12 teams advanced to the main round of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, after the group phase concluded on Thursday, 29 October.

The change of format for this season saw 24 teams at the start, an uptick of eight teams from the previous season, but also a format change, with six groups of four teams, where the top two sides advance to the main round, while the other two head to the EHF European League Men.

Powerhouses like SC Magdeburg and FC Barcelona, the winners of the last six editions, have made it through, while there were surprises, such as third-placed side from the 2024/25 season, HBC Nantes, being eliminated.

Group A saw two sides who featured at the 2026 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, One Veszprém HC and Füchse Berlin, collide. Veszprém, the world champions, swept their opponents and secured the first place, with 12 points from 12 available, after beating the German side twice, 39:35 on their home court and 35:29 in the away match.

Füchse finished second, with two wins against FC Porto and two wins against RK Partizan AdmiralBet, but will start the main round with zero points, as the teams take the points won against the other qualified teams to the next round.

Group B was a tough nut to crack, with the qualification being played until the last minute. Orlen Wisla Plock secured the first place, having won four of the six matches played, including two one-goal wins against Vardar Skopje (33:32) and MT Melsungen (25:24).

Wins against Nantes (28:23) and Plock (28:26) on their home court, lifted the EHF European League Men title holders, MT Melsungen, to the second place. Despite a 25:33 loss against Nantes, Melsungen snatched a draw in the last match against Vardar, 26:26, to finish second with seven points, one more than the French side.

PSG and Aalborg finished on top of the rankings in Group C, both with nine points, after the match played in Denmark between the two sides ended in a stalemate, 33:33. But with PSG winning on home court, 32:25, in the last matchday, the French side won the group. Both teams, however, will start on one point in the next phase. RK Zagreb (six points) and RK Celje Pivovarna Laško (zero points) concluded the group.

In Group D, Sporting CP dropped a single point on their way to the first place, after a 35:35 draw against OTP Bank – Pick Szeged, with the Hungarian side surprisingly eliminated, after finishing third, behind Danish side GOG.

Szeged drew the home match against GOG, 33:33, but lost the away one, 34:36, showing just how fine the margins are in the European top competition.

Wins against Industria Kielce, 30:27 and 35:30, propelled SC Magdeburg to the first place in Group F, as the German side swept their opponents. Kielce finish second with eight points, while HC Kriens-Luzern ended third, with four points and Kolstad Håndball were last, on zero points.

As FC Barcelona won all their matches, the battle for the second place in Group E went down to the wire. And two teams were involved – Skanderborg Aarhus Håndbold and Dinamo București. In the last match of the round, Dinamo dominated Montpellier, taking a 36:26 win, but they had to wait until the end of the match between Skanderborg Aarhus Håndbold and Barcelona.

Eventually, Barcelona secured a hard-fought win, 30:27, as Dinamo tied SAH and progressed to the next phase, thanks to a 25:25 draw in the first match and a clear 37:23 win at home.

In the main round, the teams will play in two groups of six teams, with the top four advancing to the quarter-finals.

Group I will start with One Veszprém HC leading the way, on four points, followed by PSG (three), MT Melsungen and Orlen Wisla Plock (two), Aalborg (one) and Füchse Berlin (zero).

Group II sees Sporting CP, Barcelona and Magdeburg all starting on four points, while GOG, Industria Kielce and Dinamo București are on zero.

The main round of the competition starts on 18 and 19 November and will last eight matchdays, with the last matchday scheduled on 3-4 March 2027.

Füchse Berlin’s Mathias Gidsel, the top scorer of the previous season and the IHF Male World Player of the Year in 2023, 2024 and 2025, is the top scorer at the end of the group phase, with 65 goals, a whopping average of almost 11 goals per match.

Gidsel is followed by Sporting’s Francisco Costa, who scored 48 goals, and hotshot centre back Aljuš Anžic, the top scorer of the 2025 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship, with 47 goals.

Photo credit: Veszprem HC