The group phase of the 2025/26 season in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League concluded on Thursday, with four teams making it to the quarter-finals and eight more securing their play-offs spots, after a well-balanced competition.

None of the 16 participating teams in the competition boast an immaculate record, as group winners FC Barcelona and Füchse Berlin lost one and three matches respectively, while previously unbeaten SC Magdeburg lost their last two matches to finish second in Group B.

Group B was dominated by the title holders at the 2025 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, FC Barcelona, which signed off a superb campaign, putting up a 12-match unbeaten run, after a mishap against SC Magdeburg in the second match of the season.

Barcelona secured the first place, with a dominating away win in the penultimate matchday of the group phase, 36:29, against Magdeburg, which were dominant with an 11-match winning streak, before taking only one point from six available in the last three matches, after a draw against Wisla Plock, 29:29, and losses against Barcelona and PSG, 26:34.

The French side ended on the fourth place, despite a four-match unbeaten streak to end the group phase, after they lost seven of their 14 matches and won only six, being five points behind Orlen Wisla Plock, which arguably had their best start of the season up to date, finishing third, with 18 points, after winning eight matches and drawing two.

Danish side GOG (13 points) finished fifth and Hungarian powerhouse OTP Bank – Pick Szeged ended up on the sixth place, with 11 points, also making it into the play-offs.

In Group A, the battle was even more intense, as the fight for a better position in the final standings went to the wire. After throwing off the season with nine consecutive wins, Füchse Berlin lost three of the last five, including a shocking 24:28 loss at Kolstad, plus two home losses against Kielce (31:34) and Nantes (34:37), but still finished on the top place, with a one-point lead over Aalborg Håndbold.

The battle for the remaining four places was one decided by small margins, as the gap between the third side, Industria Kielce, and the sixth side, Sporting CP, was only three points. The Polish team registered an impressive resurgece, finishing with five consecutive wins to snatch the third place, one point ahead of Nantes, which had four wins on the trot in the final matches of the group phase.

However, 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship winners, One Veszprém HC, had a mixed bag of results, ending up fifth, with three losses in the last four matches, as they ended up with the same number of points as Sporting CP, but owning the tiebreaker.

The play-offs will take place on 1/2 April and 8/9 April, with Szeged facing Kielce, Sporting meeting Plock, GOG taking on Nantes and Veszprém battling with PSG, in a winner-takes-all scenario.

The teams which did not make the play-offs were CS Dinamo București and Kolstad in Group A, both with four points, after winning two matches, while in Group B, Eurofarm Pelister and RK Zagreb finished on six and two points respectively and are out of contention.

The reigning IHF Male World Player of the Year, Denmark superstar Mathias Gidsel, is the top scorer of the competition so far, with 120 goals in 13 matches, averaging 9.2 goals per match. He is followed in the rankings by PSG’s left back Elohim Prandi, with 111 goals, and GOG’s Frederik Bjerre, with 99 goals.

Machineseeker EHF Champions League– play-offs

M1: OTP Bank – PICK Szeged (HUN) vs Industria Kielce (POL)
M2: Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) vs Orlen Wisła Płock (POL)
M3: GOG (DEN) vs HBC Nantes (FRA)
M4: One Veszprém HC (HUN) vs Paris Saint‑Germain Handball (FRA)

Machineseeker EHF Champions League– quarter-finals

Winner M1 vs SC Magdeburg (GER)
Winner M2 vs Aalborg Håndbold (DEN)
Winner M3 vs FC Barcelona (ESP)
Winner M4 vs Füchse Berlin (GER)

Photo credit: FC Barcelona