2015–16 LEN Champions League

2015–16 LEN Champions League
League	LEN Champions League
Sport	Water Polo
Duration	4 September 2015 to 4 June 2016
Number of teams	12 (preliminary round) 27 (total)
Season MVP	Filip Filipović (Pro Recco)
Top scorer	Denes Varga 33 goals (Szolnok)
Final Six
Finals champions	Jug Dubrovnik (4th Title)
Runners-up	Olympiacos
Finals MVP	Felipe Perrone (Jug Dubrovnik)

The 2015–16 LEN Champions League was the 53rd edition of LEN's premier competition for men's water polo clubs. It ran from 4 September 2015 to 4 June 2016, and was contested by 27 teams from 13 countries. The Final Six (quarterfinals, semifinals, final, and third place game) took place on 2, 3 & 4 June in Budapest.

Overview

Team allocation

See also: 2015–16 LEN Champions League squads

8 teams are directly qualified for the preliminary round.

Preliminary round
Jug	Spandau 04	Eger	Partizan
Atlètic-Barceloneta	Olympiacos	Pro Recco^TH	Galatasaray
Qualification round II
Primorje	Szolnok	Radnički Kragujevac	Vouliagmeni
Duisburg	Brescia	Sabadell
Qualification round I
Mladost	Spartak Volgograd	Jadran	Montpellier
Verona	Oradea	Budva	Valletta
Marseille	Orvosegyetem	Waspo 98 Hannover	Lokomotiv Tbilisi

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows.^[1]

Phase	Round	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	Qualification round I	4–6 September 2015
	Qualification round II	18–20 September 2015
	Qualification round III (play-off round)	3 October 2015	17 October 2015
Preliminary round	Matchday 1	28 October 2015
	Matchday 2	11 November 2015
	Matchday 3	28 November 2015
	Matchday 4	16 December 2015
	Matchday 5	3 February 2016
	Matchday 6	10 February 2016
	Matchday 7	30 March 2016
	Matchday 8	16 April 2016
	Matchday 9	30 April 2016
	Matchday 10	18 May 2016
Final 6 (Budapest)	Quarter-finals	2 June 2016
	Semi-finals	3 June 2016
	Final	4 June 2016

Qualifying rounds

Qualification I

• 4-6 September

Twelve teams took part in the Qualification round I. They were drawn into three groups of four teams, whose played on 4–6 September 2015. Top 3 teams of each group advance to qualification round II.^[2]

Key to colours in group tables
Progress to the Round II

Group A

Tournament was played in Herceg Novi, Montenegro.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		SPA	JAD	MON	HAVK
Spartak Volgograd	3	3	0	0	46	30	+16	9				18–12	15–7
Jadran Carine	3	2	0	1	29	25	+4	6		11–13		11–7	7–5
Montpellier	3	1	0	2	27	35	−8	3					8–6
HAVK Mladost	3	0	0	3	18	30	−12	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group B

Tournament was played in Valletta, Malta.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		VER	ORA	BUD	VAL
Verona	3	2	1	0	41	22	+19	7				11–6
Oradea	3	1	2	0	36	29	+7	5		11–11			18–11
Budva	3	1	1	1	22	23	−1	4			7–7
Valletta	3	0	0	3	21	46	−25	0		5–19		5–9

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group C

Tournament was played in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		WAS	OSC	CNM	LOK
Waspo Hannover	3	2	1	0	28	24	+4	7				10–8
OSC Budapest	3	1	2	0	32	20	+12	5		7–7
CN Marseille	3	1	1	1	35	29	+6	4			10–10
Lokomotiv Tbilisi	3	0	0	3	21	43	−22	0		9–11	3–15	9–17

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Qualification II

• 18–20 September

Sixteen teams took part in the Qualification round II. Nine teams from first round and seven teams with wild cards. These clubs formed four groups of four and had round robin tournaments at four host cities on 18–20 October. Top 2 of these groups advance to play-off (qualification round 3).^[3]

Key to colours in group tables
Progress to the Qualification Round III

Group D

Tournament was played in Athens, Greece.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		OSC	BRE	VOU	MON
OSC Budapest	3	2	1	0	29	17	+12	7				10–6
AN Brescia	3	2	1	0	27	22	+5	7		8–8
NC Vouliagmeni	3	1	0	2	21	26	−5	3			6–10		9–6
Montpellier	3	0	0	3	17	29	−12	0		3–11	8–9

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group E

Tournament was played in Hannover, Germany.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		SZO	WAS	RAD	BUD
Szolnoki VSK	3	3	0	0	51	17	+34	9			11–10
Waspo Hannover	3	2	0	1	36	24	+12	6		10–11		14–7	12–6
VK Radnički	3	1	0	2	17	42	−25	3		2–21			8–7
VK Budva	3	0	0	3	18	39	−21	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group F

Tournament was played in Rijeka, Croatia.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		PRI	CNM	SPA	DUI
VK Primorje	3	3	0	0	45	27	+18	9			13–12	14–7	18–8
CN Marseille	3	2	0	1	38	30	+8	6				14–9
Spartak Volgograd	3	0	1	2	30	42	−12	1
ASC Duisburg	3	0	1	2	30	44	−14	1			8–12	14–14

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group G

Tournament was played in Busto Arsizio, Italy.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		JAD	ORA	VER	SAB
Jadran Carine	3	3	0	0	24	21	+3	9				10–9
Digi Oradea	3	2	0	1	29	21	+8	6		6–7			13–6
SM Verona	3	1	0	2	27	29	−2	3			8–10		10–9
CN Sabadell	3	0	0	3	21	30	−9	0		6–7

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Qualification III

• 3 October 2015: 1st match
• 17 October 2015: 2nd match

Key to colors
Seeded in qualification round III draw
Unseeded in qualification round III draw

Group	Winners	Runners-up
D	OSC Budapest	AN Brescia
E	Szolnoki VSK	Waspo Hannover
F	VK Primorje	CN Marseille
G	Jadran Carine	Digi Oradea

Eight teams took part in the Qualification round III. These teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis. The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follow:

• In the draw for the Qualification round III, the four group winners were seeded, and the four group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group could not be drawn against each other.

The first legs were played on 3 October, and the second legs were played on 17 October 2015.^[4]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
VK Primorje	29–12	Waspo Hannover	19–6	10–6
Digi Oradea	10–19	OSC Budapest	7–9	3–10
CN Marseille	12–20	Szolnoki VSK	6–7	6–13
Jadran Carine	22–18	AN Brescia	14–6	8–12

Preliminary round

Barceloneta

Eger

Olympiacos

Spandau

Primorje

Jadran HN

Pro Recco

Partizan

Jug

Galatasaray

OSC

Szolnok

class=notpageimage|

Location of teams of the 2015–16 LEN Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B.

Main article: 2015–16 LEN Champions League preliminary round

The regular season was played between 28 October 2015 and 18 May 2016. If teams are level on record at the end of the preliminary round, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

1. Head-to-head record.
2. Head-to-head point differential.
3. Point differential during the Regular Season.
4. Points scored during the regular season.
5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each Regular Season match.

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays were 28 October, 11 November, 28 November, 16 December 2015, 3 February, 10 February, 30 March, 16 April, 30 April, and 18 May 2016. The top three teams advanced to the final six.

The Final Six (quarterfinals, semifinals, third place game and final) were played in Budapest, Hungary from 2 to 4 June 2016.^[5]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		OLY	EGE	BAR	PRI	SPA	JAD
1	Olympiacos	10	7	3	0	95	59	+36	24	Advance to semifinals		—	8–7	9–5	7–4	12–3	10–4
2	ZF Eger	10	4	4	2	90	80	+10	16	Advance to quarter-finals		8–8	—	6–5	12–12	10–7	8–7
3	CNA Barceloneta	10	4	4	2	79	74	+5	16			7–7	6–6	—	9–7	9–7	15–10
4	VK Primorje	10	4	3	3	91	83	+8	15	Eliminated		4–10	8–7	9–9	—	14–4	13–7
5	Spandau 04	10	0	5	5	75	106	−31	5			11–11	8–15	8–8	9–9	—	9–9
6	Jadran Carine	10	0	3	7	77	105	−28	3			6–13	11–11	5–6	9–11	9–9	—

Source: LEN

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		REC	SZO	JUG	BUD	PAR	GAL
1	Pro Recco	10	8	1	1	130	67	+63	25	Advance to semifinals		—	14–11	14–6	7–2	15–3	15–4
2	Szolnoki VSK	10	8	0	2	121	90	+31	24	Advance to quarter-finals		12–11	—	13–10	8–7	12–9	16–7
3	Jug Dubrovnik	10	7	1	2	105	83	+22	22			5–5	10–9	—	10–7	12–4	17–8
4	OSC Budapest	10	3	0	7	75	84	−9	9	Eliminated		7–12	6–12	7–9	—	10–8	13–4
5	Partizan	10	2	1	7	69	112	−43	7			7–18	9–14	6–10	5–4	—	9–8
6	Galatasaray	10	0	1	9	76	140	−64	1			10–19	7–14	10–16	9–12	9–9	—

Source: LEN

Final Six

Hajós Alfréd Nemzeti Sportuszoda, Budapest, Hungary

Quarterfinals 2 June 2016

Semifinals 3 June 2016

Final 4 June 2016

A1

Olympiacos

8

B2

Szolnoki VSK

7

B2

Szolnoki VSK

7

A3

CNA Barceloneta

5

A1

Olympiacos

4

B3

Jug Dubrovnik

6

B1

Pro Recco

10^(4)

A2

ZF Eger

6

B3

Jug Dubrovnik

10^(5)

B3

Jug Dubrovnik

8

5th place

Third place

A3

CNA Barceloneta

10

B2

Szolnoki VSK

11

A2

ZF Eger

6

B1

Pro Recco

7

2015–16 LEN Champions League Champions
Jug Dubrovnik 4st title
Marko Bijac, Marko Bautovic, Hrvonje Benic, Ivo Brailo, Cristijan Kulina, Loren Fatović, Javier García, Toni Jarak, Maro Jokovic, Filip Krzic, Luka Lončar, Marko Ivankovic, Marko Macan, Jacob Mercep, Paulo Obradovic, Nikola Pavlicevic, Pavo Markovic, Toni Popadic, Josip Vrlic, Felipe Perrone
Head coach
Vjekoslav Kobešćak

Final standings

	Team
	Jug Dubrovnik
	Olympiacos
	Szolnok
4	Pro Recco
5	CNA Barceloneta
6	ZF Eger

Awards

Player of the Season	Top Scorer	Player of the Final Six	Goalkeeper of the Final Six
Filip Filipović (Pro Recco)	Denes Varga (Szolnok) 33 goals	Felipe Perrone (Jug Dubrovnik)	Marko Bijac (Jug Dubrovnik)

^[6]

Total 7 of the Season
[7]	LW	Ioannis Fountoulis (Olympiacos)	CF	Luka Lončar (Jug)	RW	Maro Joković (Szolnok)
	LD	Felipe Perrone (Jug Dubrovik)	CB	Milan Aleksić (Szolnok)	RD	Filip Filipović (Pro Recco)
	GK	Marko Bijač (Jug Dubrovik)

See also

• 2015–16 LEN Euro Cup

References

1. "LEN Club Competition Programme Season 2015/2016" (PDF). LEN.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. "LEN Champions League − Draw, Qualification round I". LEN. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
3. "LEN Champions League − Draw, Qualification round II". LEN. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
4. "LEN Champions League − Draw, Qualification round III". LEN. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
5. "LEN Champions League − Draw, Prelimininary Round". LEN. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
6. "Jug Dubrovnik stuns everyone, FINAL6 – LEN.eu | Ligue Européenne de Natation". Retrieved 2022-03-08.
7. Curcic, Ivan (2023-06-05). "LEN Champions League "Team of the Tournament"". Total Waterpolo. Retrieved 2023-06-05.

External links

• LEN Champions League (official website)