Draw grants first right to organise a group to Hard

The Austrian champions Alpla HC Hard have the first right to organise the VELUX EHF Champions League tournament following the draw at the EHF Office on Thursday.

On 2-3 September Hard meet Slovakian title holders Tatran Presov, while Sporting CP face Cocks from Finland in the semi-final pairings.

Hard hosted the qualification group also three years ago only to see Motor Zaporozhye winning the ticket to the group phase.

The second right goes to Sporting Lisbon and the third to Cocks. Since Presov staged a qualification tournament in the previous season, they were automatically put to the fourth position.

The winner of the qualification group will join either Group C or Group D in the group phase depending on the result of Friday's draw at the Ljubljana castle.

Qualification group 1 - hosting rights:

1 Alpla HC Hard (AUT)

2 Sporting CP (POR)

3 Cocks (FIN)

4 Tatran Presov (SVK)