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.

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).

Round and draw dates

Schedule

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.

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.

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

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 websiteOfficial playlist

2022–23 Croatian League Table

2022–23 German League Table

2022–23 Spanish League Table

{{DEFAULTSORT:2023-24 LEN Champions League
LEN Champions League seasons
2023–24 in LEN water polo

2023 in men's water polo
2024 in men's water polo