EHF Champions League · History

FC Barcelona have won the EHF Champions League more often than any other club: 13 times, the thirteenth of them on 14 June 2026 in Cologne. VfL Gummersbach and SC Magdeburg follow with five titles each, with THW Kiel on four. It is Europe's top club competition in men's handball and is run by the European Handball Federation (EHF). By country, Spanish clubs have won 19 titles and German clubs 18, counting the old West Germany and unified Germany together.

The European Cup (1956-1993)

The tournament began in 1956-57 as the European Champion Clubs' Cup, organised by the International Handball Federation (IHF). Dukla Prague won the first final, beating Sweden's Örebro SK 21-13. The Czechoslovak club won it again in 1963 and in 1984, more than a quarter of a century after that first final. VfL Gummersbach then took the trophy in 1967, 1970, 1971, 1974 and 1983. Eastern Bloc sides carried real weight: Steaua Bucharest won in 1968 and 1977, Yugoslavia's Metaloplastika in 1985 and 1986, and SKA Minsk in 1987, 1989 and 1990. Barcelona claimed their first title in 1991, and Zagreb closed the era by winning in 1992 and 1993.

The Champions League era and Spanish dominance

From the 1993-94 season the competition has been called the EHF Champions League. Its first two winners were Spanish: TEKA Santander in 1994 and Elgorriaga Bidasoa in 1995. Barcelona then won five in a row, from 1996 to 2000. The trophy later went to Portland San Antonio (2001), SC Magdeburg (2002), Montpellier (2003), RK Celje (2004) and Barcelona again (2005). BM Ciudad Real won in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and in between THW Kiel collected their first European crown in 2007.

The Final Four in Cologne

In 2009-10 the EHF changed how the season ends: the semi-finals and final are played over a single weekend at one venue, the LANXESS arena in Cologne. THW Kiel won the first edition in May 2010, beating Barcelona 36-34. Barcelona won it back in 2011 and Kiel were champions again in 2012. In 2013 HSV Hamburg beat Barcelona in the final, and in 2014 SG Flensburg-Handewitt edged Kiel 30-28 in an all-German final. Barcelona regained the title in 2015, their first since 2011, with a 28-23 win over Hungary's Veszprém.

New champions and a December final

The second half of the decade brought first-time winners. Poland's Vive Kielce beat Veszprém 39-38 in 2016. North Macedonia's RK Vardar won in 2017, 24-23 against Paris Saint-Germain, and in 2019, 27-24 against Veszprém, who lost three finals in five years. In between, Montpellier won their second title in 2018 with a 32-26 victory over Nantes. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the 2019-20 Final Four back to 29 December 2020. That night THW Kiel beat Barcelona 33-28, and Filip Jícha became the third man to win the competition as both player and coach. It was Kiel's fourth title, after those of 2007, 2010 and 2012.

Barcelona in the 2020s

Barcelona won in 2021, thrashing Denmark's Aalborg 36-23, and again in 2022 against Kielce. SC Magdeburg broke the run in 2023, also against Kielce. Barcelona returned to the top in 2024, edging Aalborg 31-30, and in 2025 Magdeburg secured their fifth title by beating Füchse Berlin 32-26. On 14 June 2026 in Cologne, Barcelona beat Füchse Berlin 37-34, leading 20-16 at half-time, with goalkeeper Emil Nielsen making 14 saves; it was Berlin's second straight final defeat. It was Barcelona's 13th title and their twelfth since the tournament took the Champions League name in 1993-94.