The EHF Champions League Women is back with another season, as the top 16 European clubs are aiming to win the top prize – the big title awarded to the champion at the end of the season, after nearly 10 months of top quality handball.

The winner of the previous two seasons and the most decorated club in the history of the competition, with seven trophies, Györi Audi ETO KC, will once again be one of the favourites to secure the title, but perennial contenders such as Team Esbjerg, Metz Handball or last season’s runners-up, Odense Håndbold, will also be high on the list for the teams with chances at the big trophy.

The line-up will see three teams from Hungary, three teams from Denmark, two from Romania, Norway and France and one from Slovenia, Montenegro, Germany and Croatia at the start.

Only one team – Sola HK, the runners-up in the Norwegian league – will make their debut in the European premium competition, after replacing the German champions, HB Ludwigsburg, which folded at the start of the season, due to financial difficulties.

The 16 teams are divided into two groups of eight teams each, with the top two sides in each group progressing directly to the quarter-finals, while the teams ranked three to six in each group will head to the play-offs.

The competition will end with the EHF FINAL4, with the winners of each of the four quarter-finals facing off in the business end of the competition, scheduled for 6 and 7 June in the MVM Dome in Budapest.

In Group A, reigning champions Györi Audi ETO KC are the favourites, after keeping most, and will face some serious contention, in the form of Team Esbjerg, a team boosted by the comeback of right back Nora Mork and the 2023 and 2024 IHF Female Player of the Year, Henny Reistad.

Metz Handball, another team which featured in the EHF FINAL4 last season alongside Györ and Esbjerg are also in this group, while Storhamar Handball Elite, Gloria Bistrița, Borussia Dortmund, OTP Group Buducnost Podgorica and DVSC Schaeffler are also in contention for the play-offs places.

In Group B, last season’s runners-up Odense Håndbold, which have a new coach, after Ole Gustav Gjekstad moved to the Norway women’s national team and was replaced by Jakob Vestergaard, will face some heavy contention from Hungarian side FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria and Romanian champions CSM București.

Another Danish team, Ikast Håndbold, look to snatch a place in the knockout phase, with Sola HK, Brest Bretagne Handball, HC Podravka and Krim Mercator Ljubljana completing the group’s line-up.

The group phase of the EHF Champions League Women will start on 6 and 7 September and will end on 21 and 22 February 2026. The first leg of the play-offs is scheduled for 21 and 22 March, with the second leg taking place one week later.

The quarter-finals will take place on 18 and 19 April and 25 and 26 April, while the EHF FINAL4 is scheduled in Budapest for 6 and 7 June 2026.

Photo credit: EHF / Kolektiff