Paris Saint-Germain Handball, HC Vardar 1961, Telekom Veszprém HC and Barça will be seeded in the first pot when the draw for the EHF Champions League Men 2020/21 determines the two group phase groups on Wednesday 1 July 2020.
Starting next season, the European top flight will be played in a changed format, with only 16 elite teams divided into two groups of eight. The participating teams will enter next week’s draw in Vienna in four pots. From each pot, two teams will be drawn into group A, while the other two will be in group B.
Country protection will be applied, therefore, the teams from France, Hungary and Germany will not meet their national league opponents in the group phase.
THW Kiel, PGE Vive Kielce, Aalborg Håndbold and FC Porto Sofarma have been seeded in the second pot, while HC Meshkov Brest, HC Motor, HBC Nantes and MOL-Pick Szeged are in the third. RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko, HC PPD Zagreb, Elverum Handball and SG Flensburg-Handewitt are in the fourth pot.
The group phase will be played in a round-robin format. After 14 rounds, the top two teams in each group will qualify directly for the quarter-finals, while the teams that finish in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth places will contest the play-offs. The lowest ranked two clubs in each group will be eliminated from the competition at the end of the group phase.
