2020–21 EHF Champions League

The competition begins with a group stage featuring 16 teams divided in two groups. Matches are played in a double round-robin system with home-and-away fixtures. In Groups A and B, originally the top two teams qualify for the quarterfinals, with teams ranked 3rd to 6th entering the playoffs. After a decision by the EHF, all teams advanced.

The knockout stage included four rounds: the round of 16, quarterfinals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. The teams were paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches, with the aggregate winners qualifying to the next round.

In the final four tournament, the semifinals and the final were played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue.[2]

Kiel

Flensburg

Barcelona

PSG

Nantes

Veszprém

Szeged

Aalborg

Celje

Kielce

Vardar

Brest

Zagreb

Porto

Motor

Elverum

Location of teams of the 2020–21 EHF Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B.

A total of 24 teams from 16 countries submitted their application for a place in the competition's group stage before the deadline of 10 June 2020.[3] The final list of 16 participants was revealed by the EHF Executive Committee on 19 June. Ten teams were registered according to fixed places, while six were granted wild cards.[4]

Participating teams

Paris Saint-Germain (1st)	THW Kiel (1st)	Vardar 1961 (1st)	Telekom Veszprém (1st)
Barça (1st)	Łomża Vive Kielce (1st)	Aalborg Handbold (1st)	PPD Zagreb (1st)
FC Porto (1st)	SG Flensburg-Handewitt (2nd)	Meshkov Brest (WC)	HBC Nantes (WC)
MOL-Pick Szeged (WC)	Elverum Håndball (WC)	Celje Pivovarna Laško (WC)	Motor (WC)

The draw was held on 1 July 2020 at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria.[4][5] The 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight, with the restriction that teams from the same national association could not be drawn into the same group.[6]

In each group, teams play against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches. After completion of the group stage matches, the top two teams from each group would have qualified directly for the quarterfinals, and the four teams ranked 3rd–6th advance to the playoffs, but on 10 February 2021, it was announced that all 16 teams advance from the group stage.[7]

Matches were played on Wednesdays and Thursdays, with starting times at 18:45 and 20:45 (CET/CEST).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		FLE	PAR	KIE	BRE	POR	SZE	VAR	ELV
1	SG Flensburg-Handewitt	14	10	1	3	341	336	+5	21	Play-offs		—	28–27	31–30	29–29	36–29	26–24	0–10	37–35
2	Paris Saint-Germain	14	9	1	4	388	327	+61	19[lower-alpha 1]			28–29	—	37–26	33–26	29–28	10–0	5–5	35–29
3	Łomża Vive Kielce	14	9	1	4	442	414	+28	19[lower-alpha 1]			28–31	35–33	—	34–27	32–30	26–23	36–29	39–29
4	Meshkov Brest	14	7	1	6	383	380	+3	15			26–28	32–31	35–30	—	10–0	26–24	24–22	29–27
5	FC Porto	14	5	2	7	361	352	+9	12[lower-alpha 2]			10–0	31–34	32–32	27–25	—	25–19	27–24	28–30
6	MOL-Pick Szeged	14	6	0	8	318	329	−11	12[lower-alpha 2]			0–10	29–32	26–30	30–27	35–31	—	34–33	36–27
7	Vardar 1961	14	3	3	8	335	350	−15	9			31–26	0–10	29–33	32–36	25–25	26–28	—	34–34
8	Elverum Håndball	14	2	1	11	387	457	−70	5			29–30	29–44	22–31	33–31	31–38	0–10	32–35	—

Source: EHF
Notes:

1. Paris 70–61 Kielce
2. Porto 56–54 Pick Szeged

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAR	VES	KIE	ALB	ZAP	NAN	CEL	ZAG
1	Barça	14	14	0	0	505	412	+93	28	Play-offs		—	37–30	29–25	42–33	42–34	30–29	42–28	45–27
2	Telekom Veszprém	14	9	2	3	443	392	+51	20			34–37	—	41–33	30–32	34–30	5–5	39–24	37–25
3	THW Kiel	14	7	2	5	394	378	+16	16			26–32	31–31	—	28–26	34–23	27–35	33–29	36–30
4	Aalborg Håndbold	14	7	0	7	397	411	−14	14[lower-alpha 1]			32–35	27–33	23–31	—	38–29	32–24	0–10	38–29
5	Motor	14	7	0	7	389	411	−22	14[lower-alpha 1]			25–30	34–37	10–0	27–29	—	29–28	31–29	29–25
6	HBC Nantes	14	5	2	7	388	378	+10	12			27–35	24–28	24–24	38–29	31–32	—	28–30	30–28
7	Celje Pivovarna Laško	14	4	0	10	372	413	−41	8			29–32	25–29	24–35	29–31	31–32	25–31	—	29–28
8	PPD Zagreb	14	0	0	14	369	462	−93	0			33–37	28–35	21–31	26–27	23–24	24–34	22–30	—

Source: EHF
Notes:

1. Aalborg 67–56 Motor

Note All matches ending with a 10–0 (or 5–5) results were assessed by the EHF.[8]

Originally, the top six teams advanced but on 10 February 2021, after a decision by the EHF Executive Committee, it was announced that all 16 teams advance from the group stage.[7]

Play-offs

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
HBC Nantes	58–56	Łomża Vive Kielce	24–25	34–31
MOL-Pick Szeged	56–66	THW Kiel	28–33	28–33
Motor	55–60	Meshkov Brest	32–30	23–30
FC Porto	56–56 (a)	Aalborg Håndbold	32–29	24–27
PPD Zagreb	0–20[note 1]	SG Flensburg-Handewitt	0–10	0–10
Elverum Håndball	44–76	Barça	25–37	19–39
Celje Pivovarna Laško	47–68	Paris Saint-Germain	24–37	23–31
Vardar 1961	57–80	Telekom Veszprém	27–41	30–39

1. The matches, scheduled for 7 and 8 April 2021, were assessed by the EHF after Zagreb had several cases of positive COVID-19 tests.[9]

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
HBC Nantes	62–60	Telekom Veszprém	32–28	30–32
THW Kiel	59–63	Paris Saint-Germain	31–29	28–34
Meshkov Brest	57–73	Barça	29–33	28–40
Aalborg Håndbold	55–54	SG Flensburg-Handewitt	26–21	29–33

Final four

	Semi-finals				Final
	12 June
	Paris Saint-Germain	33
					13 June
	Aalborg Håndbold	35
					Aalborg Håndbold	23
	12 June
					Barça	36
	Barça	31
	HBC Nantes	26
					Third place
					13 June
					Paris Saint-Germain	31
					HBC Nantes	28

Final

13 June 2021 18:00	Barça	36–23	Aalborg Håndbold	Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Gómez 9	(16–11)	Sandell 8
	1×	Report	1× 3×

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