The qualification stage for the Men’s EHF Cup, the European Handball Federation’s second-tier international club competition, came to an end on Sunday, 24 November. After three rounds of qualification comprising 96 matches played across Europe in a two-leg home-and-away format, the 16 teams to contest the group phase are known. 

With defending champions THW Kiel having returned to the Champions League this season, the way is open for a new team to raise the trophy in 2019/20. Among the favourites for the title are last season’s finalists and two-time EHF Cup and IHF Super Globe winners Füchse Berlin, who reached the group phase with a commanding victory over Swedish side HK Malmö in their two-leg qualification round 3 play-off. 

The only other team from the 2018/19 season semi-finals to contest the 2019/20 group phase will be Danish club TTH Holstebro, after they also won both legs of their qualification round 3 match-up versus Czech side Talent M.A.T. Plzen. 

In total, eight countries are represented by the 16 teams that will play the group phase. Germany have the strongest representation, with Rhein-Neckar Löwen, SC Magdeburg and MT Melsungen reaching the group phase alongside Berlin. From Denmark, along with Holstebro, Bjerringbro-Silkeborg have qualified for the group phase. 

Spain will be represented by three clubs: CB Ademar Leon, Liberbank Cuenca and BM Logroño La Rioja. France also count three clubs in the group phase, with PAUC Handball, USAM Nimes Gard and 2017/18 Champions League winners HBC Nantes having successfully made their way through the qualification stage.

The remaining clubs in the group phase are Hungarian team Grundfos Tatabanya KC, Slovenian squad RK Gorenje Velenje, Gwardia Opole from Poland and Portuguese side SL Benfica. Benfica had the closest play-off of round 3, finishing with a level 54:54 aggregate result against Croatian team RK Nexe. As the first match in Croatia ended 30:26 in Nexe’s favour, while the second in Portugal saw a final result of 28:24 for Benfica, Benfica secured progression based on scoring more goals away. 

The 16 teams will be drawn into four groups of four for the group phase, which will be played from February 8 to March 29, 2020. From there, the top eight teams – two from each group – will proceed to the quarter-finals played between May 2 and 10. The semi-finals and finals will take place over one weekend on May 23 and 24. 

More information on the Men’s EHF Cup can be found on the competition website.