The lineup for the EHF European League Women group phase was completed on Sunday, when the last teams punched their ticket for the next stage of the competition.
A total of 16 clubs enter the draw at the EHF office in Vienna on Thursday (21 November) at 11:00 CET. The draw will be streamed live on the Home of Handball YouTube channel.
Among the participants are 2023 champions Ikast Handbold, last season’s EHF European Cup winners Atticgo BM Elche, and former EHF Champions League and Cup Winners’ Cup titleholders Larvik.
The 16 teams represent eight different nations: Germany leads the way with four teams; followed by Norway with three; Romania, France, and Spain with two each; and Denmark, Hungary, and Poland.
The county protection rule applies to this draw, meaning that no teams from the same country can end up in the same group and there will no national derbies in the group phase.
The 16 teams in the group phase have been divided into four pots, with all teams from a pot being drawn into a different group.
The seeding is as follows:
POT 1
DEN — Ikast Håndbold
GER — HSG Bensheim/Auerbach Flames
HUN — Motherson Mosonmagyarovari KC
ROU — H.C. Dunarea Braila
The normal draw procedure will apply for pot 1 where each team will be drawn to one of the four groups.
POT 2
FRA — Paris 92
GER — HSG Blomberg-Lippe
GER — Thüringer HC
NOR — Sola HK
Due to the country protection rule, which comes in place after the draw of pot 1, HSG Blomberg-Lippe and Thüringer HC will be drawn first to the two of the three available groups without the German team.
POT 3
ESP — ATTICGO Bm Elche
GER — BV Borussia Dortmund
NOR — Fredrikstad Ballklubb
POL — KGHM MKS Zaglebie Lubin
The fourth German team, BV Borussia Dortmund, will be first allocated to the remaining group without a German representative. The country protection rule will further apply to two teams from Norway.
POT 4
ESP — Super Amara Bera Bera
FRA — JDA Bourgogne Dijon Handball
NOR — Larvik
ROU — SCM Ramnicu Valcea
The four teams in pot 4 will be allocated in the first possible group from A to D according to the seeding list. The allocation will be done in the following order: Larvik, SCM Ramnicu Valcea, JDA Bourgogne Dijon Handball and Super Amara Bera Bera.
The group phase starts in the weekend of 11/12 January 2025 and will conclude on 22/23 February.
The two best-ranked teams from each group advance to the quarter-finals in March. The season ends with the four best teams competing for the coveted trophy at the EHF Finals Women 2025 on 3/4 May in Graz.
