The 2023–24 LEN Women's Challenger Cup was the inaugural edition of the new
water polo
Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...
competition organised by the
Ligue Européenne de Natation
European Aquatics (formerly , , popularly known by its acronym LEN) is the European governing body for aquatic sports affiliated to World Aquatics — it is the Continental Association for Europe. It was formally organized in 1927 in Bologna, ...
(LEN). It acted as the third tier, below the
LEN Women's Champions League and the
LEN Women's Euro Cup.
Izmir BB GSK won the inaugural competition, beating
ZVK Crvena Zvezda 10–9 in the final.
Izmir BB GSK became the first Turkish club to win a European club water polo competition.
Introduction
A year after the
men's competition started,
LEN decided to inaugurate a
women's version. Similar to the
men's tournament, the
LEN Women's Challenger Cup
The European Aquatics Women's Challenger Cup, formerly the LEN Women's Challenger Cup is a water polo club competition organised by the Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN). It acts as the third tier, below the LEN Women's Champions League and th ...
was designed to help developing countries and clubs grow and play more European club games.
Format
15 teams are separated into three groups of five. Each group is held at one club. The top 2 from each group advance to the Final Six. The
final six, the six teams club are pooled into two groups of three where the two group winners advance to the final, while the two runners up play for third. Like the previous round, the final six is held at one club.
Rankings
Only teams below the top 6 can enter the competition.
Teams
Only countries below the top 6 in the
LEN women's club rankings can enter teams into this competition.
Schedule
Rounds and dates
Draw
The draw was on 11 September 2023. H indicates which club is hosting the groups. Teams in bold advanced to the final six. The seeding was decided by as follows:
*The new
LEN club rankings.
*
LEN country club rankings.
*
LEN women's national team rankings.
Qualification round
Group A
Held in
Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...
,
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
Group B
Held in
Strakonice
Strakonice (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants.
Administrative division
Strakonice consists of eight municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census):
*Strakonice ...
,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
Group C
Held in
Burgas
Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
Final six
There was originally going to be a home and away final to decide the champions.
But due to the unexcepted amount of clubs entering the competition, the water polo committee altered the format to introduce a final six tournament.
Draw
The draw took place on 24 October in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
.
Pots 1 and 2 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 previous round could not be drawn against each other.
Host
The tournament was announced to be held in the Croatian capital,
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
, by
ŽAVK Mladost, on 6 November.
Group A
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Group B
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Knockout stage
Fifth place match
Third place match
Final
See also
*
2023–24 LEN Champions League
*
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 LEN Women's Super Cup
External links
Matches playlistOfficial statistics of the tournament
References
{{2023–24 European club competitions
LEN Women's Challenger Cup
2023 in women's water polo
2024 in women's water polo
2023–24 in LEN water polo