The EHF European League Women 2026/27 has 44 participants. Defending champions JDA Bourgogne Dijon Handball are one of the four teams seeded directly into the 2026/27 group phase next January; eight other contenders enter the competition in qualification round 3 in November.
That means that 32 teams start their campaign in round 2 (round 1 is not played) in October. Based on the EHF Club Ranking, those teams have been seeded into two pots of 16, with each team from pot 1 being drawn against an opponent from pot 2 for a two-leg pairing with home and away matches.
No country protection applies to the draw, so national derbies between teams from France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Poland or Sweden might be possible.
The pots are as follows:
Pot 1
DEN - Viborg HK
ESP - Club Balonmán Atlético Guardes
ESP - Rocasa Gran Canaria
FRA - Chambray Touraine Handball
GER - VfL Oldenburg
GRE - A.C. PAOK
HUN - Vác
MKD - HC Gjorche Petrov-WHC AD Skopje
NOR - Larvik
NOR - Tertnes Bergen
POL - PGE MKS El-Volt Lublin
POR - Sport Lisboa e Benfica
ROU - CSM Corona Brasov
ROU - SCM Ramnicu Valcea
SWE - IK Sävehof
TUR - Bursa Büyüksehir BSK
Pot 2
AUT - Hypo Niederösterreich
CRO - ZRK Bjelovar
CRO - ZRK Zrinski Cakovec
CZE - DHK Banik Most
FRA - OGC Nice Cote d Azur Handball
FRA - St Amand HB-Porte du Hainaut
GER - TUSSIES Metzingen
GRE - AEK
NOR - Molde Elite
POL - KRASON MKS Piotrcovia P.T.
SRB - ZRK Crvena Zvezda
SRB - ZRK Naisa Nis
SUI - GC Amicitia Zürich
SUI - LC Brühl Handball
SWE - Boden Handboll IF
SWE - Skara HF
Qualification round 2 starts with the first leg in the weekend of 3/4 October. The return leg is scheduled for the following week, on 10/11 October 2026.
The 16 aggregate winners advance to qualification round 3 in November, which will consist of 24 teams in total. Those 12 round 3 pairings decide who will join the four directly seeded teams in the group phase.
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