2020–21 Women's EHF Champions League

This article is about the women's competition. For the men's competition, see 2020–21 EHF Champions League.

Women's EHF Champions League

2020–21
Tournament information
Sport	Handball
Dates	12 September 2020–30 May 2021
Teams	16
Website	ehfcl.com
Tournament statistics
Matches played	84
Goals scored	4604 (54.81 per match)
Attendance	40,104 (477 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ana Gros (82 goals)

The 2020–21 Women's EHF Champions League is the 28th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament, running from 12 September 2020 to 30 May 2021.

There is no defending champion, after last season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of this pandemic, each local health department allows a different number of spectators.

Format

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, the top two teams qualify for the quarterfinals, with teams ranked 3rd to 6th entering the playoffs.

The knockout stage includes four rounds: the playoffs, quarterfinals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. In the playoffs, eight teams are paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches. The four aggregate winners of the playoffs advance to the quarterfinals, joining the top-two teams of Groups A and B. The eight quarterfinalist teams are 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 are played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue.

Team allocation

A total of 21 teams from 15 countries submitted their application for a place in the competition's group stage before the deadline of 10 June 2020. The final list of 16 participants was revealed by the EHF Executive Committee on 19 June.

Podravka Vegeta	Team Esbjerg	Odense Håndbold	Metz Handball
Brest Bretagne Handball	Borussia Dortmund	SG BBM Bietigheim	Győri Audi ETO KC
FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	ŽRK Budućnost	Vipers Kristiansand	SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea
CSM Bucureşti	Rostov-Don	CSKA Moscow	Krim Mercator

Group stage

Main article: 2020–21 Women's EHF Champions League group stage

The draw was held on 1 July 2020 at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria. 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.

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 qualify directly for the quarterfinals, and the four teams ranked 3rd–6th advance to the playoffs.

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams are 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 will be 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 (or in the away match in case of a two-team tie); Superior goal difference in all matches of the group; Highest number of plus goals in all matches of the group; If the ranking of one of these teams is determined, the above criteria are consecutively followed until the ranking of all teams is determined. If no ranking can be determined, a decision shall be obtained by EHF through drawing of lots. During the group stage, only criteria 4–5 apply to determine the provisional ranking of teams.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		ROS	MET	BUC	FER	VIP	ESB	KRI	BIE
1	Rostov-Don	14	10	1	3	331	308	+23	21		—	30–26	0–10	26–24	10–0	28–24	23–23	27–21
2	Metz Handball	14	10	0	4	389	354	+35	20		27–26	—	25–22	30–29	28–29	31–29	33–27	36–27
3	CSM Bucureşti	14	8	1	5	331	309	+22	17		22–27	31–26	—	25–19	22–29	28–26	22–22	10–0
4	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	14	8	0	6	386	378	+8	16		25–26	32–30	31–27	—	30–28	24–28	32–25	24–35
5	Vipers Kristiansand	14	7	2	5	327	320	+7	16		23–24	0–10	30–25	26–31	—	28–28	37–30	10–0
6	Team Esbjerg	14	5	2	7	374	351	+23	12		24–25	25–28	29–30	21–24	27–27	—	33–23	37–29
7	RK Krim Mercator	14	2	3	9	325	375	−50	7		28–27	22–26	23–25	26–32	26–27	0–10	—	28–26
8	SG BBM Bietigheim	14	1	1	12	318	386	−68	3		31–32	25–33	22–32	25–29	29–33	26–33	22–22	—

Source: EHF
Notes:

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		GYO	MOS	BRE	ODE	BUD	VAL	DOR	KOP
1	Győri Audi ETO KC	14	10	4	0	457	353	+104	24		—	31–24	27–27	32–25	34–29	38–31	38–25	43–28
2	CSKA Moscow	14	11	1	2	404	350	+54	23		27–27	—	25–24	27–23	27–23	30–20	35–28	30–26
3	Brest Bretagne Handball	14	6	5	3	384	349	+35	17		25–25	28–30	—	32–21	28–28	28–21	33–33	32–25
4	Odense Håndbold	14	6	1	7	384	370	+14	13		32–32	26–25	24–31	—	30–21	25–26	32–27	35–20
5	Budućnost	14	5	2	7	363	377	−14	12		21–26	22–25	22–22	27–24	—	29–28	31–27	33–26
6	SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea	14	5	0	9	263	319	−56	10		20–37	24–34	10–0	21–30	25–23	—	0–10	0–10
7	Borussia Dortmund	14	4	1	9	347	391	−44	9		24–34	28–29	29–41	32–24	26–28	0–10	—	32–31
8	HC Podravka Vegeta	14	2	0	12	326	419	−93	4		15–33	20–26	29–33	17–33	29–26	25–27	25–26	—

Source: EHF

Knockout stage

Main article: 2020–21 Women's EHF Champions League knockout stage

The top-two teams of Groups A and B advance directly to the quarterfinals, while the teams ranked 2nd–6th to the playoffs.

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CSM București	51–51 (a)	CSKA Moscow	32–27	19–24
Brest Bretagne Handball	60–50	Metz Handball	34–24	26–26
ŽRK Budućnost	40–54	Győri Audi ETO KC	19–30	21–24
Vipers Kristiansand	57–50	Rostov-Don	34–27	23–23

Final four

	Semi-finals				Final
	29 May
	Győri Audi ETO KC	23 (2)
					30 May
	Brest Bretagne Handball (Pen)	23 (4)
					Brest Bretagne Handball	28
	29 May
					Vipers Kristiansand	34
	Vipers Kristiansand	33
	CSKA Moscow	30
					Third place
					30 May
					Győri Audi ETO KC	32
					CSKA Moscow	21

Final

30 May 2021 18:00	Brest Bretagne Handball	28–34	Vipers Kristiansand	László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest Attendance: 2,300 Referees: Năstase, Stancu (ROU)
	Gros 8	(14–18)	Reistad 12
	1× 2×	Report	3× 6×

Top goalscorers

As of 24 January 2021

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ana Gros	Brest Bretagne Handball	82
2	Dejana Milosavljević	RK Podravka Koprivnica	62
3	Cristina Neagu	CSM Bucureşti	61
4	Lois Abbingh	Odense Håndbold	60
5	Mette Tranborg	Team Esbjerg	55
6	Angela Malestein	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	54
7	Katrin Klujber	FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria	51
	Veronica Kristiansen	Győri Audi ETO KC
	Océane Sercien-Ugolin	Krim Mercator
10	Estelle Nze Minko	Győri Audi ETO KC	49

External links

• Official website