FC Porto benefit from Champions expansion, join Sporting | OneFootball

The European Handball Federation (EHF) confirmed, in a statement released on its official platforms early on Monday morning, the list of teams covered by the expansion of the Champions League from 16 to 24 participants, starting as early as the 2026/27 season.

Among those clubs, as had already been expected, is FC Porto, which under normal circumstances would have been sent to the European League, since it finished no higher than second place in the domestic championship, but will indeed feature in the continent’s top club competition alongside Portuguese champions Sporting.

Also benefiting from this format change were SAH Aarhus, GOG, HNC Nantes, Montpellier Handball, Fusche Berlin, PICK Szeged, HC Vardar 1961, Orlen Wisla Plock, RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko, RK Partizan AdmiralBet, HC Kriens-Luzern and IFK Kristianstad, as well as the latest European League winners, MT Melsungen.

These teams will join not only Sporting, but also HC Zagreb, Aalborg Handbold, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, SC Magdeburg, One Veszprém HC, Kolstad Handball, Industria Kielce and CS Dinamo Bucuresti. Left out are MOL Tatabánya KC, Valur and Elverum Handball, whose applications for inclusion were rejected.

The group-stage draw is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., mainland Portugal time, next Friday at the European Handball House in Vienna. The competition itself will begin on September 9 in the men’s division.

FC Porto returns and Sporting keeps the dream alive

FC Porto thus returns to the Champions League, a competition it last played in 2023/24, a season in which it failed to get beyond the group stage, collecting just eight points in 14 matches, which left it in seventh and penultimate place in Group B.

In the following two seasons, the Dragons played in the European League, falling in the quarter-finals on both occasions. In 2024/25, the team that stopped them was Montpellier HB, by an aggregate score of 61-65, and in 2025/26, MT Melsungen, by 47-46 over the two legs.

Sporting, meanwhile, will look to end the pattern of the last two editions of this competition and finally get past the quarter-finals. In 2024/25, it was knocked out by HBC Nantes, 60-57 on aggregate over the two legs, and in 2025/26 by Aalborg, 67-68.

Benfica and Águas Santas head to the European League

With FC Porto’s promotion, Portugal’s presence in the European League will be reduced to two teams, Benfica and Águas Santas, who finished the national championship title round in third and fourth place, respectively.

The Eagles, it should be remembered, were eliminated in the main round last season after finishing no higher than fourth and last place in Group III. The Maia-based side, meanwhile, will compete in the tournament for only the second time in its history, after being knocked out in the group stage in 2022/23.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.