European Champions League Men Bitcoin Sports Betting

The EHF Champions League is the highest Handball league in all of Europe. There are a lot of teams dreaming to get into this league as the competition is organized each year. The league was founded in 1956 and has 24 active teams under it. For your convenience, we have provided the upcoming betting odds for the next EHF Champions League Men games.

Best Bitcoin European Champions League Men Betting Websites:

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The Champions League is the highest European cup competition for handball club teams. It is organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF). The winners of the EHF Champions League can also call themselves the best club team in Europe or in the world due to the low status of the club European Championship. Also the IHF Club World Championship is hardly noticed by the big clubs and therefore only visited by them with youth teams or not at all.

Men

In 1957 the European Cup of National Handball Champions was held for the first time. In the first year, only a selection of individual cities took part in the competition, not individual club teams. Since the second competition was held in 1959, only club teams have taken part in the competition. The first title was won by the city selection of the Czechoslovak capital Prague.

There was no annual competition until the mid-1960s. The competition was suspended in 1958, 1961 and 1964, when a World Handball Championship was played. In 1969 the competition was cancelled, as several teams protested against the occupation of Czechoslovakia. The competition has been held annually for men since 1970.

Until the beginning of the 80s, German teams dominated the cup competition. Clubs from the GDR as well as from Germany won the highest trophy in European club handball. In 1970 and 1979, there were “German-German” final encounters. VfL Gummersbach advanced to become the most successful club in this competition with five title wins.

From the mid-1980s onwards, the competition was dominated by teams from Eastern European countries such as the USSR and Yugoslavia. In 1994, the European Cup of National Champions was renamed the EHF Champions League. From this point on, the Spanish teams also began to dominate, triumphing in all eight European Cup competitions from 1994 to 2001. FC Barcelona alone secured the trophy five times in a row between 1996 and 2000, in addition to 1991, and replaced VfL Gummersbach as the record winner in this competition with a total of six triumphs. In 2015, the Catalans won their ninth title.

Andrei Xepkin, David Barrufet and Xavier O’Callaghan have won the most individual titles. Xepkin won the European Champions Cup and the Champions League seven times between 1996 and 2007, Barrufet and O’Callaghan between 1991 and 2005.

Women

The European Cup of Champions for Women was first held in 1961 and has been held annually ever since.

At the beginning of the seventies, Spartak Kiev’s Soviet team began to dominate the tournament, which lasted for a total of 20 years. Spartak were in the final 15 times, winning 13 times. In 1989, the women from Kiev lost their last final so far against the Austrian representative Hypo Niederösterreich, over whom they had triumphed the previous two years.

The defeat of Spartak Kiev against the Austrian team at the same time heralded a change of guard in European club handball. While the star of the Soviet teams began to extinguish, the women from Maria Enzersdorf in Austria were able to reach the semi-finals in the following nine competitions until the year 2000 – and also the final until 1997 and 1999. With a total of eight cup triumphs in the nineties, Hypo Niederösterreich had just as much influence on this European Cup competition as Spartak Kiev had in previous years.

Although Danish teams in particular have recently won the EHF Champions League, today more teams than ever before have the potential to win the highest European club competition.

Marketing

The name change to EHF Champions League in 1994 was mainly for economic and marketing reasons. In 2008, EHF transferred all advertising, brand and media rights of the Champions League to its subsidiary, EHF Marketing GmbH, which assigns or sells these rights to third parties.

In the run-up to the 2006/2007 season, the EHF concluded a television contract with the European special interest channel Eurosport. The agreement contains the broadcasting rights to all matches in the EHF Champions League, which can also be resold to third parties. The EHF will produce the television pictures of the European Cup matches itself. This ensures a regulated, regular live broadcast of the Champions League matches for three years. The matches will be broadcast both on Eurosport 1 (free-to-air) and on Eurosport 2 (pay-TV). To date, only a few matches have been broadcast on the third channels in Germany.

In Germany, matches with German participation have been broadcast by pay-TV Sky since the 2014/15 season. Sky secured the broadcasting rights until the 2019/20 season.

With the introduction of a second group phase for the 2007/08 season, the EHF and the handball clubs hope to make the Champions League more attractive on the one hand, and to increase planning security for the clubs through more guaranteed matches and thus higher television and viewer revenues on the other. The spectator income from their home games can be kept completely by the clubs with home rights, unlike other cup games where the spectator income is divided 50:50 between the two clubs.

All matches, from the first group phase to the final, are played on a uniform floor by the French company Gerflor. These can be bought by the participating clubs or borrowed from the EHF for home matches.

The ball is also the same for all games. It is a handball of the adidas brand.

Name rights

In September 2010, EHF Marketing GmbH awarded the name rights to the men’s EHF Champions League to the Velux Group for three years; in December 2012, the contract was extended by a further three years to 2016; since the start of the group phase in 2010, the competition has therefore been called VELUX EHF Men’s Champions League. The final of the last four teams in May 2011 in Cologne was held under the name VELUX EHF FINAL4.

Advertising space

The EHF has commissioned the agency Sportfive, today Lagardère Sports Germany, to market the advertising space.

A maximum of ten advertising spaces are permitted on the pitch. In the first group phase, the agency will only allocate the advertising space in the six-metre rooms and two boards on the long side. A further six floor advertising spaces and the remaining advertising boards are available to the home clubs for free marketing. However, they are not allowed to place advertising spaces with companies that compete with the premium sponsors of the EHF.

From the second group phase onwards, all advertising space will be marketed centrally. There are six sponsor packages which are awarded to companies (e.g. Intersport, Interwetten). A sponsorship package remains with the clubs for passing on to their own sponsors. All other advertising space must be masked.

Mode

Currently (as of the 2008/09 season), 40 teams usually take part in the competition, 24 of which are seeded for the first group phase. Another 16 teams will play a qualifying round in the knockout system, from which the eight winners will also qualify for the first group phase. The eight losers will take part in the second round of the EHF Cup. Since the introduction of the Champions League system, the mode has been fundamentally reformed several times.

Since the 2015/16 season, the mode has been fundamentally changed once again.

1993 to 2003

From 1993 to 2003, 32 teams took part in the competition. These were the national champions of the best 31 countries of the EHF country ranking list as well as the respective defending champion. A group phase was embedded in several knockout rounds.

From the 1993/94 season to the 1995/96 season, a group phase with two groups of four was played after the round of sixteen, the winners of which played the final match. From 1996/97 up to and including the 1999/2000 season, after two knockout rounds, there was a group phase with four groups of four teams each instead of one round of 16. The two best teams in each group moved on to the quarter-finals, where the knockout system resumed.

In the 2000/2001 season, the representatives of the top seven countries in the EHF country rankings (a three-year ranking) and the defending champions for the group stage were seeded for the first time, so that fewer teams took part in the previous rounds than before. There were also four groups of four teams each, from each of which two teams qualified for the quarter-finals.

2003 to 2008

Since the 2003/04 season, 40 teams have taken part in the Champions League, of which a varying number come from the top 31 EHF countries (with the exception of Montenegro). The number of clubs a country is allowed to enter depends on its ranking. The two countries in the top two places may enter three teams, the four next best countries two teams each. The following 25 countries are entitled to a place in the Champions League. The defending champion will be added to his country’s contingent and will in any case be eligible for the group stage of the coming season.

After the qualifying round mentioned above, there will be a group stage with eight groups of four teams each, from which the two best teams will qualify for the next round. The third teams in the group are eligible for the fourth round of the European Cup of Cup Winners, the fourth teams in the group are eliminated. Until the 2006/07 season, this group stage was followed by the knockout round’s eighth-finals with outward and return legs.

The 2007/08 season saw a second group stage instead of the round of 16 and quarter-finals, in which four groups of four teams each were formed, whose group winners qualified for the subsequent semi-finals, which, like the final, were played with outward and return legs.

The EHF had planned a final-four tournament at the beginning, but as this was to take place in a neutral location, it was not pushed through by the top European teams. The clubs feared high spectator and thus income losses.

It was also decided to introduce a second group phase for women. Starting in 2007, after the first group phase with four groups of four clubs each, a second phase with two groups of four teams each will follow. The semi-finals and the final will be played in a knockout system with outward and return legs. The aim was to create a harmony between men’s and women’s competition.

2008/09 season

For the season 2008/09 the mode of the EHF Champions League was revised again.

Furthermore, 40 teams were entitled to participate, 24 of which were directly qualified for the first group phase. The remaining 16 teams played out the remaining eight starting places in a qualification round in the knockout system. The losing eight teams took part in the second round of the EHF Cup.

Group stage

The 32 qualified teams played in eight groups of four the group phase in the mode “everyone against everyone” with first and second leg. The first and second teams from each group qualified for the main round and were placed in the same main round groups. The third group players took part in the fourth round of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, while the fourth-placed teams were eliminated.

Main Round

In the main round, four groups of four played in the same mode as in the first group phase. However, teams that had already played against each other in the group phase did not play against each other again. Here the results from the group phase were taken over and evaluated accordingly. For the next round the first and second teams of the group qualified.

Knockout round

The eight qualified teams from the main round determined the Champions League winner in the quarter finals, semi finals and finals. It was played in the knockout system with outward and return legs.

The Cup

The trophy weighs exactly 7.86 kg and is therefore the heaviest trophy of its kind. It consists of 46% bronze and 52% steel.

Since the 2009/10 season

The qualification is played in groups of three or four. There was also a wildcard group, where four teams took part, which, in the opinion of the EHF, should increase the playing level of the Champions League. The first player in each group qualifies for the group stage. The teams that are eliminated will take part in the 2nd or 3rd round of the EHF Cup, depending on their ranking.

The number of teams participating in the competition in the group phase has been reduced from 32 to 24. In the group phase the teams played in four groups of six teams each. Each team played one away match and one home match against each of its group opponents, so that each team had to play ten matches. The best four teams in a group made it into the round of 16, and the intermediate round was abolished.

From the round of sixteen onwards, the knockout and knockout rounds will be played. The semi-final and final will be played in a final four tournament, in these two rounds the decision will be made in a single game. The Final Four was first announced every year, so that various hall suppliers had the opportunity to bring the event into their arena.

Group phase since the 2015/16 season

The group phase was redesigned for the 2015/16 season. There is now a two-fold split: the better rated clubs play in two groups of eight (A and B), the weaker clubs in two groups of six (C and D), each in the first and second round. A total of 28 teams now take part in the competition. The winners of groups A and B qualify directly for the quarter-finals. The second to sixth place winners of groups A and B, as well as the two teams determined in a cross-over comparison of the first and second place winners of groups C and D, will play in the round of 16.

Decision in case of equality of points

If, after all group matches in the preliminary or main round have been completed, two or more teams are level on points, the final placings shall be determined in a certain order. First the direct comparison of the teams with the same number of points against each other is included. The team with the most points in the direct comparison will be awarded the highest position. If there is also equality of points here, the best goal difference decides and, if this is also the same for several teams, the number of goals scored in the direct comparison, which team gets which position. Only if the parameters of the direct comparison do not bring a decision, the goal difference of all matches against the group opponents and then the number of goals thrown in the group matches are taken into account for the decision. For the main round it is possible that the ranking in the preliminary round or the number of points scored in the preliminary round is decisive. In the event that no decision has yet been made, the EHF will make a draw.

Rewards

THW Kiel received a total prize money of 515,000 euros as Champions League winner in 2007. The reform of the Champions League for the 2007/2008 season also included a new prize money regulation. Previously, only prize money was paid out for progress, but from the 2007/2008 season onwards, points bonuses were paid out for the first time in the second group phase. This was to prevent teams already eliminated from competing with a B team. The total amount of prize money paid out was also increased again. In 2008, the winner was able to collect a total of 100,000 euros more than in previous years.

Cup

The cup of the EHF Champions League is a challenge cup. The winning team may keep it for one year, but must return it to the EHF before the final matches of the following season. In return, the club receives a replica of the trophy. If a team wins the Champions League for the fifth time or three times in a row, it may keep the trophy.

Participants

The number of participants a nation may place in the EHF Champions League is determined by the EHF ranking list. The better the nation is placed, the more teams are eligible for the Champions League.

• 2 starting places each will be awarded to the two first-placed federations (a total of 4 starting places).
• 1 starting place each for the federations of places 3-27 (24 starting places in total)
• from position 28 the federations do not get a starting place in the Champions League