Champions League Explained
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Champions League is the pinnacle of professional water polo. From over a hundred teams in Europe, only one gets crowned at the end of the CL season.
What a spectacle it is to see the best players from all over the world form superteams that we couldn’t dream of seeing internationally. Take Ferencvaros (FTC) for example, not only are they chock-full of Hungarian Olympians, they added Dusan Mandic last year. He’s the best player in the world right now and they still barely won! Check out his performance in last year's Champions League Final, It was insane.
I’ve been watching highlights on youtube for years now, but I’ve never understood what each game means or how far along the season they are. Luckily my great friend Kacper Langiewicz is currently playing in Champions League. He let me know how it works, and what games are happening now.
Hopefully it helps you follow along this year!
Champions League Explained
European Aquatics (EA) is the federation which organizes the LEN Champions League. It’s been running since 1963 and is designed to crown the best professional water polo team in Europe each year.
There’s 4 stages to Champions League:
Qualification Round (Tournament September 12th-15th)
Group Stage (Games between Oct-Dec)
Quarter Final Stage (Games beginning 4th March)
The Final Four (Games May 30th-June 1st)
Getting to the Group Stage
16 teams make it to the Group Stage, and there’s only 2 ways to become one of them.
You can either qualify for one of the 12 automatic nominations, or you have to fight in the Qualification Round for one of the last 4 spots.
The 12 automatic nominations are for the winners of last years 11 most competitive national leagues. The final auto-bid is reserved for the second place team in the country of last year’s Champions League winner. Last year, Ferencvaros (FTC) from Hungary won it all, which is why Vasas received an automatic bid this year.
This year the automatic bids were:
Ferencvaros “FTC” (Hungary)
Vasas (Hungary)
Savona (Italy)
Waspo 98 Hannover (Germany)
Marseille (France)
Novi Beograd (Serbia)
Jadran Split (Croatia)
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)
Olympiacos (Greece)
Primorac Kotor (Montenegro)
Barceloneta “CNAB” (Spain)
Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
To decide the final 4 spots, 18 more teams are selected from across Europe to compete in the Qualification Round.
These teams usually finished 2nd or 3rd in their respective national leagues in the previous year. There are some teams from outside the usual 11 countries who are invited to compete as well.
The teams are split into 4 groups and will compete in an intense 4 day tournament where only the winner of each group gets to move on. This years Qualification Round already happened between September 12th-15th.
This year’s Qualification Round winners were:
Oradea (Romania)
Sabadell (Spain)
Radnicki (Serbia)
Herceg Novi (Montenegro)
Group Stage, Happening Now
The 16 teams are drawn again into 4 groups. Instead of a 4 day tournament like the last round, games are played across a couple of months. Everyone plays each team in their group twice (splitting home/away games). The top two teams in each group advance to the Quarter Finals.
This has been going on since early October, and as of right now (November 28th) there is only one more game day in the Group Stage. And even though it’s not over, we already know 7 out of the 8 teams who will be moving on to the Quarter Finals.
Ferencvaros, Novi Beograd, and Barceloneta are each undefeated and have already secured their spot.
Jadran Split and Marseille have punched their ticket to the next round by solidifying second place standings in their groups.
Savona and Olympiacos will play each other on December 3rd to decide who wins their group, but both teams will advance to the next round.
The most exciting game will happen on December 4th. It’s a Romanian derby between Oradea and Steaua Bucharest. It will decide who gets second place in Novi Beograd’s group. Steaua must win in regular time (not a shootout) to be awarded enough points to make it to the Quarter Finals.
Quarter Finals and the Final Four
The Quarter Finals kick off in February. It’s the same system as the previous stage, except there’s only 2 groups of 4 this time.
That leads to the Final 4 tournament in Malta from May 30th - June 1st. Just the Semi-Finals and a Final to decide the best professional team in the world.
Aussie’s and American’s in Champions League
Marcus Berehulak - Jadran Split (Advancing to Quarter Final Stage)
Nic Porter - Barceloneta (Advancing to Quarter Final Stage)
Pietro Figlioli - Savona (Advancing to Quarter Final Stage)
Marko Vavic - Savona (Advancing to Quarter Final Stage)
Alex Bowen - Sabadell (About to be Eliminated in Group Stage)
Kacper Langiewicz - Waspo 98 Hannover (About to be Eliminated in Group Stage)
Max Irving - AN Brescia (Eliminated in Qualification Round)
Check out the Champions League Website to learn more. There’s team rosters, a game calendar, league history, and more.
If you want to watch, check out European Aquatics TV. It’s 34.99 Euros for access to all Champions League games live and on demand.
Fantastic Match Day Highlights and Recaps are also available for free on Youtube.
Thanks for reading,
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