CEV Champions League groups set for 2026/27 season! CEV Cup and Challenge Cup too.

The Drawing of Lots for the 2026/27 CEV Champions League group stage was held today, July 15, at the state-of-the-art Broadcasting Centre Europe (BCE) in Luxembourg City, determining the path for Europe’s top volleyball clubs in the upcoming season.

Teams were drawn from four seeding pots into five groups, with two places still to be filled by clubs advancing through the qualification rounds. The remaining group-stage spots will be confirmed after the qualifying rounds.

The women’s competition will start with Round 2 where four double headers with home and away matches involving eight teams will be contested in late October. The four winners will progress to Round 3 – from where two sides will eventually join the top clubs of European Volleyball in Round 4.

As always, Round 4 includes five pools with four teams each playing a double round robin with three matches at home and another three away.
In the upcoming season, two of the teams that reached the Final Four earlier this year feature in the same pool – silver medal winners Eczacibasi Peron Istanbul and Italy’s Savino Del Bene Scandicci. VakifBank will play newcomers UNI Opole from Poland, France’s national champions Volley Mulhouse Alsace and one of the two teams progressing from the early rounds. In Pool C 2012 winners Fenerbahçe Medicana Istanbul will face 2024 silver medallists Numia Vero Volley Milano, while Italian powerhouse A. Carraro Prosecco DOC Conegliano, three-time winners of the competition, will play against two teams they had already taken on last year – KS Developres Rzeszów and Dresdner SC, as well as domestic rivals and wildcard recipients Igor Gorgonzola Novara. In Pool E are the reigning Polish and German national champions, PGE Budowlani Łódz and VfB Suhl Thüringen joined there by Romania’s C.S.O. Voluntari 2005 and 2026 CEV Cup winners and wildcard recipients, Galatasaray Daikin Istanbul.

The five pool winners will advance directly to the quarterfinals, while those finishing second and the third-ranked team with the best result across all pools will contest a Playoff round.

The men’s competition will start with a Round 1 involving seven teams – including one enjoying a bye into Round 2, where another four teams are already seeded as per the latest relevant European Ranking List: TSV Raiffeisen Hartberg (Austria), Levski Sofia (Bulgaria), Sporting CP Lisboa (Portugal) and ACH Volley Ljubljana (Slovenia). As with the women, two teams will eventually progress from the early rounds to the group stage.

The most competitive groups are Pool B and D. Titleholders and two-time defending champions Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia have been drawn together with 2026 bronze medal winners Ziraat Bankkart Ankara and French champions Montpellier HSC VB.
In Pool D, two-time winners Lube Civitanova will face last year’s sensation PGE Projekt Warzawa, Belgium’s Greenyard Maaseik and their domestic rivals Trentino Itas, who received a wildcard to join the competition after a 2025/2026 campaign influenced by injuries.
This edition features some high-level returnees such as Panathinaikos Athens and ambitious newcomers like Italy’s Rana Verona.

The rules in place for the women’s competition in defining who advances to the knockout stage apply to the men’s division as well, while the season will close with the Final Four tournaments scheduled for May 1-2 and 15-16 for women and men, respectively.

2026/27 CEV Men’s Champions League Groups:

Pool A
• Berlin Recycling Volleys
• Galatasaray Istanbul
• Panathinaikos Athens
• Winner CL 3rd Round

Pool B
• Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia
• Ziraat Bankkart Ankara
• Montpellier HSC VB
• Dinamo Bucuresti

Pool C
• Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
• SVG Lüneburg
• VK ČEZ Karlovarsko
• Guaguas Las Palmas

Pool D
• Lube Civitanova
• PGE Projekt Warszawa
• Greenyard Maaseik
• Itas Trentino

Pool E
• Bogdanka LUK Lublin
• Rana Verona
• Tours VB
• Winner CL 3rd Round

Apart from the elite CEV Champions League Volley, Wednesday’s draw involved also the CEV Cup and CEV Challenge Cup – with more than 200 teams altogether registered for participation across the three European competitions for the 2026/2027 season. Two of the 2026 winners remain in contention for back-to-back titles – Italy’s Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza in the CEV Cup, and Megabox group Vallefoglia in the women’s Challenge Cup.

In the men’s CEV Cup, there is an additional round – the 32nd Finals – involving five teams plus a bye.
The three winners will progress to the 16th Finals where another 16 teams had been previously seeded, always in compliance with the relevant ranking. 2026 winners Piacenza will be playing one of the teams progressing from the 32nd Finals to start their title defence.

As in previous years, in the quarterfinals the four remaining teams from those contesting the CEV Cup will be joined by the third-placed teams from the Champions League pool stage failing to progress to the knockout stage of that competition.

In the CEV Challenge Cup, the large majority of the participating teams will start their journey from the 32nd Finals, playing home and away matches whose winners will progress to the 16th Finals where nine women’s and 11 men’s teams had been seeded.
From there, their journey will continue to the 8th Finals and all the way through to the Finals scheduled for the spring of 2027. With Allianz Milano failing to qualify for the European Cups altogether, a new champion will emerge in the competition!