Match times for the 2026/27 group stage of the men's EHF Champions League have been finalised. The number of teams in the competition rises from 16 to 24 this season, with the groups themselves restructured into smaller units. The new format is expected to produce a more competitive stage overall.
The season will kick off in Veszprém, Aalborg, Zagreb and Kielce. Round 1 matches will be played on Wednesday, 9 September at 18:45. One Veszprém HC will host FC Porto at home, while 2025/26 semi-finalist Aalborg Håndbold welcome Paris Saint-Germain Handball. HC Zagreb and RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko will meet in a regional derby. Industria Kielce, meanwhile, will host newcomers HC Kriens-Luzern, who will play their maiden EHF Champions League fixture on the road.
In the second half of opening night, at 20:45, defending champions Barça will face SAH Aarhus, another club making its tournament debut. At the same time, SC Magdeburg will host Kolstad Handball in their season opener. Over the last six seasons, the title has gone to either Barça or Magdeburg, with Magdeburg standing out as the only team to have broken Barça's run of consecutive titles.
Füchse Berlin, Barça's opponents in the 2025/26 final, will begin their campaign on Thursday away to RK Partizan AdmiralBet in Serbia. Partizan are returning to the EHF Champions League after a 13-year absence. One of the standout fixtures of Round 2 will be the Berlin-Veszprém clash on Wednesday, 16 September at 20:45. The two sides also met in last season's quarter-finals, where a 120-minute battle ended level before Füchse Berlin came out on top in a seven-metre throw shootout.
This season's group stage, played under the new format, will conclude after six rounds on Thursday, 29 October. The final round will feature Aarhus vs. Barça and Montpellier HB vs. CS Dinamo Bucuresti. The top two sides from each of the six four-team groups will advance to the main round, which runs from 18 November 2026 to 4 March 2027.
2026/27 EHF Champions League group stage fixtures confirmed
The schedule for the 2026/27 group stage of the men's EHF Champions League, to be played under a new format, has been announced. The competition, expanding from 16 to 24 teams, will run from 9 September to 29 October.
The expansion to more, smaller groups looks set to make results sharper and more decisive from the very first rounds. Notably, the Berlin-Veszprém rematch comes as early as Round 2, setting up an early reckoning between the two sides following last season's dramatic seven-metre shootout in the quarter-finals. Barça and Magdeburg taking the pitch at the same time on opening night also offers a chance to watch how the two dominant forces of recent seasons begin their campaigns simultaneously. Partizan's return to Europe's top-tier competition after 13 years, meanwhile, carries particular significance for Balkan handball.
