssociationAverage pointsTeams1 Germany154.6732 France97.003 Portugal67.004 Spain66.0045 Denmark61.3326 Switzerland53.0017 Sweden47.00 28 Croatia 42.67 9 Romania38.3310 Iceland 29.5011 Hungary28.33112 Ukraine22.50013 Serbia19.00
RankAssociationAverage pointsTeams14 North Macedonia 19.00115 Poland18.3316 Slovakia 16.33117 Slovenia13.3318 Montenegro10.00019 Norway9.67120 Austria9.00021 Bosnia and Herzegovina6.50122 Greece6.00023 Czech Republic5.50124 Finland3.000N/A Everyone else0.00
Ranking facts Biggest riseTeam1 Serbia2113 +82 Iceland1410 +4 Ukraine1612 Montenegro2218 Austria1614 Czech Republic2723 Biggest fallTeam1 Russia1525 –102 Poland915 –6 Slovenia1117 Finland18245 Croatia48 –4 New entries Czech Republic Entries leaving Russia
Qualified teams The full list of teams qualified for each stage of the 2026–27 EHF European League was announced on 17 July 2026.List of teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: CW: Cup winners CR: Cup runners-up 1st, ..., 5th: League position of the previous season
Group stage SG Flensburg-Handewitt (3rd) VfL Gummersbach (4th) Bergischer HC (13th, CR) Limoges Handball (4th) Chambéry SMB HB (5th) Saint-Raphaël Var Handball (6th) SL Benfica (3rd, CR) Águas Santas (4th) Madeira Andebol SAD (5th) BM Logroño La Rioja (2nd) Fraikin BM Granollers (3rd) Irudek Bidasoa Irún (4th, CR) Bathco BM Torrelavega (5th) TTH Holstebro (4th) Mors-Thy Håndbold (6th) Kadetten Schaffhausen (2nd, CW) Hammarby IF (3rd) IK Sävehof (6th) MRK Sesvete (2nd) RK Nexe (3rd, CR) HC Buzău (2nd) CSM București (3rd) Valur (1st) FH Hafnarfjordur (2nd) MOL Tatabánya KC (3rd, CR) HC Eurofarm Pelister (2nd) PGE Wybrzeże Gdańsk (3rd, CR) Tatran Prešov (1st, CW) RD LL Grosist Slovan (2nd) Elverum Håndball (3rd) HC Izviđač (1st) HCB Karviná (1st)
Round and draw dates Schedule Phase Round Draw date Round dateScheduleGroup stage Matchday 1 17 July 2026 29 September 2026 Matchday 2 6 October 2026 Matchday 3 13 October 2026 Matchday 4 17 November 2026 Matchday 5 24 November 2026 Matchday 6 1 December 2026Play offs First leg TBD 9 February 2027 Second leg 23 February 2027Last 16 First leg 23 March 2027 Second leg 30 March 2027Quarterfinals First leg 20 April 2027 Second leg 27 April 2027Final four Semi-finals 22 May 2027 Final and Third place game 23 May 2027
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was conducted on 17 July 2026 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
Knockout stage In the play-offs, sixteen teams ranked 1st and 2nd from the group stage, along with the twelve teams that finished third and fourth in the Champions League group stage, will play against each other in home-and-away matches.
The fourteen winning teams will then be joined by the two teams that finished fifth in the Champions League main round for another round of home-and-away matches to advance to the Quarterfinals.
The four Quarterfinal winners will qualify for the Final Four tournament.
Final Four The Final Four tournament will be held at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
Bracket
Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals1 Frederik Emil Pedersen Elverum Håndball252 Óðinn Þór Ríkharðsson Kadetten Schaffhausen233 Tim Cokan RD LL Grosist Slovan204 Tim Jenko Bogdanić Tatran Prešov18 Andrei Drăgan CSM București6 Délcio Pina Madeira Andebol SAD177 González Irudek Bidasoa Irún16 Gunnar Róbertsson Valur Nikola Roganović VfL Gummersbach10 Filip Kuzmanovski HC Eurofarm Pelister15 Sören Steinhaus Bergischer HC Lucas Vanègue Chambéry SMB HB
Notes
See also 2026–27 EHF Champions League 2026–27 EHF European Cup 2026–27 Women's EHF Champions League 2026–27 Women's EHF European League 2026–27 Women's EHF European Cup
References
External links Official website