European Cup rankings for 2014/15 season announced

The place distribution for the 2014/15 Men’s and Women’s EHF Club Competitions has been confirmed by the EHF Executive Committee.

The rankings, based on club performances by nation in all EHF European Cup competitions in the past three seasons (2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13), determine the number of places available for each nation in the EHF European Cup competitions.

The total number of teams per federation remains unchanged both for men’s and women’s club competitions (5+5 per federation).

Changes in the European top flights

Also, the total number of federations (27) with an access to the VELUX EHF Champions League (qualification or group phase) remains unchanged and the same applies to the Women’s EHF Champions League with 24 federations involved.

Different to the past there will be no automatic allocation of a second place to any federation except the top two of the ranking list For the 2014/15 season only Germany and Spain can field two teams in the VELUX EHF Champions League, while both Hungary and Denmark can be represented by two teams in the Women’s EHF Champions League.

Additional place

All federations have the right to apply for an additional place in these competitions. This additional place can only be requested for a club which is basically qualified for any European Cup competition.

The awarding of an additional place in the VELUX EHF Champions League or in the Women’s EHF Champions League does not result in an additional European Cup place for the respective federation.

The requirements as well as the procedure for the awarding of an additional place to a federation will be submitted for approval to the Executive Committee in March 2014 by the Competition Commission (Club Competitions) in close cooperation with the EHFM.

The awarding will be decided by the Executive Committee in its meeting in June 2014 after the registration process has been concluded.

Defending champions

In both cases the defending champion will have a guaranteed place in the qualification if it does not qualify to the competition via the domestic league. However, in this case the Federation concerned loses its right to apply for an additional place in the competition.

Men’s ranking

Top five places in the men’s ranking have not changed with Germany leading ahead of Spain, France, Denmark and Slovenia. Hungary and Russia, which swapped their respective places follow.

Two emerging countries of European handball recorded the biggest move upwards. While Luxembourg climbed up five places to 22nd place, their neighbours from Belgium rose to 27th place relegating Italy from the list of CL-federations.

Women’s ranking

Denmark has been removed from the top position by Hungary and finished only two points ahead of Norway.

The Czech Republic performed the biggest jump as it moved by seven places from 26 to 19 and gained the Women’s EHF Champions League ticket at the expense of Italy which dropped from 22 to 25.

The 2014/15 EC ranking can be downloaded here