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2023–24 LEN Champions League
2023–24 LEN Champions League
League	LEN Champions League
Sport	Water polo
Duration	7 September 2023 – 7 June 2024
Season MVP	Dušan Mandić (FTC-Telekom)
Top scorer	Álvaro Granados 39 goals (Novi Beograd)
Finals champions	FTC-Telekom (2nd title)
Runners-up	Pro Recco
Finals MVP	Dušan Mandić (FTC-Telekom)
Champions League seasons
	← 2022–23 2024–25 →

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.^[1] Pro Recco are the three time defending champions.

FTC-Telekom won their second title after triumphing over Pro Recco in the final.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[1]^[4]

Rank^[4]	Association	Points	Teams
1	Italy	118,765	3
2	Hungary	91,047.5
3	Spain	75,387.5
4	Serbia	68,902.5
5	Greece	64,375
6	Croatia	56,065
7	France	47,207.5
8	Germany	41,660
9	Romania	19,800
10	Montenegro	17,700	2
11	Georgia	11,245	1
12	Russia	10,490	0
13	Netherlands	5,005	0

Rank	Association	Points	Teams
14	Turkey	4,807.5	0
15	Slovakia	1,870
16	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,415
17	Portugal	1,385
18	Switzerland	1,210
19	Slovenia	1,160
20	Israel	860
21	Poland	635
22	Denmark	560
23	Lithuania	515
24	Malta	435
24	Ukraine	435

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^[5]
Qualification round		7–10 September 2023
Main 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 2023
Quarter-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 2024
Final Four	Semifinals	5 June 2024
Final Four	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.^[6] The seeding was decided by the new LEN club rankings.^[7] 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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	CRV	BAR	HAN	APO	HON
1	Crvena zvezda	4	4	0	50	32	+18	12	Main round	—	—	—	12–10	—
2	CN Barcelona	4	3	1	41	42	−1	9		9–14	—	—	12–11	9–8
3	Waspo'98 Hannover (H)	4	2	2	39	47	−8	6		6–14	9–11	—	11–10	13–12
4	GS Apollon Smyrnis	4	1	3	42	45	−3	3		—	—	—	—	11–10
5	Endo Plus Service Honvéd	4	0	4	37	43	−6	0		7–10	—	—	—	—

Source: LEN
(H) Host

Group B

7–10 September 2023, Kragujevac, Serbia

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	BRE	RAD	NOI	KOT	DUI
1	AN Brescia	4	4	0	0	0	47	24	+23	12	Main round	—	—	—	11–3	11–4
2	Radnički Kragujevac (H)	4	2	1	0	1	46	45	+1	8		8–15	—	13–10	17–16^[a]	—
3	CN Noisy-le-Sec	4	2	0	0	2	52	41	+11	6		9–10	—	—	—	—
4	Primorac Kotor	4	1	0	1	2	41	49	−8	4		—	—	10–16	—	16–10
5	ASC Duisburg	4	0	0	0	4	30	57	−27	0		—	8–13	8–17	—	—

Source: LEN
(H) Host

^ Match ended 12–12, Radnički Kragujevac won 5–4 on penalties

Group C

8–10 September 2023, Oradea, Romania

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	VOU	ORT	RIJ	ORA
1	NC Vouliagmeni	3	3	0	40	25	+15	9	Main round	—	12–8	—	—
2	CC Ortigia	3	2	1	38	33	+5	6		—	—	16–14	—
3	Primorje Erste Bank Rijeka	3	1	2	36	37	−1	3		12–14	—	—	—
4	CSM Oradea (H)	3	0	3	19	38	−19	0		5–14	7–14	7–10	—

Source: LEN
(H) Host

Group D

8–10 September 2023, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	JUG	TOU	OSC	DIN
1	Jug AO Dubrovnik (H)	3	3	0	47	22	+25	9	Main round	—	17–8	14–10	16–4
2	EN Tourcoing	3	2	1	32	30	+2	6		—	—	—	—
3	OSC Budapest	3	1	2	35	33	+2	3		—	5–10	—	20–9
4	Dinamo București	3	0	3	21	50	−29	0		—	8–14	—	—

Source: LEN
(H) Host

Main round

Belgrade

Belgrade teams

Location of teams of the 2023–24 LEN Champions League group stage.

Red: Group A;

Blue: Group B;

Yellow: Group C;

Green: Group D

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	NOV	BRE	SAB	STE
1	Novi Beograd	6	5	0	0	1	78	44	+34	15	Advance to quarter-finals	—	13–5	10–12	19–7
2	AN Brescia	6	3	1	0	2	62	56	+6	11	Advance to quarter-finals	8–13	—	11–10	16–7
3	Astralpool Sabadell	6	3	0	1	2	58	51	+7	10	Transfer to Euro Cup	7–11	9–10^[a]	—	13–6
4	Steaua București	6	0	0	0	6	41	88	−47	0	Transfer to Euro Cup	5–12	8–17	8–11	—

Source: LEN Champions League

^ Match ended 5–5, AN Brescia won 5–4 on penalties

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	PRO	OLY	JUG	TBI
1	Pro Recco	6	6	0	0	0	81	52	+29	18	Advance to quarter-finals	—	12–11	13–9	15–6
2	Olympiacos Piraeus	6	3	1	0	2	83	54	+29	11	Advance to quarter-finals	10–11	—	16–15^[a]	16–8
3	Jug AO Dubrovnik	6	2	0	1	3	64	72	−8	7	Transfer to Euro Cup	7–14	5–15	—	19–13
4	Dinamo Tbilisi	6	0	0	0	6	47	97	−50	0	Transfer to Euro Cup	9–16	6–19	5–12	—

Source: LEN Champions League

^ Match ended 12–12, Olympiacos Piraeus won 4–3 on penalties

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	FTC	SPI	CRV	JAD
1	FTC-Telekom	6	5	1	0	0	91	56	+35	17	Advance to quarter-finals	—	13–11	20–6	9–7
2	Jadran Split	6	3	0	1	2	81	78	+3	10	Advance to quarter-finals	17–20^[a]	—	16–13	16–14
3	Crvena zvezda	6	2	0	1	3	54	77	−23	7	Transfer to Euro Cup	6–16	12–11	—	9–6
4	Jadran Herceg Novi	6	0	1	0	5	55	70	−15	2	Transfer to Euro Cup	10–17	10–11	21–20^[b]	—

Source: LEN Champions League

^ Match ended 16–16, FTC-Telekom won 4–1 on penalties
^ Match ended 8–8, Jadran Herceg Novi won 13–12 on penalties

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	BAR	MAR	SPA	VOU
1	Zodiac Atlètic-Barceloneta	6	6	0	79	52	+27	18	Advance to quarter-finals	—	9–7	16–6	16–10
2	CN Marseille	6	3	3	69	68	+1	9	Advance to quarter-finals	12–13	—	13–11	15–13
3	Spandau 04	6	2	4	56	75	−19	6	Transfer to Euro Cup	6–13	13–10	—	14–13
4	NC Vouliagmeni	6	1	5	66	75	−9	3	Transfer to Euro Cup	11–12	9–12	10–6	—

Source: LEN Champions League

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.^[8]^[9]

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

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	PRO	NOV	MAR	JAD
1	Pro Recco	6	5	1	0	0	88	58	+30	17	Final four	—	15–7	15–8	18–9
2	Novi Beograd	6	4	0	1	1	78	74	+4	13	Final four	14–15^[a]	—	13–10	15–11
3	CN Marseille	6	2	0	0	4	72	76	−4	6		10–12	13–14	—	17–10
4	Jadran Split	6	0	0	0	6	62	92	−30	0		10–13	10–15	12–14	—

Source: LEN Champions League

^ Match ended 10–10, Pro Recco won 5–4 on penalties

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	FTC	OLY	BAR	BRE
1	FTC-Telekom	6	5	0	0	1	62	55	+7	15	Final four	—	11–9	13–11	9–8
2	Olympiacos Piraeus	6	4	1	0	1	78	68	+10	14	Final four	10–8	—	10–7	17–12
3	Zodiac Atlètic-Barceloneta	6	2	0	1	3	68	65	+3	7		8–10	18–19^[a]	—	12–8
4	AN Brescia	6	0	0	0	6	54	74	−20	0		9–11	12–13	5–12	—

Source: LEN Champions League

^ Match ended 13–13, Olympiacos Piraeus won 6–5 on penalties

Final Four

On 18 January 2024, the final four was held in the capital of Malta, Valletta, at the National Pool Complex from the 5 to 7 June 2024.^[10]^[11]

Bracket

Semi-finals		Final

5 June

Pro Recco (PSO)	13
		7 June
Olympiacos Piraeus	11
		Pro Recco	11
5 June
		FTC-Telekom	12
FTC-Telekom (PSO)	18

Novi Beograd	17
		Third place

		7 June

		Olympiacos Piraeus	9

		Novi Beograd	6

Semi-finals

5 June 2024 19:00	Report	Pro Recco	13–11	Olympiacos Piraeus	National Pool Complex, Valletta Referees: Adrian Tiberiu Alexandrescu (ROU), Sebastien Dervieux (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 3–0, 1–2, 3–3, 2–4 PSO: 4–2
		Di Fulvio, Younger 2	Goals	Genidounias 3

5 June 2024 21:00	Report	FTC-Telekom	18–17	Novi Beograd	National Pool Complex, Valletta Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), David Gomez (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 4–4, 3–2, 5–4, 1–3 PSO: 5–4
		Mandić 5	Goals	Vlachopoulos 4

Third place match

7 June 2024 19:00	Report	Olympiacos Piraeus	9–6	Novi Beograd	National Pool Complex, Valletta Referees: Frank Ohme (GER), Andrej Franulović (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 4–1, 3–3, 1–1, 1–1
		Fountoulis 3	Goals	Ćuk 2

Final

7 June 2024 21:00	Report	Pro Recco	11–12	FTC-Telekom	National Pool Complex, Valletta Attendance: 3,000^[12] Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Adrian Tiberiu Alexandrescu (ROU)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–4, 3–3, 4–3
		four players 2	Goals	Mandić 4

2023–24 LEN Champions League Champions
FTC-Telekom Second title

Awards

Season MVP	Top Scorer	Finals MVP
Dušan Mandić (FTC-Telekom)	Alvaro Granados 39 goals (Novi Beograd)	Dušan Mandić (FTC-Telekom)


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)