2023–24 Women's EHF Champions League

Women's EHF Champions League
2023–24
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	9 September 2023–2 June 2024
Teams	16
Website	ehfcl.com
Tournament statistics
Matches played	122
Goals scored	7035 (57.66 per match)
Attendance	313,147 (2,567 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Anna Vyakhireva; (107 goals)
	← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 Women's EHF Champions League is the 31st edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament, running from 9 September 2023 to 2 June 2024. Vipers Kristiansand are the defending champions.

Format edit

The tournament will run using the same format as the previous three seasons. The competition begins with a group stage featuring sixteen teams divided into two groups. Matches are played in a double round-robin system with home-and-away fixtures, fourteen in total for each team. In Groups A and B, the top two teams automatically qualify for the quarter-finals, with teams ranked 3rd to 6th entering the playoff round.

The knockout stage includes four rounds: the playoffs, quarter-finals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. In the playoffs, eight teams are paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches (third-placed in group A plays sixth-placed group B; fourth-placed group A plays fifth-placed group B, etc.). The four aggregate winners of the playoffs advance to the quarterfinals, joining the top-two teams of Groups A and B. The eight quarterfinalist teams are paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches, with the four aggregate winners qualifying to the final-four tournament.

In the final four tournament, the semifinals and the final are played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue.

Rankings edit

This season, the EHF decided to make separate rankings for each club competition.^[1]

Associations 1–9 can have their league champion qualify for the Group Stage and apply up to two wildcards.
The Association that won the past season's Women's EHF European League can have their league champion and runner up qualify for the Group Stage and apply for one wildcard.
Associations below the top 9 can have their league champion apply for a Wildcard.

Rank^[2]	Association	Average points	Teams
1	Norway	185.67	1
2	Hungary	172.33	3
3	France	168.33	2
4	Russia	139.00	0
5	Denmark	127.00	3
6	Romania	124.00	2
7	Montenegro	95.00	1
8	Slovenia	84.67
9	Germany	64.67

Rank	Association	Average points	Teams
10	Sweden	53.50	1
11	Czech Republic	49.00	0
12	Croatia	48.00	0
13	Poland	46.00	1
14	Turkey	22.00	0
15	Spain	18.00
16	Serbia	16.00
17	Everyone else	0.00

Teams edit

21 teams applied for a place, with nine having a fixed place.^[3]^[4] For the first time ever, countries were allowed to apply two clubs for a wildcard. The final list was announced in June 20 2023, which included Hungary and Denmark having three participating teams for the first time.^[5]

The fixed place for Russia is vacant since the country and its clubs are currently not admitted to participate in the EHF competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[6]

Participating teams
Team Esbjerg (1st)	Győri Audi ETO KC (1st)	Metz Handball (1st)	CSM București (1st)
Odense Håndbold (2nd)	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria (2nd) ^WC	Brest Bretagne Handball (2nd) ^WC	CS Rapid București (2nd) ^WC
Ikast Håndbold (3rd) ^WC	DVSC Schaeffler (3rd) ^WC	RK Krim Mercator (1st)	MKS Zagłębie Lubin (1st) ^WC
Vipers Kristiansand (1st)	IK Sävehof (1st) ^WC	SG BBM Bietigheim (1st)	WHC Budućnost BEMAX (1st)

^WC Accepted wildcards

Wildcard rejection
RK Lokomotiva Zagreb (1st)	Neptunes de Nantes (3rd)	Storhamar HE (2nd)	Sola HK (3rd)
Kastamonu Bld. GSK (1st)

Draw edit

The draw took place on 27 June 2023.^[5]^[7]

Group stage edit

The 16 teams were drawn into 2 groups of eight. In regards to Hungary and Denmark, who have three clubs in the Group Stage, a maximum of two clubs from those countries could be drawn into the same group.^[8]

In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). After completion of the group stage, if two or more teams have scored the same number of points, the ranking was determined as follows:

Highest number of points in matches between the teams directly involved;
Superior goal difference in matches between the teams directly involved;
Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams directly involved;
Superior goal difference in all matches of the group;
Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group;
Drawing of Lots

This season, ten national associations were present. For the first time since the 2019–20 season, Poland had a representative, while Sweden returned after a one season absence.

Bucharest

Bucharest teams
CSM
Rapid

class=notpageimage|

Location of teams of the 2023–24 Women's EHF Champions League group stage.

Group A edit

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	GYO	ODE	BRE	BUC	DEB	BIE	BUD	SÄV
1	Győri Audi ETO KC	14	11	1	2	432	356	+76	23	Quarterfinals	—	32–29	32–32	24–26	35–23	31–29	37–19	39–20
2	Odense Håndbold	14	10	1	3	461	359	+102	21	Quarterfinals	30–31	—	29–29	29–25	33–30	42–29	39–24	40–22
3	Brest Bretagne Handball	14	7	3	4	399	367	+32	17^[a]	Playoffs	23–24	25–26	—	24–21	38–28	37–30	20–20	28–23
4	CSM București	14	8	1	5	414	366	+48	17^[a]		23–27	28–24	28–30	—	29–29	31–28	44–26	35–26
5	DVSC Schaeffler	14	7	1	6	394	414	−20	15		29–28	22–35	31–24	23–30	—	26–36	27–22	32–29
6	SG BBM Bietigheim	14	7	0	7	414	402	+12	14		26–34	25–28	34–30	26–24	27–31	—	34–16	30–21
7	WHC Budućnost BEMAX	14	2	1	11	311	433	−122	5		21–29	17–33	21–34	24–29	21–27	22–27	—	31–30
8	IK Sävehof	14	0	0	14	342	470	−128	0		26–29	20–22	20–25	26–41	27–36	29–33	23–27	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Brest 54–49 București

Group B edit

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	MET	ESB	IKA	VIP	KRI	FER	BUC	LUB
1	Metz Handball	14	11	0	3	470	402	+68	22^[a]	Quarterfinals	—	36–31	36–39	31–29	40–31	25–24	33–22	42–26
2	Team Esbjerg	14	11	0	3	449	412	+37	22^[a]	Quarterfinals	29–27	—	37–34	32–37	29–21	27–23	30–28	32–26
3	Ikast Håndbold	14	10	1	3	476	435	+41	21	Playoffs	35–34	34–35	—	30–26	33–32	28–28	30–29	41–29
4	Vipers Kristiansand	14	7	1	6	445	403	+42	15		34–36	37–38	31–32	—	29–23	37–26	35–30	28–24
5	RK Krim Mercator	14	6	1	7	389	384	+5	13		22–28	33–27	28–34	24–24	—	32–26	25–24	32–19
6	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	14	4	2	8	387	408	−21	10		25–38	28–33	37–36	27–35	26–28	—	24–24	35–22
7	CS Rapid București	14	4	1	9	366	399	−33	9		31–34	24–33	27–35	30–29	27–22	20–23	—	26–25
8	MKS Zagłębie Lubin	14	0	0	14	327	466	−139	0		24–30	24–36	26–35	20–34	18–36	23–35	21–24	—

Source: EHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Metz 63–60 Esbjerg

Knockout stage edit

Playoffs edit

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	59–56	Brest Bretagne Handball	28–30	31–26
SG BBM Bietigheim	60–58	Ikast Håndbold	29–27	31–31
RK Krim Mercator	48–60	CSM București	24–30	24–30
DVSC Schaeffler	55–56	Vipers Kristiansand	28–29	27–27

Quarterfinals edit

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Vipers Kristiansand	–	Győri Audi ETO KC	23–30	4 May
CSM București	–	Metz Handball	24–27	4 May
SG BBM Bietigheim	–	Odense Håndbold	30–26	5 May
FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	–	Team Esbjerg	25–26	5 May

Final four edit

The final four will be held at the MVM Dome in Budapest, Hungary on 1 and 2 June 2024.

Bracket edit

	Semi-finals				Final

	1 June


					2 June


	1 June




					Third place

					2 June

Final edit

2 June 2024	WSF1	v	WSF2	MVM Dome, Budapest

Top goalscorers edit

As of 28 April 2024

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[9]
1	Anna Vyakhireva	Vipers Kristiansand	107
2	Valeriia Maslova	Brest Bretagne Handball	101
3	Markéta Jeřábková	Ikast Håndbold	100
4	Cristina Neagu	CSM București	97
5	Sarah Bouktit	Metz Handball	96
6	Katrin Klujber	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	92
7	Jana Knedlíková	Vipers Kristiansand	87
7	Nora Mørk	Team Esbjerg	87
9	Kristina Jørgensen	Metz Handball	86
9	Henny Reistad	Team Esbjerg	86

References edit

^ "EHF improves club competitions ranking system". eurohandball.com. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
^ https://www.eurohandball.com/media/dq1axkil/new_placedistribution_final_women_23_24.pdf
^ "21 clubs registered for EHF Champions League 2023/24". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
^ "European Handball Federation Announced: 21 Clubs Registered for the Champions League Women 2023/24". handball-world.news. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Teams set for EHF Champions League season 2023/24". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
^ "EHF Court of Handball rejects Russia appeal against ban". insidethegames.biz. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
^ "Fascinating ties thrown-up by EHF CL Women group phase draw". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
^ "Draw procedure for the EHF Champions League Women 2023/24 announced". eurohandball.com. 23 June 2023.
^ Goalscorers

External links edit

Official website

[table_hth_BRE0.84114163966903-9] Brest 54–49 București

[table_hth_MET0.25058281945557-10] Metz 63–60 Esbjerg

[1] "EHF improves club competitions ranking system". eurohandball.com. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2023.

[2] ttps://www.eurohandball.com/media/dq1axkil/new_placedistribution_final_women_23_24.pdf

[3] "21 clubs registered for EHF Champions League 2023/24". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 10 June 2023.

[4] "European Handball Federation Announced: 21 Clubs Registered for the Champions League Women 2023/24". handball-world.news. Retrieved 10 June 2023.

[Info-5] "Teams set for EHF Champions League season 2023/24". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 20 June 2023.

[6] "EHF Court of Handball rejects Russia appeal against ban". insidethegames.biz. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.

[7] "Fascinating ties thrown-up by EHF CL Women group phase draw". eurohandball.com. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[8] "Draw procedure for the EHF Champions League Women 2023/24 announced". eurohandball.com. 23 June 2023.

[11] Goalscorers

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[a]

[a]

[9]