# 2015–16 CERH European League

The 2015–16 CERH European League is the 51st season of Europe's premier club roller hockey tournament organised by CERH, and the 19th season since it was renamed from European Champion Clubs' Cup to CERH Champions League/European League.
Barcelona were the defending champions, but they were eliminated in semi-finals by the eventual winners Benfica, who became European champions for a second time.

## Teams

League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders, CW: Cup winners, LSF: Losing semi-finalists, LQF: Losing quarter-finalists). Bold means seeded teams.
Group stage :
| Barcelona (1st) | Benfica (1st) | Forte dei Marmi (1st) | Dinan Quévert (1st) |
| Liceo La Coruña (2nd) | Porto (2nd) | Viareggio (2nd) | Mérignac (2nd) |
| Vic (CW) | Oliveirense (3rd) | Breganze (LSF) | Iserlohn (1st) |
| Vendrell (3rd) | Valongo (4th) | Bassano (LQF) | Basel (1st) |

## Round dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (draw held at CERH headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal, on 6 September 2015).
| Phase | Round | First leg | Second leg |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 24 October 2015 | 24 October 2015 |
| Group stage | Matchday 2 | 7 November 2015 | 7 November 2015 |
| Group stage | Matchday 3 | 28 November 2015 | 28 November 2015 |
| Group stage | Matchday 4 | 12 December 2015 | 12 December 2015 |
| Group stage | Matchday 5 | 16 January 2016 | 16 January 2016 |
| Group stage | Matchday 6 | 6 February 2016 | 6 February 2016 |
| Knockout phase | Quarter-finals | 5 March 2016 | 2 April 2016 |
| Knockout phase | Semi-finals | 14 May 2016 | 14 May 2016 |
| Knockout phase | Final | 15 May 2016 | 15 May 2016 |

## Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 6 September 2015, 11:00, in Luso, Portugal. The 16 teams were allocated into four pots, with the title holders Barcelona being automatically placed in pot 1. Liceo La Coruña, Benfica and Forte dei Marmi were the other three seeded teams. The remaining teams were then drawn into four groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. In each group, teams play against each other in a home-and-away round-robin format, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | POR | BAR | BRE | ISE |
| 1 | Porto | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 8 | +38 | 18 | Advanced to knockout phase | — | 1–0 | 13–4 | 21–1 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 34 | 12 | +22 | 12 | Advanced to knockout phase | 1–2 | — | 5–2 | 7–2 |
| 3 | Breganze | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 24 | 34 | −10 | 4 | | 1–2 | 4–6 | — | 7–2 |
| 4 | Iserlohn | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 63 | −50 | 1 | | 1–7 | 1–15 | 6–6 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BEN | VIC | BAS | MER |
| 1 | Benfica | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 41 | 18 | +23 | 15 | Advanced to knockout phase | — | 5–1 | 9–6 | 8–0 |
| 2 | Vic | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 17 | +19 | 15 | Advanced to knockout phase | 7–6 | — | 8–0 | 9–0 |
| 3 | Bassano | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 24 | 43 | −19 | 3 | | 2–8 | 5–8 | — | 7–5 |
| 4 | Mérignac | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 36 | −23 | 3 | | 2–5 | 1–3 | 5–4 | — |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | FOR | VEN | VAL | QUE |
| 1 | Forte dei Marmi | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 24 | +15 | 14 | Advanced to knockout phase | — | 6–2 | 8–7 | 9–1 |
| 2 | Vendrell | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 27 | 24 | +3 | 10 | Advanced to knockout phase | 6–6 | — | 5–1 | 8–4 |
| 3 | Valongo | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 26 | 27 | −1 | 7 | | 5–5 | 5–3 | — | 5–1 |
| 4 | Dinan Quévert | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 16 | 33 | −17 | 3 | | 3–5 | 2–3 | 5–3 | — |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | LIC | OLI | VIA | BAS |
| 1 | Liceo La Coruña | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 15 | +22 | 15 | Advanced to knockout phase | — | 5–3 | 7–2 | 13–1 |
| 2 | Oliveirense | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 22 | +13 | 15 | Advanced to knockout phase | 4–2 | — | 5–3 | 10–5 |
| 3 | Viareggio | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 26 | 32 | −6 | 6 | | 2–5 | 5–7 | — | 8–4 |
| 4 | Basel | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 19 | 48 | −29 | 0 | | 3–5 | 2–6 | 4–6 | — |

## Knockout phase

The knockout phase comprises a quarter-final round and the final four tournament. In the quarter-finals, group stage winners play against group stage runners-up, the latter hosting the first of two legs. The winners qualify for the final four, which will take place at the ground of one of the four finalists.

### Quarter-finals

The first-leg matches were played on 5 March, and the second-leg matches were played on 2 April 2016.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Oliveirense | 8–6 | Porto | 4–3 | 4–3 |
| Vendrell | 8–10 | Benfica | 3–5 | 5–5 |
| Vic | 7–8 | Forte dei Marmi | 2–1 | 5–7 |
| Barcelona | 8–2 | Liceo La Coruña | 6–0 | 2–2 |

### Final four

The final four tournament took place on 14 and 15 May 2016. It was hosted by Benfica at the Pavilhão Fidelidade in Lisbon, Portugal.
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 14 May 2016 – Lisbon | 14 May 2016 – Lisbon |
| Oliveirense | 3 |
| Oliveirense | 3 | 15 May 2016 – Lisbon | 15 May 2016 – Lisbon |
| Forte dei Marmi | 2 | 15 May 2016 – Lisbon | 15 May 2016 – Lisbon |
| Forte dei Marmi | 2 | Oliveirense | 3 |
| 14 May 2016 – Lisbon | 14 May 2016 – Lisbon | | Oliveirense | 3 |
| 14 May 2016 – Lisbon | 14 May 2016 – Lisbon | Benfica | 5 |
| Benfica (pen.) | 1 (2) | Benfica | 5 |
| Barcelona | 1 (1) | | |
All times listed below are local time (UTC+01:00).

#### Final

* 2015–16 CERH European League winners
* Benfica 2nd title