| EHF Cup | |
| Year: | 2016–17 |
| Sport: | Handball |
| Host: | Frisch Auf Göppingen (final four) |
| Venues: | EWS Arena (final four) |
| Teams: | 57+6 (qualification stage) 16 (group stage) |
| Champions: | Frisch Auf Göppingen |
| Runners-Up1: | Füchse Berlin |
| Mvp: | Primož Prošt |
| Top Scorer: | Hans Lindberg (92 goals) |
| Previous: | 2015–16 |
| Next: | 2017–18 |
The 2016–17 EHF Cup is the 36th edition of the EHF Cup, the second most important European handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF), and the fifth edition since the merger with the EHF Cup Winners' Cup.
For the 2016–17 EHF Cup, the national federations were allocated places according to their 2016–17 EHF country ranking, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2012–13 to 2014–15.[1]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, federations may have more or less teams participating in the EHF Cup,[2] as noted below:
| Rank | Federation | Coeff. | Teams | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 154.83 | align=center rowspan=7 | 3 | ) |
| 2 |  Spain | 122.83 | |||
| 3 |  Hungary | 103.33 | |||
| 4 |  France | 75.33 | |||
| 5 | Denmark | 70.00 | |||
| 6 |  Poland | 54.22 | |||
| 7 | Slovenia | 54.00 | |||
| 8 |  Macedonia | 40.56 | align=center rowspan=6 | 2 | |
| 9 |  Romania | 36.34 | |||
| 10 |  Sweden | 34.75 | |||
| 11 | Croatia | 33.71 | |||
| 12 |  Russia | 31.00 | |||
| 13 | Portugal | 30.25 | |||
| 14 |  Belarus | 28.75 | align=center rowspan=4 | 1 | |
| 15 | Switzerland | 22.33 | |||
| 16 |  Ukraine | 21.78 | |||
| 17 |  Norway | 21.11 |
| Rank | Federation | Coeff. | Teams | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 |  Serbia | 20.44 | align=center rowspan=17 | 1 | |
| 19 |  Slovakia | 13.56 | |||
| 20 |  Turkey | 13.00 | |||
| 21 |  Luxembourg | 11.13 | |||
| 22 |  Finland | 11.00 | |||
| 23 | Greece | 11.00 | |||
| 24 |  Belgium | 9.71 | |||
| 25 |  Israel | 9.00 | |||
| 26 |  Austria | 9.00 | |||
| 27 |  Czech Republic | 6.17 | |||
| 28 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | 5.78 | |||
| 29 | Kosovo | 5.17 | |||
| 30 |  Lithuania | 4.83 | |||
| 31 |  Italy | 4.78 | |||
| 32 | Netherlands | 4.75 | |||
| 33 |  Cyprus | 4.33 | |||
| 34 |  Estonia | 4.17 |
| Rank | Federation | Coeff. | Teams | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Bulgaria | 3.50 | align=center rowspan=6 | 1 | |
| 36 |  Iceland | 3.29 | |||
| 37 |  Montenegro | 3.14 | |||
| 38 |  Moldova | 1.17 | |||
| 39 |  Great Britain | 1.00 | |||
| 40 |  Georgia | 0.17 | |||
| 41 |  Albania | 0.00 | align=center rowspan=10 | 0 | |
| 42 |  Andorra | 0.00 | |||
| 43 |  Armenia | 0.00 | |||
| 44 |  Azerbaijan | 0.00 | |||
| 45 | Faroe Islands | 0.00 | |||
| 46 |  Republic of Ireland | 0.00 | |||
| 47 | Latvia | 0.00 | |||
| 48 |  Liechtenstein | 0.00 | |||
| 49 |  Malta | 0.00 | |||
| 50 | Monaco | 0.00 |
| Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| First qualifying round (30 teams) |
| ||
| Second qualifying round (32 teams) |
|
| |
| Third qualifying round (32 teams) |
|
| |
| Group stage (16 teams) |
| ||
| Knockout phase (16 teams) |
|
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[3]
| Third qualifying round | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Second qualifying round | |||
| First qualifying round | |||
The schedule of the competition was follows (all draws were held at the EHF headquarters in Vienna, Austria):[4]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualification | First qualifying round | 19 July 2016 | 3–4 September 2016 | 10–11 September 2016 |
| Second qualifying round | 8–9 October 2016 | 15–16 October 2016 | ||
| Third qualifying round | 18 October 2016 | 19–20 November 2016 | 26–27 November 2016 | |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 1 December 2016 | 11–12 February 2017 | |
| Matchday 2 | 17–19 February 2017 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 4–5 March 2017 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 11–12 March 2017 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 25–26 March 2017 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 1–2 April 2017 | |||
| Knockout phase | Quarter-finals | 4 April 2017 | 22–23 April 2017 | 29–30 April 2017 |
| Final four | 2 May 2017 | 20–21 May 2017 | ||
The qualification stage consists of three rounds, which are played as two-legged ties using a home-and-away system. In the draws for each round, teams are allocated into two pots, with teams from Pot 1 facing teams from Pot 2. The winners of each pairing (highlighted in bold) qualify for the following round.
For each round, teams listed first played the first leg at home. In some cases, teams agreed to play both matches at the same venue.
A total of 30 teams entered the draw for the first qualification round, which was held on Tuesday, 19 July 2016. The draw seeding pots were composed as follows:
| width=50% | Pot 1 | width=50% | Pot 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
The first legs were played on 2–3 September and the second legs were played on 4 and 10–11 September 2015.[5]
1 Both legs were hosted by Handball Käerjeng.
2 Both legs were hosted by Maccabi Rishon LeZion.
3 Both legs were hosted by BB Ankaraspor.
4 Both legs were hosted by AC Diomidis Argous.
5 Both legs were hosted by FC Porto.
6 Both legs were hosted by RK Prilep 2010.
A total of 32 teams entered the draw for the second qualifying round, which was held after the draw for the first qualifying round on Tuesday, 19 July 2016. The draw seeding pots were composed as follows:
The first legs were played on 8–9 October and the second legs were played on 9 and 15–16 October 2016.[6]
1 Order of legs reversed
2 Both legs were hosted by ZTR Zaporizhia.
3 Both legs were hosted by Górnik Zabrze.
A total of 32 teams entered the draw for the third qualifying round, which was held on Tuesday, 18 October 2016. The draw seeding pots were composed as follows:[7]
The first legs were played on 18–20 and 23 November and the second legs were played on 25–27 November 2016.[8]
1 Order of legs reversed
The draw of the EHF Cup group stage took place on Thursday, 1 December 2016. The 16 teams allocated into four pots were drawn into four groups of four teams. The country protection rule was applied, i.e. two clubs from the same country could not face each other in the same group.[9]
In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays are 11–12 February, 17–19 February, 4–5 March, 11–12 March, 25–26 March, and 1–2 April 2017.
If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings (in descending order):
If no ranking can be determined, a decision shall be obtained by drawing lots. Lots shall be drawn by the EHF, if possible in the presence of a responsible of each club.
On 28 November 2016, EHF announced the composition of the group stage seeding pots.[10]
| width=25% | Pot 1 | width=25% | Pot 2 | width=25% | Pot 3 | width=25% | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KIF Kolding København Saint-Raphaël Var Handball Frisch Auf Göppingen MT Melsungen | HC Midtjylland Helvetia Anaitasuna Grundfos Tatabánya KC RD Ribnica | GOG Fraikin Granollers SC Magdeburg S.L. Benfica | Riihimäki Cocks Füchse Berlin Maccabi Tel AvivFC Porto |
Because the German side Frisch Auf Göppingen, the organizers of the Final 4 tournament, finished on top of their group they qualified directly to the final tournament and only the top three second-placed teams qualified to the quarter-finals. The ranking of the second-placed teams was determined on the basis of the team's results in the group stage.
| width=205 | Pot 1 |
|---|---|
| SC Magdeburg | |
| Füchse Berlin | |
| MT Melsungen |
| width=205 | Pot 2 |
|---|---|
| Saint-Raphaël Var Handball | |
| Helvetia Anaitasuna | |
| Grundfos Tatabánya KC |