The new season of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, the premium European club competition, will throw off on Wednesday, 11 September, with 16 teams at the start, divided into two eight-teams groups, with the top two sides in each group progressing directly to the quarter-finals, while the sides ranked third to six progress to the play-offs.

For the current edition, two teams from Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary and Poland are lined up, with Croatia, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Romania and Spain having one team each at the start of the competition.

Reigning champions Barça, the most decorated team in the history of the European premium competition and the side which has won three of the last four editions, will be one of the favourites of the new season, after retaining their core of the side which has won the trophy in Cologne last June.

The Spanish powerhouse will play in Group B, alongside other seven strong sides, including the reigning champions in the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, SC Magdeburg, with the two teams potentially facing off also in the current edition of the world handball club flagship competition, which will throw off on 27 September.

Magdeburg also retained their core, but will have to make do without several key players, like right wings Daniel Pettersson and Tim Hornke, as well as centre back Felix Claar, as all of them are injured after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Perennial contenders Veszprém HC will line up with a new coach, renowned mastermind Xavi Pascual, who made the switch to the Hungarian powerhouse from Dinamo București after spending the last three seasons in the Romanian capital.

Pascual will be looking to stem Veszprém HC to their maiden EHF FINAL4 appearance since the 2021/22 season, as well as to their maiden title in the competition, after having lost the final twice, in 2016 and 2019 respectively.

The reigning MVP of the IHF Men’s World Championship and the Olympic Games, right back Mathias Gidsel, who was also the top goal scorer of the two competitions, will also make his return in the competition, after playing his maiden season in 2019/20, when he scored 25 goals for Danish side GOG.

This time, Gidsel will feature for the last season’s runners-up of the German Bundesliga, Füchse Berlin, who played in the EHF European League Men in the previous two seasons. However, stalwarts like Nikola Karabatic and Mikkel Hansen, the second and third all-time top scorers of the competition, will not feature in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, after retiring when the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ended. The current active player with the largest number of goals scored is Kielce's right back, Alex Dujshebaev, who scored 829 goals so far.

Only one team will make their debut in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, Danish side Fredericia Håndbold Klub, coached by legendary Icelandic coach Gudmundur Gudmundsson. Several other sides, like Sporting CP and Dinamo București, will return after a hiatus in the European premium competition.

Machineseeker EHF Champions League Men – group phase
Group A: Orlen Wisla Plock (POL), Veszprém HC (HUN), Eurofarm Pelister (MKD), Fredericia Håndbold Klub (DEN), Füchse Berlin (GER), Dinamo București (ROU), Sporting CP (POR), Paris Saint-Germain Handball (FRA)

Group B: HBC Nantes (FRA), SC Magdeburg (GER), Barça (ESP), HC Zagreb (CRO), OTP Bank-Pick Szeged (HUN), Aalborg Håndbold (DEN), Industria Kielce (POL), Kolstad Håndbold (NOR)

Photo credit: EHF / Kolektiff Images