The reigning EHF Champions League trophy holders, Barça will be seeded in the first pot alongside their arch-rivals THW Kiel, MOL-Pick Szeged and Paris Saint-Germain Handball when the draw for the EHF Champions League Men 2021/22 divides all 16 participants into two groups of eight on Friday 2 July 2021.

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 France, Hungary and Germany will not meet their national league opponents in the group phase. In addition, two teams from the same country cannot 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 Kiel are drawn to a position A1, Flensburg must be allocated to B6 in order to avoid that both teams from Germany play their home or away matches in the same round).

HC Vardar 1961, Aalborg Håndbold, Lomza Vive Kielce, and FC Porto have been seeded in the second pot, while HC Meshkov Brest, SG Flensburg-Handewitt, Telekom Veszprém HC and Montpellier Handball are in the third. HC Motor, HC PPD Zagreb, C.S. Dinamo Bucuresti and Elverum Handball are in the fourth pot. 

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.

EHF Champions League Men 2021/22 group phase

Pot 1

ESP – Barça
GER – THW Kiel
HUN – MOL-Pick Szeged
FRA – Paris Saint-Germain Handball

Pot 2

MKD – HC Vardar 1961
DEN – Aalborg Håndbold
POL – Lomza Vive Kielce
POR – FC Porto

Pot 3

BLR – HC Meshkov Brest
GER – SG Flensburg-Handewitt
HUN – Telekom Veszprém HC
FRA – Montpellier HB

Pot 4

UKR – HC Motor
CRO – HC PPD Zagreb
ROU – C.S. Dinamo Bucuresti
NOR – Elverum Handball

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

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