The 2016–17 CEV Women's Challenge Cup was the 37th edition of the European Challenge Cup volleyball club tournament, the former "CEV Cup".
Format
The tournament was played on a knockout format, with 32 teams participating. On 30 June 2016, a drawing of lots in Varna, Bulgaria, determined the team's pairing for each match. Each team plays a home and an away match with result points awarded for each leg (3 points for 3–0 or 3–1 wins, 2 points for 3–2 win, 1 point for 2–3 loss). After two legs, the team with the most result points advances to the next round. In case the teams are tied after two legs, a Golden Set is played immediately at the completion of the second leg. The Golden Set winner is the team that first obtains 15 points, provided that the points difference between the two teams is at least 2 points (thus, the Golden Set is similar to a tiebreak set in a normal match).[1]
Participating teams
Drawing of lots for the 32 participating team was held in Varna, Bulgaria on 30 June 2016.[2]
Match# 2 – The second leg was played on 17 January 2017.
Match# 9 – The order of the fixtures was reversed, the second leg was played in France on 14 December 2016 and the first leg in Belgium on 12 January 2017. The table keeps the order (team 1 and 2) as per draw result.
Match# 16 – Due to lack of financial resources to travel to Russia, Pannaxiakos withdrew from the competition on 5 December 2016.[4][5] The CEV awarded both legs to Yenisei Krasnoyarsk.
