2016–17 CERH European League
# 2016–17 CERH European League

The 2016–17 CERH European League was the 52nd season of Europe's premier club roller hockey tournament organised by CERH, and the 20th season since it was renamed from European Champion Clubs' Cup to the CERH Champions League/European League.

The winners of the 2016–17 CERH European League earn the right to play against the winners of the 2016–17 CERS Cup in the 2017 CERH Continental Cup.

Benfica were the defending champions.

## Teams

League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders, LQF: Losing quarter-finalists). Bold means seeded teams.

Group stage :

| Barcelona (1st) | Benfica (1st) | Forte dei Marmi (1st) | La Vendéenne (1st) |
| - | - | - | - |
| Vic (2nd) | Porto (2nd) | Amatori Lodi (2nd) | Mérignac (2nd) |
| Liceo (3rd) | Oliveirense (3rd) | Breganze (LQF) | Dinan Quévert (3rd) |
| Reus (4th) | Sporting CP (4th) | Bassano (LQF) | Diessbach (1st) |

* There was a berth for the winner of the National Roller Hockey League (from England), but the champions King's Lynn declined the invitation. The losing quarter-finalists of the Lega Nazionale Hockey, Bassano, were then awarded with the spot.
* There was also a berth for the winner of the Roller Hockey Bundesliga (from Germany), but the champions Iserlohn also declined the invitation. The 3rd place of the Nationale 1 Elite, Dinan Quévert, were then awarded with the spot.

## Round dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (draw held in Mieres, Spain, on 10 September 2016).

| Phase | Round | First leg | Second leg |
| - | - | - | - |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 5 November 2016 | 5 November 2016 |
| Group stage | Matchday 2 | 26 November 2016 | 26 November 2016 |
| Group stage | Matchday 3 | 17 December 2016 | 17 December 2016 |
| Group stage | Matchday 4 | 14 January 2017 | 14 January 2017 |
| Group stage | Matchday 5 | 4 February 2017 | 4 February 2017 |
| Group stage | Matchday 6 | 18 February 2017 | 18 February 2017 |
| Knockout phase | Quarter-finals | 11 March 2017 | 1 April 2017 |
| Knockout phase | Semi-finals | 13 May 2017 | 13 May 2017 |
| Knockout phase | Final | 14 May 2017 | 14 May 2017 |

## Group stage

The 16 teams were allocated into four pots, with the title holders, Benfica, being placed in Pot 1 automatically. The other 3 seeded teams, Barcelona, Forte dei Marmi and Liceo, were automatically placed in groups B, C and D, respectively. They were drawn into four groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a home-and-away round-robin format.

A total of 5 national associations were represented in the group stage. Sporting CP made its debut appearance in the group stage.

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BEN | LOD | VIC | DIE |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Benfica | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 20 | +17 | 16 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 7–3 | 3–2 | 12–2 |
| 2 | Amatori Lodi | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 30 | 25 | +5 | 10 | Advance to knockout phase | 6–7 | — | 6–3 | 8–3 |
| 3 | Vic | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 30 | 18 | +12 | 8 | | 4–4 | 2–2 | — | 10–1 |
| 4 | Diessbach | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 48 | −34 | 0 | | 3–4 | 3–5 | 2–9 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BAR | POR | BAS | MER |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Barcelona | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 32 | 11 | +21 | 15 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 3–1 | 14–3 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Porto | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 13 | +14 | 13 | Advance to knockout phase | 2–1 | — | 13–3 | 1–1 |
| 3 | Bassano | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 24 | 40 | −16 | 6 | | 2–3 | 3–4 | — | 6–4 |
| 4 | Mérignac | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 31 | −19 | 1 | | 2–6 | 2–6 | 2–7 | — |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | REU | FOR | SPO | QUE |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Reus | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 18 | +7 | 15 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 7–5 | 3–2 | 5–4 |
| 2 | Forte dei Marmi | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 24 | +3 | 12 | Advance to knockout phase | 2–4 | — | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Sporting CP | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 19 | +4 | 9 | | 6–3 | 5–7 | — | 5–1 |
| 4 | Dinan Quévert | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 16 | 27 | −11 | 0 | | 2–3 | 6–8 | 2–4 | — |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | OLI | LIC | BRE | VEN |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Oliveirense | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 20 | +9 | 18 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 2–1 | 5–4 | 4–2 |
| 2 | Liceo | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 32 | 20 | +12 | 12 | Advance to knockout phase | 6–7 | — | 5–2 | 8–2 |
| 3 | Breganze | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 23 | 31 | −8 | 2 | | 3–4 | 4–7 | — | 4–4 |
| 4 | La Vendéenne | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 34 | −13 | 2 | | 4–7 | 3–5 | 6–6 | — |

## Knockout phase

The knockout phase comprises a quarter-final round and the final four tournament. In the quarter-finals, group stage winners play against group stage runners-up, the latter hosting the first of two legs. The winners qualify for the final four, which will take place at the ground of one of the four finalists.

### Quarter-finals

The first-leg matches were played on 11 March, and the second-leg matches were played on 1 April 2017.

| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Liceo | 4–9 | Benfica | 2–3 | 2–6 |
| Forte dei Marmi | 5–6 | Barcelona | 1–3 | 4–3 |
| Porto | 9–9 (0–2 p) | Reus | 7–7 | 2–2 (a.e.t.) |
| Amatori Lodi | 6–8 | Oliveirense | 3–5 | 3–3 |

### Final four

The final four tournament took place on 13 and 14 May 2017. It was hosted by Barcelona at the Pavelló Barris Nord in Lleida, Spain.

All times listed below are local time (UTC+02:00).

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - |
| 13 May 2017 | 13 May 2017 |
| Benfica | 4 (1) |
| Benfica | 4 (1) | 14 May 2017 | 14 May 2017 |
| Reus (pen.) | 4 (2) | 14 May 2017 | 14 May 2017 |
| Reus (pen.) | 4 (2) | Reus | 4 |
| 13 May 2017 | 13 May 2017 | | Reus | 4 |
| 13 May 2017 | 13 May 2017 | Oliveirense | 1 |
| Barcelona | 0 | Oliveirense | 1 |
| Oliveirense (a.e.t.) | 1 | | |
