PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Women's EHF Champions League
2023–24
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	9 September 2023–2 June 2024
Teams	16
Website	ehfcl.com
Final positions
Champions	Győri Audi ETO KC
Runner-up	SG BBM Bietigheim
Tournament statistics
Matches played	130
Goals scored	7486 (57.58 per match)
Attendance	387,487 (2,981 per match)
MVP	Stine Bredal Oftedal
Top scorer(s)	Anna Vyakhireva; (113 goals)
	← 2022–23 2024–25 →

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

Vipers Kristiansand were the defending champions but were eliminated by Győri Audi ETO KC in the quarterfinals. Győri Audi ETO KC went on to win their sixth title with a finals win over SG BBM Bietigheim.^[1]

Format

The tournament used the same format as the previous three seasons. The competition began with a group stage featuring sixteen teams divided into two groups. Matches were 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 qualified for the quarter-finals, with teams ranked 3rd to 6th entered the playoff round.

The knockout stage included four rounds: the playoffs, quarter-finals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. In the playoffs, eight teams were 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 advanced to the quarterfinals, joining the top-two teams of Groups A and B. The eight quarterfinalist teams were 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 were played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue.

Rankings

This season, the EHF decided to make separate rankings for each club competition.^[2] The rankings are based on the performances from the three most recent seasons.

Associations 1–9 had 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 had their league champion and runner up qualified for the Group Stage and applied for one wildcard.
Associations below the top 9 had their league champion apply for a wildcard.

Rank^[3]	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

21 teams applied for a place, with nine having a fixed place.^[4]^[5] 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.^[6]

The fixed place for Russia was vacant since the country and its clubs were not admitted to participate in the EHF competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[7]

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

The draw took place on 27 June 2023.^[6]^[8]

Group stage

Bucharest

Bucharest teams
CSM
Rapid

class=notpageimage|

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

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.^[9]

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.

Group A

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

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

Playoffs

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

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Vipers Kristiansand	49–54	Győri Audi ETO KC	23–30	26–24
CSM București	47–56	Metz Handball	24–27	23–29
SG BBM Bietigheim	60–58	Odense Håndbold	30–26	30–32
FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	49–55	Team Esbjerg	25–26	24–29

Final four

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

Bracket

Semi-finals		Final

1 June

Team Esbjerg	23
		2 June
Győri Audi ETO KC	24
		Győri Audi ETO KC	30
1 June
		SG BBM Bietigheim	24
Metz Handball	29

SG BBM Bietigheim	36
		Third place

		2 June

		Team Esbjerg	37

		Metz Handball	33

Final

2 June 2024 18:00	Győri Audi ETO KC	30–24	SG BBM Bietigheim	MVM Dome, Budapest Attendance: 18,500 Referees: Lovin, Stancu (ROU)
	Brattset Dale, Gros 6	(17–12)	Hvenfelt 5
	2× 5×	Report	2× 2×

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[10]
1	Anna Vyakhireva	Vipers Kristiansand	113
2	Nora Mørk	Team Esbjerg	110
3	Sarah Bouktit	Metz Handball	107
3	Henny Reistad	Team Esbjerg	107
5	Cristina Neagu	CSM București	103
6	Valeriia Maslova	Brest Bretagne Handball	101
7	Markéta Jeřábková	Ikast Håndbold	100
	Kristina Jørgensen	Metz Handball
	Katrin Klujber	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria
10	Chloé Valentini	Metz Handball	97