2016–17 EHF Champions League
The 2016–17 EHF Champions League was the 57th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 24th edition under the current EHF Champions League format. Vardar were crowned champions for the first time, defeating Paris Saint-Germain Handball Competition format Twenty-eight teams participated in the competition, divided in four groups. Groups A and B were played with eight teams each, in a round robin, home and away format. The top team in each group qualified directly for the quarter-finals, the bottom two in each group dropped out of the competition and the remaining 10 teams qualified for the first knock-out phase. In groups C and D, six teams played in each group in a round robin format, playing both home and away. The top two teams in each group then met in a ‘semi-final’ play-off, with the two winners going through to the first knock-out phase. The remaining teams dropped out of the competition. Knock-out Phase 1 (Last 16) 12 teams played home and away in the first knock-out phase, with the 10 teams qualified from groups A and B and the two teams qualified from groups C and D. Knock-out Phase 2 (Quarterfinals) The six winners of the matches in the first knock-out phase joined with the winners of groups A and B to play home and away for the right to play in the Velux EHF Final4. Final four The culmination of the season, the Velux EHF Final4, continued in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title. Team allocation 26 teams were directly qualified for the group stage. TH = Title holders Round and draw dates The qualification and group stage draw was held in Glostrup, Denmark. Qualification stage The draw was held on 29 June 2016 at 13:00 in Vienna, Austria. The eight teams were split in two groups and played a semifinal and final to determine the last participants. Matches were played on 3 and 4 September 2016. Qualification tournament 1 Qualification tournament 2 Group stage The draw for the group stage was held on 1 July 2016 at 13:00 in the Vienna city centre. The 28 teams were drawn into four groups, two containing eight teams (Groups A and B) and two containing six teams (Groups C and D). The only restriction is that teams from the same national association could not face each other in the same group. Since Germany qualified three teams, the lowest seeded side (Kiel) was drawn with one of the other two. In each group, teams played against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches. After completion of the group stage matches, the knockout stage was determined in the following manner: Groups A and B – the top team qualified directly for the quarterfinals, and the five teams ranked 2nd–6th advanced to the first knockout round. Groups C and D – the top two teams from both groups contested a playoff to determine the last two sides