| EHF Champions League | |
| Year: | 2015–16 |
| Sport: | Handball |
| Start Date: | 5 September 2015 |
| End Date: | 29 May 2016 |
| Teams: | 28 (group stage) 31 (total) |
| Website: | ehfcl.com |
| Champions: |  Vive Tauron Kielce |
| Runners-Up1: |  MVM Veszprém |
| Matches: | 201 |
| Goals: | 11168 |
| Top Scorer: | (141 goals)[1] |
| Previous: | 2014–15 |
| Next: | 2016–17 |
The 2015–16 EHF Champions League was the 56th edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 23rd edition under the current EHF Champions League format. FC Barcelona Lassa was the defending champion.
Vive Tauron Kielce defeated MVM Veszprém in the final to capture their first title.
Twenty-seven teams were directly qualified for the group stage.[2]
In March 2014, EHF introduced a new competition format.[3]
Twenty-eight teams participated in the competition, divided in four groups. Groups A and B 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.
All draws held at the European Handball Federation headquarters in Vienna, Austria.[4]
| Phase | Draw date | |
|---|---|---|
| Group stage | 26 June 2015 | |
| Knockout stage | ||
| Final Four (Cologne) | 3 May 2016 |
There was no draw held. The four teams played a semifinal and final to determine the last participant. Matches were played on 5 and 6 September 2015.[5] RK Banja Luka organized the tournament.[6]
All times are local (UTC+2).
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See main article: 2015–16 EHF Champions League group stage. The draw for the group stage was held on 26 June 2015, 20:00 CEST, in the Vienna city centre.[7] 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 was 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 (Flensburg-Handewitt) had necessarily to be drawn with one of the other two.[8]
In each group, teams played against each other in a double round-robin format, with home and away matches. The matchdays are 16–20 September, 23–27 September, 30 September–4 October, 7–11 October, 14–18 October, 21–25 October, 11–15 November, 18–22 November, 25–29 November and 2–6 December 2015. For Groups A and B, additional matchdays include 10–14 February, 17–21 February, 24–28 February and 2–6 March 2016.[9]
After completion of the group stage matches, the teams advancing to the knockout stage were determined in the following manner:
See main article: 2015–16 EHF Champions League knockout stage. The first-place team from the preliminary groups A and B advanced to the quarterfinals, while the second through sixth place teams advanced to the round 16 alongside the playoff winners.
Statistics exclude qualifying rounds.[11]
The All-star team of the Champions League 2015/16:[12]
| Position | Player |
|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Niklas Landin Jacobsen (THW Kiel) |
| Right wing | Gašper Marguč (MVM Veszprém) |
| Right back |  Kiril Lazarov (Barcelona Lassa) |
| Centre back | Dean Bombač (MOL-Pick Szeged) |
| Left back |  Momir Ilić (MVM Veszprém) |
| Left wing | Manuel Štrlek (Vive Tauron Kielce) |
| Pivot | Rastko Stojković (HC Meshkov Brest) |
| Best defender | Timuzsin Schuch (MVM Veszprém) |
| Best coach |  Xavi Sabaté (MVM Veszprém) |
