2024–25 LEN Champions League

LEN Champions League
2024–25
	The National Pool Complex in Valletta will host the final four.
Tournament information
Sport	Water polo
Dates	Qualification round:; 12–15 September 2024; Main Round:; 8 October – 4 December 2024; Quarter-finals round:; 4 February – 14 May 2025; Final four:; 30 May 2025–1 June 2025
Teams	Competition proper: 16; Total: 30 (from 13 countries)
Website	Official website
Tournament statistics
Matches played	108
	← 2023–24 2025–26 →

The 2024–25 LEN Champions League is the 62nd edition of the newly renamed European Aquatics's premier competition for men's water polo clubs. FTC-Telekom are the defending champions.

Format

After one qualification round, sixteen teams will qualify for the group stage. Four groups of four will be played., with 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 2024–25 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.^[1]^[2]

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.^[3]

Rank^[3]	Association	Points	Teams
1	Italy	110,260	3
2	Hungary	84,492.5
3	Spain	71,732.5
4	Serbia	69,815
5	Greece	68,857.5
6	Croatia	57,210
7	France	45,620	2
8	Germany	33,042.5	2
9	Romania	17,087.5	3
10	Montenegro	14,977.5	2
11	Georgia	12,407.5	1
12	Turkey	7,245	1
13	Russia	5,162.5	0
14	Switzerland	3,685
15	Netherlands	3,280

Rank	Association	Points	Teams
16	Slovakia	3,180	0
17	Portugal	2,972.5
18	Slovenia	2,960
19	Lithuania	1,877.5
20	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,790	1
21	Great Britain	1,720	0
22	Belgium	1,310
23	Malta	1,310
24	Israel	860
25	Denmark	560
26	Finland	560
27	Bulgaria	370
28	Cyprus	370
29	Poland	317.5

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. In this season, as FTC-Telekom are the reigning champions, Hungary's spot was given to the Hungarian runners-up, A-Híd Vasas Plaket. After the abrupt withdrawal of the Italian champions, Pro Recco, due to financial reasons,^[4]^[5] RN Savona, who placed second, takes their place in the Main round.^[6] Also, despite finishing fourth, CC Ortigia took Italy's third spot in the tournament.^[7] Croatia also saw a team withdrawing with Primorje EB Rijeka, who placed third, giving up their spot. The replacement was HAVK Mladost Zagreb, who finished fourth.^[8]

Main round
Jadran Split (1st)	CN Marseille (1st)	Dinamo Tbilisi (1st)	Waspo'98 Hannover (1st)
Olympiacos Piraeus (1st)	FTC-Telekom ^CL (1st)	A-Híd Vasas Plaket (2nd)	RN Savona (2nd)
Primorac Kotor (1st)	Steaua București (1st)	Novi Beograd (1st)	Zodiac Atlètic-Barceloneta (1st)

Qualification round
VK Banja Luka (1st)	Jug AO Dubrovnik (2nd)	HAVK Mladost Zagreb (4th)	Pays d'Aix Natation (3rd)
Spandau 04 (2nd)	NC Vouliagmeni (2nd)	AC PAOK (3rd)	BVSC-Zugló (3rd)
AN Brescia (3rd)	CC Ortigia (4th)	Jadran Herceg Novi (2nd)	CSM Oradea (2nd)
Dinamo București (3rd)	Radnički Kragujevac (2nd)	VK Šabac (3rd)	Astrapool Sabadell (2nd)
CN Barcelona (3rd)	Enka Istanbul (1st)

Round and draw dates

Schedule

Phase	Round	Round date
Qualification round		12–15 September 2024
Main round	Matchday 1	8–9 October 2024
	Matchday 2	15–16 October 2024
	Matchday 3	29–30 October 2024
	Matchday 4	12–13 November 2024
	Matchday 5	19–20 November 2024
	Matchday 6	3–4 December 2024
Quarter-finals round	Matchday 1	4–5 February 2025
	Matchday 2	25–26 February 2025
	Matchday 3	18–19 March 2025
	Matchday 4	1–2 April 2025
	Matchday 5	22–23 April 2025
	Matchday 6	13–14 May 2025
Final Four	Semifinals	30 May 2025
Final Four	Final	1 June 2025

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 13 August 2024 in Zagreb, Croatia.^[9] H indicates which clubs is hosting a group. Teams in bold advanced to the main round.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
AN Brescia Jug AO Dubrovnik (H) NC Vouliagmeni Astrapool Sabadell (H)	Spandau 04 CC Ortigia CN Barcelona Radnički Kragujevac (H)	VK Šabac Jadran Herceg Novi CSM Oradea (H) HAVK Mladost Zagreb BVSC-Zugló	Enka Istanbul Pays d'Aix Natation VK Banja Luka Dinamo București AC PAOK

Group A

12–15 September 2024, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	JAD	JUG	BAR	DIN	BAN
1	Jadran Herceg Novi	4	4	0	78	33	+45	12	Main round	—	—	14–10	15–8	35–3
2	Jug AO Dubrovnik (H)	4	3	1	65	32	+33	9		12–14	—	14–9	15–8	24–1
3	CN Barcelona	4	2	2	70	44	+26	6		—	—	—	18–12	33–4
4	Dinamo București	4	1	3	58	55	+3	3		—	—	—	—	—
5	VK Banja Luka	4	0	4	15	122	−107	0		—	—	—	7–30	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

Group B

13–15 September 2024, Kragujevac, Serbia

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	RAD	ZUG	MLA	VOU
1	Radnički Kragujevac (H)	3	3	0	33	30	+3	9	Main round	—	10–9	9–8	14–13
2	BVSC-Zugló	3	2	1	40	32	+8	6		—	—	—	17–9
3	HAVK Mladost Zagreb	3	1	2	32	29	+3	3		—	13–14	—	—
4	NC Vouliagmeni	3	0	3	28	42	−14	0		—	—	6–11	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

Group C

12–15 September 2024, Oradea, Romania

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ORA	SPA	BRE	PAOK	ENK
1	CSM Oradea (H)	4	3	1	0	0	53	36	+17	11	Main round	—	8–7	14–13^[a]	—	—
2	Spandau 04	4	3	0	0	1	43	36	+7	9		—	—	—	12–10	15–11
3	AN Brescia	4	2	0	1	1	51	36	+15	7		—	7–9	—	15–4	—
4	AC PAOK	4	1	0	0	3	33	48	−15	3		8–11	—	—	—	11–10
5	Enka Istanbul	4	0	0	0	4	38	62	−24	0		8–20	—	9–16	—	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

^ Match ended 7–7, CSM Oradea won 7–6 on penalties.

Group D

13–15 September 2024, Sabadell, Spain

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	AST	SAB	ORT	PAY
1	Astrapool Sabadell (H)	3	3	0	48	25	+23	9	Main round	—	14–9	17–11	17–5
2	VK Šabac	3	2	1	39	35	+4	6		—	—	14–13	—
3	CC Ortigia	3	1	2	39	43	−4	3		—	—	—	15–12
4	Pays d'Aix Natation	3	0	3	25	48	−23	0		—	8–16	—	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

Main round

Budapest

Budapest teams

Location of teams of the 2024–25 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.

This season, 11 of the 16 clubs from last season are present. RN Savona return to the Champions League for the first time in 18 years. For the first time since 2010–11, Primorac Kotor will participate. After 13 years away, A-Híd Vasas Plaket qualified. Waspo'98 Hannover comes back after a one season absence. Of the teams who progressed from qualification, Radnički Kragujevac and CSM Oradea return after being absent for three and eleven years respectively.

For the first time ever, Romania will be represented by two clubs in the group stage, while Montenegro will boast two clubs in the group stage for the first time since 2011–12. Overall, a total of 11 countries are present in the group stage.