The 2015–16 CEV Women's Challenge Cup was the 36th edition of the European Challenge Cup volleyball club tournament, the former "CEV Cup".
Format
The tournament was played on a knockout format, with a total of 46 teams participating. Initially 30 teams were allocated vacancies to enter the competition at the 'Qualification phase', with another 16 teams joining from the Women's CEV Cup entering the competition at the 'Main phase' stage (as per 'Round composition' below).[1]
On 5 June 2015, a drawing of lots in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, determined the team's pairing for each match. Each team played 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 advanced to the next round. In case the teams were tied after two legs, a Golden Set was 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).[2][3]
Round composition
2nd Round: 30 teams
16th Final: 2nd Round winners (16 teams) + 16 teams from CEV Cup
8th Final onwards: winners
Participating teams
A total of 46 teams participated, 30 were allocated direct places and 16 joined from the Women's CEV Cup entering at the 'Main phase'.[1]
Rank
Country
No. teams
Teams (rankings in 2014–15 national championships)
*Note: Stod Volley Steinkjer withdrew from the competition. The CEV awarded Wovo Rovaniemi both matches by 3–0.[4][5]
Main phase
In this stage of the competition, the sixteen qualified teams of the Qualification phase were joined by the sixteen losing teams from the 2015–16 Women's CEV Cup.
