2024–25 LEN Women's Challenger Cup

For the equivalent men's tournament, see 2024–25 LEN Challenger Cup.

LEN Women's Challenger Cup

2024–25
Tournament information
Sport	Water polo
Dates	Qualification round I: 7–10 November 2024 Qualification round II: 7–8 December 2024 Final four: 22–23 February 2025
Teams	Total: 17 (from 11 countries)
Website	Official website

The 2024–25 LEN Women's Challenger Cup is the 2nd edition of the water polo competition organised by European Aquatics. It acted as the third tier, below the LEN Women's Champions League and the LEN Women's Euro Cup.

Izmir BSB Spor are the defending champions.

Format

17 teams are separated into four groups of four or five. Each group is held at one club. The top 2 from each group advance to Qualification round II. The last eight teams are then drawn into two groups of four, with the top two from both groups advancing to the final four to decide the champion.^[1]

Rankings

Only teams below the top 6 can enter the competition.

Rank[2] Association Points Teams 1 Spain 124,200 0 2 Greece 105,102.5 3 Hungary 89,452.5 4 Italy 76,760 5 France 35,147.5 6 Netherlands 13,785 7 Russia 9,217.5 8 Germany 8,290 2 9 Portugal 6,010 1 10 Malta 4,090 2

Rank Association Points Teams 11 Croatia 2,930 2 12 Serbia 2,860 13 Turkey 2,560 3 14 Slovakia 1,715 0 15 Great Britain 1,330 2 16 Israel 1,250 1 17 Sweden 1,060 0 18 Bulgaria 770 19 Czech Republic 770 1 N/A Romania 0

Teams

Only countries below the top 6 in the LEN women's club rankings can enter teams into this competition.^[3]

Participating teams

ŽAVK Mladost	Jadran Split	AJF Strakonice	SSV Esslingen
SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	Otter Swimming Club	City Of Manchester WPC	Hapoel Emek Hayarden
Sirens ASC	Sliema ASC	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	CSM Unirea Alba Iulia
VK Vojvodina	ZVK Crvena Zvezda	Izmir BSB Spor	Galatasaray Zena
Dalton Koleji SK

Schedule

Rounds and dates

Phase	Round date
Qualification round I	7–10 November 2024
Qualification round II	7–8 December 2024
Final four	22–23 February 2025

Qualification round I

In the qualification round I, teams play in a round robin format. The top 2 in each group advance.

Draw

The draw was on 16 September 2024.^[4] H indicates which club is hosting the groups. Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The seeding was decided by as follows:

• The European Aquatics club rankings.^[5]
• European Aquatics country club rankings.^[6]
• European Aquatics women's national team rankings.^[7]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Sirens ASC (H) Izmir BSB Spor ZVK Crvena Zvezda ŽAVK Mladost	Sport Lisboa e Benfica Jadran Split VK Vojvodina (H) AJF Strakonice (H)	City Of Manchester WPC Otter Swimming Club SSV Esslingen SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	Sliema ASC Galatasaray Zena Dalton Koleji SK Hapoel Emek Hayarden CSM Unirea Alba Iulia (H)

Group A

Held in Novi Sad, Serbia

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		IZM	VOJ	MAN	SLI
1	Izmir BSB Spor	3	3	0	0	0	48	16	+32	9	Qualification round II		—	—	—	—
2	VK Vojvodina (H)	3	2	0	0	1	42	27	+15	6			8–13	—	14–9	20–5
3	City Of Manchester WPC	3	1	0	0	2	33	35	−2	3			6–12	—	—	18–9
4	Sliema ASC	3	0	0	0	3	16	61	−45	0			2–23	—	—	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

8 November 2024 19:00	Report	VK Vojvodina	20–5	Sliema ASC	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Nikolett Sajben (HUN), Karel Dvoracek (CZE)
		Score by quarters: 5–0, 6–2, 7–0, 2–3
		Radonjic 5	Goals	Camilleri, Schembri 2

8 November 2024 21:00	Report	City Of Manchester WPC	6–12	Izmir BSB Spor	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Sara Kontek (CRO), Luis Santos (POR)
		Score by quarters: 2–4, 0–3, 0–4, 4–1
		Cutler 3	Goals	Louise Wright 5

---

9 November 2024 19:00	Report	VK Vojvodina	14–9	City Of Manchester WPC	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Nikolett Sajben (HUN), Luis Santos (POR)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 4–4, 6–2, 2–2
		Radonjic, Savchenko 4	Goals	three players 2

9 November 2024 21:00	Report	Sliema ASC	2–23	Izmir BSB Spor	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Sara Kontek (CRO), Karel Dvoracek (CZE)
		Score by quarters: 0–7, 0–6, 1–4, 1–6
		Camilleri, Schembri 1	Goals	Kus 7

---

10 November 2024 10:00	Report	VK Vojvodina	8–13	Izmir BSB Spor	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Luis Santos (POR), Karel Dvoracek (CZE)
		Score by quarters: 1–2, 2–4, 1–5, 4–2
		Amliaeva 3	Goals	Jackovich 5

10 November 2024 12:00	Report	City Of Manchester WPC	18–9	Sliema ASC	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Nikolett Sajben (HUN), Sara Kontek (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 6–2, 7–2, 3–3, 2–2
		seven players 2	Goals	Paolella 5

Group B

Held in Valletta, Malta

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JAD	BOC	SIR	HAP
1	Jadran Split	3	3	0	0	0	47	20	+27	9	Qualification round II		—	15–10	—	—
2	SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	3	2	0	0	1	44	33	+11	6			—	—	—	19–11
3	Sirens ASC (H)	3	1	0	0	2	27	36	−9	3			6–11	7–15	—	14–10
4	Hapoel Emek Hayarden	3	0	0	0	3	25	54	−29	0			4–21	—	—	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

8 November 2024 18:00	Report	Jadran Split	15–10	SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	Cottonera Sports Complex, Valletta Referees: Ilkin Cakmakoglu (TUR), Manuel Manea (ROU)
		Score by quarters: 4–5, 5–2, 4–1, 2–2
		Butic 5	Goals	Fry 3

8 November 2024 20:00	Report	Sirens ASC	14–10	Hapoel Emek Hayarden	Cottonera Sports Complex, Valletta Referees: Martina Kunikova (SVK), Damien Taylor (GBR)
		Score by quarters: 6–2, 3–4, 1–2, 4–2
		Perkins 8	Goals	Markovsky 3

---

9 November 2024 17:00	Report	Hapoel Emek Hayarden	4–21	Jadran Split	Cottonera Sports Complex, Valletta Referees: Damien Taylor (GBR), Ilkin Cakmakoglu (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 2–5, 0–5, 1–7
		Markovsky, Vaizberg 2	Goals	Jankovic 4

9 November 2024 19:00	Report	Sirens ASC	7–15	SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	Cottonera Sports Complex, Valletta Referees: Manuel Manea (ROU), Martina Kunikova (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 2–2, 2–4, 2–5
		Perkins 5	Goals	four players 3

---

10 November 2024 10:00	Report	SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	19–11	Hapoel Emek Hayarden	Cottonera Sports Complex, Valletta Referees: Ilkin Cakmakoglu (TUR), Martina Kunikova (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 4–5, 6–2, 4–2
		Fry 6	Goals	Markovsky 4

10 November 2024 12:00	Report	Sirens ASC	6–11	Jadran Split	Cottonera Sports Complex, Valletta Referees: Manuel Manea (ROU), Damien Taylor (GBR)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 3–5, 1–4, 1–1
		Perkins 3	Goals	Jankovic 5

Group C

Held in Strakonice, Czech Republic

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MLA	OTT	DAL	STR
1	ŽAVK Mladost	3	3	0	0	0	66	21	+45	9	Qualification round II		—	26–6	18–5	—
2	Otter Swimming Club	3	1	1	0	1	28	45	−17	5			—	—	13–10	—
3	Dalton Koleji SK	3	1	0	0	2	26	39	−13	3			—	—	—	—
4	AJF Strakonice (H)	3	0	0	1	2	27	42	−15	1			10–22	9–12[a]	8–11	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

1. Matched finished 9–9, Otter Swimming Club won 3–0 on penalties.

8 November 2024 17:00	Report	Otter Swimming Club	13–10	Dalton Koleji SK	Strakonice Pool, Strakonice Referees: Michaela Naneva (BUL), Massimo Angileri (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 4–1, 4–6, 3–2
		Snyder 5	Goals	Arik 4

8 November 2024 19:00	Report	AJF Strakonice	10–22	ŽAVK Mladost	Strakonice Pool, Strakonice Referees: Ivanka Rakovic Krstonosic (SRB), Ralf Mueller (GER)
		Score by quarters: 1–5, 3–6, 3–6, 3–5
		Hola 3	Goals	Rozic 9

---

9 November 2024 17:00	Report	ŽAVK Mladost	26–6	Otter Swimming Club	Strakonice Pool, Strakonice Referees: Massimo Angileri (MLT), Ralf Mueller (GER)
		Score by quarters: 7–1, 8–0, 7–4, 4–1
		Rozic 9	Goals	Mulcahy, Williams 2

9 November 2024 19:00	Report	AJF Strakonice	8–11	Dalton Koleji SK	Strakonice Pool, Strakonice Referees: Michaela Naneva (BUL), Ivanka Rakovic Krstonosic (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 1–2, 3–4, 1–4
		Hola 3	Goals	Altiparmak 6

---

10 November 2024 09:00	Report	ŽAVK Mladost	18–5	Dalton Koleji SK	Strakonice Pool, Strakonice Referees: Ivanka Rakovic Krstonosic (SRB), Massimo Angileri (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 3–0, 5–1, 5–2
		Glas 6	Goals	Altiparmak 3

10 November 2024 12:00	Report	AJF Strakonice	9–12	Otter Swimming Club	Strakonice Pool, Strakonice Referees: Michaela Naneva (BUL), Ralf Mueller (GER)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 2–1, 1–5, 3–1  PSO: 0–3
		Hola 6	Goals	Snyder 3

Group D

Held in Alba Iulia, Romania

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BEN	GAL	UNI	ESS	CRV
1	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	4	3	1	0	0	59	33	+26	11	Qualification round II		—	—	13–11[a]	11–10	—
2	Galatasaray Zena	4	3	0	0	1	43	38	+5	9			8–12	—	10–8	10–8	—
3	CSM Unirea Alba Iulia (H)	4	2	0	1	1	50	31	+19	7			—	—	—	12–9	22–4
4	SSV Esslingen	4	1	0	0	3	53	36	+17	3			—	—	—	—	26–3
5	ZVK Crvena Zvezda	4	0	0	0	4	24	91	−67	0			7–28	10–15	—	—	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

1. Matched finished 8–8, Sport Lisboa e Benfica won 5–3 on penalties.

7 November 2024 17:00	Report	ZVK Crvena Zvezda	7–28	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Peden Jeremie (FRA), Jakub Necas (CZE)
		Score by quarters: 1–8, 3–6, 1–6, 2–8
		Milenkovic, Marinkovic 2	Goals	Macleod 7

7 November 2024 19:00	Report	CSM Unirea Alba Iulia	12–9	SSV Esslingen	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Soma Kovacs (HUN), Carla Martin (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 5–1, 4–5, 1–1, 2–2
		Yanisbel Victoria 3	Goals	Dzaja 4

---

8 November 2024 10:00	Report	Galatasaray Zena	8–12	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Peden Jeremie (FRA), Jakub Necas (CZE)
		Score by quarters: 0–2, 3–1, 2–4, 3–5
		Mihailovic 3	Goals	Silva Lousa 6

8 November 2024 12:00	Report	SSV Esslingen	26–3	ZVK Crvena Zvezda	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Carla Martin (ESP), Soma Kovacs (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 6–0, 4–2, 8–1, 8–0
		Haas 6	Goals	Trbanos 2

---

8 November 2024 17:00	Report	Galatasaray Zena	10–8	CSM Unirea Alba Iulia	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Soma Kovacs (HUN), Peden Jeremie (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 3–3, 4–2, 0–0
		Burali 5	Goals	Cecilia, Virtosu 3

8 November 2024 19:00	Report	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	11–10	SSV Esslingen	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Jakub Necas (CZE), Carla Martin (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 2–0, 4–2, 1–4, 4–4
		Macleod 6	Goals	Haas, Sopiadou 3

---

9 November 2024 17:00	Report	ZVK Crvena Zvezda	10–15	Galatasaray Zena	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Peden Jeremie (FRA), Carla Martin (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 4–4, 2–2, 3–5
		Ribic 3	Goals	Benekou 6

9 November 2024 19:00	Report	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	13–11	CSM Unirea Alba Iulia	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Jakub Necas (CZE), Soma Kovacs (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 3–1, 3–4, 0–1  PSO: 5–3
		Macleod 5	Goals	Cecilia 3

---

10 November 2024 10:00	Report	Galatasaray Zena	10–8	SSV Esslingen	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Soma Kovacs (HUN), Carla Martin (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 3–0, 2–1, 4–4, 1–3
		Benekou 4	Goals	Petiki 3

10 November 2024 12:00	Report	CSM Unirea Alba Iulia	22–4	ZVK Crvena Zvezda	Olympic Pool, Alba Iulia Referees: Peden Jeremie (FRA), Jakub Necas (CZE)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 5–0, 5–1, 7–1
		Novacean 4	Goals	Jankovic 2

Qualification round II

In the qualification round II, teams play in a round robin format. The top 2 in each group advance to the final four.

Draw

The draw was on 11 November 2024. 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 previous round could not be drawn against each other. H indicates which club is hosting the groups. Teams in bold advanced to the final four.

Pot 1	Pot 2
Izmir BSB Spor Jadran Split ŽAVK Mladost Sport Lisboa e Benfica	VK Vojvodina (H) SV Blau-Weiss Bochum Otter Swimming Club Galatasaray Zena (H)

Group A

Held in Istanbul, Turkey

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		IZM	GAL	JAD	OTT
1	Izmir BSB Spor	3	3	0	0	0	43	23	+20	9	Final four		—	—	12–9	19–4
2	Galatasaray Zena (H)	3	2	0	0	1	50	24	+26	6			10–12	—	14–9	26–3
3	Jadran Split	3	1	0	0	2	34	33	+1	3			—	—	—	16–7
4	Otter Swimming Club	3	0	0	0	3	14	61	−47	0			—	—	—	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

6 December 2024 18:30	Report	Galatasaray Zena	10–12	Izmir BSB Spor	Galatasaray Kalamış Facilities, Istanbul Referees: Eurico Silva (POR), Ivanka Krstonosic Rakovic (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–3, 3–3, 3–4
		Mihailovic, Benekou 3	Goals	Jackovich 5

6 December 2024 20:30	Report	Jadran Split	16–7	Otter Swimming Club	Galatasaray Kalamış Facilities, Istanbul Referees: Nikolett Sajben (HUN), Anne Grandin (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 4–1, 2–1, 8–2, 2–3
		Butic 6	Goals	three players 2

---

7 December 2024 18:00	Report	Galatasaray Zena	26–3	Otter Swimming Club	Galatasaray Kalamış Facilities, Istanbul Referees: Ivanka Krstonosic Rakovic (SRB), Anne Grandin (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 9–1, 10–0, 4–1, 3–1
		Benekou 6	Goals	Dean 3

7 December 2024 20:00	Report	Izmir BSB Spor	12–9	Jadran Split	Galatasaray Kalamış Facilities, Istanbul Referees: Nikolett Sajben (HUN), Eurico Silva (POR)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 4–0, 2–2, 5–4
		Kus 5	Goals	Butic 5

---

8 December 2024 10:00	Report	Izmir BSB Spor	19–4	Otter Swimming Club	Galatasaray Kalamış Facilities, Istanbul Referees: Anne Grandin (FRA), Eurico Silva (POR)
		Score by quarters: 6–1, 6–0, 4–1, 3–2
		Kus 7	Goals	Day 2

8 December 2024 12:00	Report	Galatasaray Zena	14–9	Jadran Split	Galatasaray Kalamış Facilities, Istanbul Referees: Ivan Rakovic (SRB), Nikolett Sajben (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 6–0, 3–6, 3–2, 2–1
		Burali, Mihailovic 4	Goals	Butic 5

Group B

Held in Vojvodina, Serbia

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VOJ	MLA	BOC	BEN
1	VK Vojvodina (H)	3	3	0	0	0	43	25	+18	9	Final four		—	11–6	19–8	13–11
2	ŽAVK Mladost	3	1	1	0	1	30	33	−3	5			—	—	15–14[a]	12–10
3	SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	3	1	0	1	1	35	41	−6	4			—	—	—	15–10
4	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	3	0	0	0	3	31	40	−9	0			—	—	—	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

1. Match ended 12–12. ŽAVK Mladost won 3–2 on penalties.

6 December 2024 18:00	Report	VK Vojvodina	19–8	SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Martina Kunikova (SVK), Maxim Gerasimov (GBR)
		Score by quarters: 7–1, 4–2, 5–3, 3–2
		Amliaeva 6	Goals	three players 2

6 December 2024 20:00	Report	ŽAVK Mladost	12–10	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Maria Daskalopoulou (GRE), Ilkin Cakmakoglu (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 1–0, 5–3, 3–4
		Rozic 4	Goals	Macleod 4

---

7 December 2024 18:00	Report	VK Vojvodina	11–6	ŽAVK Mladost	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Maria Daskalopoulou (GRE), Martina Kunikova (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 2–1, 3–3, 3–1
		Savchenko 5	Goals	Rozic 5

7 December 2024 20:00	Report	SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	15–10	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Maxim Gerasimov (GBR), Ilkin Cakmakoglu (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 4–3, 4–1, 4–0, 3–6
		Fry 6	Goals	Pereira Da Mata De B 4

---

8 December 2024 10:00	Report	ŽAVK Mladost	15–14	SV Blau-Weiss Bochum	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Martina Kunikova (SVK), Ilkin Cakmakoglu (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 4–0, 4–4, 3–3, 1–5  PSO: 3–2
		Rozic 6	Goals	Fry 10

8 December 2024 12:00	Report	VK Vojvodina	13–11	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	Slana Bara Sports Center, Novi Sad Referees: Maria Daskalopoulou (GRE), Maxim Gerasimov (GBR)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 3–3, 5–2, 2–4
		three players 3	Goals	Silva Lousa 4

Final four

	Semifinals				Final
	Izmir BSB Spor
	ŽAVK Mladost
	VK Vojvodina
	Galatasaray Zena
					Third place

Semifinals

22 February 2025	Report	Izmir BSB Spor	–	ŽAVK Mladost
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

22 February 2025	Report	VK Vojvodina	–	Galatasaray Zena
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

Third place game

23 February 2025	Report		–
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

Final

Semifinals

23 February 2025	Report		–
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

2024–25 LEN Women's Challenger Cup Champions
First title

See also

• 2024–25 LEN Champions League
• 2024–25 LEN Euro Cup
• 2024–25 LEN Challenger Cup
• 2024 LEN Super Cup
• 2024–25 LEN Women's Champions League
• 2024–25 LEN Women's Euro Cup
• 2024 LEN Women's Super Cup

References

1. Renato Zivkovic (2024-07-29). "EUROPEAN AQUATICS WATER POLO CLUB COMPETITIONS" (PDF). Retrieved 2024-10-07.
2. "Women Clubs Country Ranking - LEN - European Aquatics". www.len.eu. February 20, 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-08-14.
3. "Big changes in European water polo club competitions - LEN - European Aquatics". www.len.eu. June 2, 2023.
4. "Several Exciting Clashes Confirmed For Euro Cup and Challenger Cup Qualifiers - European Aquatics®". len.eu. 16 September 2024. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
5. "Women Club Ranking - LEN - European Aquatics". www.len.eu. October 1, 2024.
6. "Women Clubs Country Ranking - LEN - European Aquatics". www.len.eu. October 1, 2024.
7. "Women Country Ranking - LEN - European Aquatics". www.len.eu. October 1, 2024.

External links

• Official statistics of the tournament