First 11 teams for group phase confirmed
The European Handball Federation has announced 11 teams with a fixed place in the group phase of the EHF European League Men 2021/22 provided that they register for the new season by Tuesday 6 July.
At the same time the EHF opens the application process for the last fixed place, which is open for a wild-card entry. National federations, who are not represented on the list of the 11 fixed teams, can apply for this wild card until the registration period ends.
Like in the successful inaugural season of Europe’s second-tier club competition, the group phase will be played with 24 teams in total, divided into four groups of six.
The seeding of the 12 fixed teams in the group phase:
- 6 teams (national champions) from a federation without a place in the EHF Champions League based on the ranking list/place distribution:
1. RK Gorenje Velenje – SLO
2. IK Sävehof – SWE
3. Pfadi Winterthur Handball – SUI
4. Tatran Presov – SVK
5. Chekhovski medvedi – RUS
6. Cocks – FIN
- 5 teams (defending ELM champions, 2nd resp. 3rd ranked teams) from a federation with a place in the EHF Champions League based on the ranking list/place distribution:
7. SC Magdeburg – GER
8. HBC Nantes – FRA
9. Bidasoa Irun – ESP
10. Eurofarm Pelister – MKD
11. Grundfos Tatabánya KC – HUN
- 1 team from a federation not mentioned above:
12. wild card
Deadline for wild card requests is 6 July
The 11 national federations mentioned have no right to request a wild card, as they already have one team confirmed for the group phase. All other national federation can request the wild card for one team. All requests must have been sent to the EHF by the deadline of Tuesday 6 July.
The allocation of the 12th fixed place through a wild card follows a new rule as approved by the Executive Committee meeting last March upon a request from the men’s clubs. The EXEC will decide on the 12th club based on the requests received.
