The Champions Trophy in handball until the summer of 2007 known under the name EHF European Club Championship or German club European championship , was organized by the European Handball Federation organized (EHF) by 2008. It has been carried out without interruption for women since 1994 and for men since 1996. In addition to the winners of the three highest European Cups , the home team of the venue took part, mostly also a top European team. So two semi-finals were possible, from which the finalists were determined. The losers of the semi-finals played against each other in a game for third place. The event took place over a weekend, so it was in Final Four mode.
The winner of the fourth-highest and thus lowest European Cup , the EHF Challenge Cup , did not take part in the competition. This was also due to the athletic inferiority of the participants since the EHF City Cup was renamed and the representatives of the strong nations such as Germany, Spain and France no longer took part.
For men's teams, there were already five editions of a club European championship, the IHF gold cup, from 1979 to 1983. This was played directly after the European Cup season between the winner of the European Cup Winners ' Cup and the winner of the European Cup Winners' Cup . Since the EHF did not yet exist, the competition was organized by the International Handball Federation .
In 2007 the Champions Trophy took place for the first time under a new name and not on German or Spanish soil.