| Tourney Name: | EHF Women's Champions League |
| Year: | 2012–13 |
| Size: | 250px |
| Dates: | 22 September 2012 – 12 May 2013 |
| Num Teams: | 17 (qualification stage) 16 (group stage) 8 (Main round) 4 (knockout stage) |
| Champion Other: |  Győri Audi ETO KC |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second Other: |  Larvik HK |
| Matches: | 78 |
| Goals: | 4012 |
| Top Scorer: | Zsuzsanna Tomori (95 goals) |
| Prevseason: | 2011–12 |
| Nextseason: | 2013–14 |
The 2012–13 EHF Women's Champions League was the 20th edition of the EHF Women's Champions League, the competition for top women's clubs of Europe, organized and supervised by the European Handball Federation. Budućnost Podgorica was title holder, after beating Győri Audi ETO KC in past season's final.[1]
Győri redeemed themselves by winning this season's edition. They defeated Larvik HK 47–43 in the final.[2]
A few changes had been made in the competition's format. The first qualifying tournament has been deleted. As past season the second qualifying tournament was played under a final four format. A Wild Card Tournament with three teams was organized, the winner were qualified for the Group Phase. In addition, a knock-out match between one team from Pot 1 of the QT2 and a team from Pot 2 of the QT2 was played. The winner also qualified for the Group Phase.[3]
28 teams from 19 federations participated to the Women's Champions League this season. Places were distributed according to the EHF league coefficient, which took into account the performances in European competitions from 2008–09 to 2010–11.[4]
| Group matches | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hypo Niederösterreich | RK Podravka Koprivnica | Randers HK | Thüringer HC | |
| Győri Audi ETO KC |  ŽRK Budućnost Podgorica | Larvik HK |  CS Oltchim Rm. Vâlcea | |
 Dinamo Volgograd |  Krim Ljubljana |  IK Sävehof | Wild Card Tournament Winner | |
| WQT1 | WQT2 | WQT3 | Knock-out game winner | |
| Qualification Tournament | ||||
| Viborg HK | Buxtehuder SV | FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria |  ŽRK Metalurg | |
| SERCODAK Dalfsen | Byåsen HE |  Vistal Łączpol Gdynia | Universitatea Cluj | |
| Rostov-Don |  RK Zaječar |  IUVENTA Michalovce |  Balonmano Bera-Bera | |
| LC Brühl |  Muratpaşa BSK | |||
| Wild Card Tournament | ||||
 Issy-Paris Hand | Zvezda Zvenigorod | HC Leipzig | ||
The draws will be held in Vienna, Austria and Herzogenaurach, Germany.
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Qualification Tournament 2 | 3 July 2012 | 22–23 September 2012 | |
| Wild Card Tournament | 22–23 September 2012 | |||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 6 July 2012 | 13–14 October 2012 | |
| Matchday 2 | 20–21 October 2012 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 27–28 October 2012 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 3–4 November 2012 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 10–11 November 2012 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 17–18 November 2012 | |||
| Main round | Matchday 1 | 20 November 2012 | 2–3 February 2013 | |
| Matchday 2 | 9–10 February 2013 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 16–17 February 2013 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 2–3 March 2013 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 9–10 March 2013 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 16–17 March 2013 | |||
| Knockout phase | Semifinals | — | 6–7 April 2013 | 13–14 April 2013 |
| Finals | 16 April 2013 | 4–5 May 2013 | 11–12 May 2013 | |
See main article: 2012–13 EHF Women's Champions League qualifying.
A total of 14 teams took part in the qualification tournaments. The clubs were drawn into three groups of four and played a semifinal and the final. The winner of the qualification groups advanced to the group stage, while the eliminated clubs went to the EHF Cup. Matches were played at 8–9 September 2011. The draw took place on 3 July, at 11:00 local time at Vienna, Austria.[5]
The two remaining teams from Pot 1 and 4 played a knock-out match, the winner went into the group stage. The draw was held on 3 July 2012.[6]
| width=15% | Pot 1 | width=15% | Pot 2 | width=15% | Pot 3 | width=15% | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Byåsen HE FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria Universitatea Cluj Viborg HK | Balonmano Bera-Bera Rostov-Don Buxtehuder SV | Vistal Łączpol Gdynia SERCODAK Dalfsen RK Zaječar | ŽRK Metalurg Muratpaşa BSK IUVENTA Michalovce LC Brühl |
Viborg HK organized the event.
Byåsen HE organized the event.
Universitatea Cluj organized the event.
Issy-Paris Hand organized the event.[7]
The draw of the group matches was held on 6 July at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in Vienna. A total of sixteen teams were concerned in the process, to be divided into four pots of four. Teams were divided into four pots, based on EHF coefficients. Clubs from the same pot or the same association could not be drawn into the same group, except the wild card tournament winner, which did not enjoy any protection.[8] [9]
| width=15% | Pot 1 | width=15% | Pot 2 | width=15% | Pot 3 | width=15% | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Győri Audi ETO KC ŽRK Budućnost Podgorica Larvik HK CS Oltchim Rm. Vâlcea | Randers HK Thüringer HC Dinamo Volgograd Krim Ljubljana | Hypo Niederösterreich RK Podravka Koprivnica IK Sävehof Zvezda Zvenigorod | Viborg HK Buxtehuder SV Universitatea Cluj FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria |
The draw of the group matches was held on 20 November at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in Vienna. A total of eight teams were concerned in the process, to be divided into two pots of four. Teams were divided into two pots, based on EHF coefficients. Clubs from the same pot or group could not be drawn into the same group.[10] [11]
| width=15% | Pot 1 | width=15% | Pot 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CS Oltchim Rm. Vâlcea Győri Audi ETO KC Larvik HK Zvezda Zvenigorod | Randers HK Krim Ljubljana FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria ŽRK Budućnost Podgorica |
See main article: 2012–13 EHF Women's Champions League knockout stage.
|}
|}
| Rank | Name | Team | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ferencváros | 95 | ||
| 2 | Vâlcea | 90 | ||
| 3 | Budućnost | 86 | ||
| 4 | Győr | 79 | ||
| Larvik | ||||
| 6 | Larvik | 71 | ||
| 7 | Győr | 67 | ||
| Zvenigorod | ||||
| 9 | Randers | 66 | ||
| 10 | Ferencváros | 65 |
Excluding qualifying rounds[12]