2023–24 LEN Champions League

The 2023–24 LEN Champions League is the 61st edition of LEN's premier competition for men's water polo clubs. Because of the congested schedule, there's a new format this year. Pro Recco are the three-time defending champions.

FTC-Telekom won their second title after triumphing over Pro Recco in the final.

Format This season, the format has undergone some changes. After one qualification round (instead of three), sixteen teams will qualify for the group stage. Because of the congested schedule, four groups of four will be played instead of two groups of eight. The top two in each group will make the quarter-finals round (also a group stage). The team that finish third and fourth will compete in the 2023–24 LEN Euro Cup knockout stage. The remaining eight teams in the quarter-finals round will play a further six matches, with the top two in each group making the Final Four, which makes a return.

Rankings Starting this season, LEN also started a club rankings. The top 11 best ranked countries in the new rankings are allowed to have their national champion go directly into the main round, as long as they meet requirements.

RankAssociationPointsTeams1 Italy118,76532 Hungary91,047.53 Spain75,387.54 Serbia68,902.55 Greece64,3756 Croatia56,0657 France47,207.58 Germany41,6609 Romania19,80010 Montenegro17,700211 Georgia11,245112 Russia10,490013 Netherlands5,005

RankAssociationPointsTeams14 Turkey4,807.5015 Slovakia1,87016 Bosnia and Herzegovina1,41517 Portugal1,38518 Switzerland1,21019 Slovenia1,16020 Israel86021 Poland63522 Denmark56023 Lithuania51524 Malta43524 Ukraine435

Teams Alongside the 11 domestic champions, the defending champions also get a spot in the main round. In the event that the Champions League defending champions won their national league, the runners-up of the national league will take the vacant spot. Although, the Italian runners-up, AN Brescia, declined the spot because they didn't want to pay the wildcard fee (which was 25,000 Euros), their spot went to the Spanish runners-up, Astrapool Sabadell).

+Main round Jadran Split (1st) CN Marseille (1st) Dinamo Tbilisi (1st) Spandau 04 (1st) Olympiacos Piraeus (1st) FTC-Telekom (1st) Pro Recco CL (1st) Jadran Herceg Novi (1st) Steaua București (1st) Novi Beograd (1st) Zodiac Atlètic-Barceloneta (1st) Astrapool Sabadell (2nd)

+Qualification round Jug AO Dubrovnik (2nd) Primorje Erste Bank Rijeka (3rd) CN Noisy-le-Sec (2nd) EN Tourcoing (3rd) Waspo'98 Hannover (2nd) ASC Duisburg (3rd) NC Vouliagmeni (2nd) GS Apollon Smyrnis (3rd) OSC Budapest (2nd) Endo Plus Service Honvéd (3rd) AN Brescia (2nd) CC Ortigia (3rd) Primorac Kotor (2nd) CSM Oradea (2nd) Dinamo București (3rd) Crvena zvezda (2nd) Radnički Kragujevac (3rd) CN Barcelona (3rd)

Round and draw dates Schedule Phase Round Round date Qualification round 7–10 September 2023Main round Matchday 1 26–27 September 2023 Matchday 2 6–7 October 2023 Matchday 3 17–18 October 2023 Matchday 4 31 October/1 November 2023 Matchday 5 21–22 November 2023 Matchday 6 5–6 December 2023Quarter-finals round Matchday 1 8–9 March 2024 Matchday 2 19–20 March 2024 Matchday 3 2–3 April 2024 Matchday 4 23–24 April 2024 Matchday 5 3–4 May 2024 Matchday 6 14–15 May 2024Final Four Semifinals 5 June 2024 Final 7 June 2024

Qualification round The group winners qualify for the main round, while everyone else drops down to the Euro Cup qualifiers.

Draw The draw was on 10 August 2023. The seeding was decided by the new LEN club rankings. H indicates which club is hosting the groups. Teams in bold advanced to the main round.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 AN Brescia Jug AO Dubrovnik (H) Waspo'98 Hannover (H) NC Vouliagmeni OSC Budapest CC Ortigia Radnički Kragujevac (H) CN Barcelona Crvena zvezda Primorac Kotor EN Tourcoing CSM Oradea (H) CN Noisy-le-Sec GS Apollon Smyrnis Endo Plus Service Honvéd ASC Duisburg Primorje Erste Bank Rijeka Dinamo București

Group A 7–10 September 2023, Hannover, Germany

Group B 7–10 September 2023, Kragujevac, Serbia

Group C 8–10 September 2023, Oradea, Romania

Group D 8–10 September 2023, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Main round

The top two from each group make the quarter-finals round. The bottom two from each group drops down to the Euro Cup eighth-finals.

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 2 points for a penalty shootout win, 1 point for a penalty shootout loss, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches.

Among the teams, 13 return from last season. Steaua București and Crvena zvezda return after a one-season absence, while Jadran Herceg Novi return after a two-season absence. They all replaced Waspo'98 Hannover, Radnički Kragujevac and Genesys OSC-Budapest.

In regards to countries, all 9 from last season return, with the inclusion of Romania and Montenegro after one and two-season absences, bringing the number up to 11.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Quarter-finals round

The four group winners and four group runners-up were drawn into two groups, with each one containing two group winners and two group runners-up. The top two teams in each group advanced to the Final Four.

Draw The draw took place in Barcelona. The seeded and unseeded clubs consist of the teams that finished first and second in the previous round respectively. The only restriction was that clubs from the same group in the Main round could not be drawn against each other. Seeded Unseeded Novi Beograd Pro Recco FTC-Telekom Zodiac Atlètic-Barceloneta AN Brescia Olympiacos Piraeus Jadran Split CN Marseille

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 2 points for a penalty shootout win, 1 point for a penalty shootout loss, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches.

Group A

Group B

Final Four

The Final Four tournament was held from the 5 to 7 June 2024 at the National Pool Complex in Valletta, Malta. Bracket

Semi-finals

Third place match

Final

Awards Season MVPTop ScorerFinals MVP Dušan Mandić (FTC-Telekom) Alvaro Granados (Novi Beograd) [39 goals] Dušan Mandić (FTC-Telekom) Total 7 of the Season LW Andrija Prlainović (CN Marseille)CF Kostas Kakaris (Pro Recco)RW Dušan Mandić (FTC-Telekom)LD Álvaro Granados (Novi Beograd)CB Aaron Younger (Pro Recco)RD Konstantinos Genidounias (Olympiacos Piraeus)GK Soma Vogel (FTC-Telekom)

See also 2023–24 LEN Euro Cup 2023–24 LEN Challenger Cup 2023 LEN Super Cup 2023–24 LEN Women's Champions League 2023–24 LEN Women's Euro Cup 2023–24 LEN Women's Challenger Cup 2023 LEN Women's Super Cup

References

External links Official website Official playlist 2022–23 Croatian League Table 2022–23 German League Table 2022–23 Spanish League Table