2021–22 LEN Champions League

2021–22 LEN Champions League
LeagueLEN Champions League
SportWater Polo
Duration22 September 2021–4 June 2022
Season MVPItaly Francesco Di Fulvio (Pro Recco)
Top scorerHungary Gergő Zalánki 42 goals (Pro Recco)
Final 8
ChampionsItaly Pro Recco (10th title)
  Runners-upSerbia Novi Beograd
Finals MVPItaly Giacomo Cannella (Pro Recco)
Champions League seasons

The 2021–22 LEN Champions League was the 59th edition of LEN's premier competition for men's water polo clubs.

Teams

[edit]
Preliminary round
Germany Spandau 04 France CN Marseille Romania Steaua București
Germany Waspo 98 Hannover Georgia (country) Dinamo Tbilisi Spain Zodiac CNA Barceloneta
Serbia Novi Beograd Greece Olympiacos
Serbia Radnički Kragujevac Hungary FTC Telekom
Croatia Jug AO Dubrovnik Italy Pro Recco
Qualification round II
Croatia Mladost Zagreb Hungary Szolnok VSC Spain CN Barcelona
France CN Noisy-le-Sec Italy AN Brescia Serbia Crvena zvezda
Greece NC Vouliagmeni Romania CSM Oradea
Qualification round I
Montenegro Jadran Herceg Novi Hungary OSC Budapest Russia Sintez Kazan
Montenegro Primorac Kotor Italy RN Savona Spain CN Terrassa
Croatia Jadran Split Lithuania EVK Žaibas Turkey Enka Istanbul
France Montpellier Poland AZS Warsaw
Greece Apollon Smyrnis Portugal Vitória Sport Clube

Schedule

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

Phase Round 1st leg 2nd leg
Qualifying rounds Qualification round I 24–26 September 2021
Qualification round II 8–10 October 2021
Qualification round III 16 October 2021 20 October 2021
Preliminary round Round 1 26/27 October 2021
Round 2 9/10 November 2021
Round 3 19/20 November 2021
Round 4 30 November/1 December 2021
Round 5 14/15 December 2021
Round 6 21/22 December 2021
Round 7 11/12 January 2022
Round 8 25/26 January 2022
Round 9 8/9 February 2022
Round 10 22/23 February 2022
Round 11 29/30 March 2022
Round 12 8/9 April 2022
Round 13 19/20 April 2022
Round 14 10/11 May 2022
Final 8 Quarterfinals 2 June 2022
Semifinals 3 June 2022
Final 4 June 2022

Qualifying rounds

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Qualification round I

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The draw took place in Šibenik during the women's LEN European Junior Water Polo Championship.[2] The top four ranked sides will advance from both groups.

Group A

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Italy RNS France MON Spain CNT Montenegro PRI Portugal VIT Poland AZS
1 Italy RN Savona 5 4 0 1 88 41 +47 12 Round II 9–10 13–12 11–9 26–6 29–4
2 France Montpellier 5 3 2 0 60 41 +19 11 11–11 17–9
3 Spain CN Terrassa 5 3 1 1 71 38 +33 10 12–12 11–8
4 Montenegro Primorac Kotor 5 2 1 2 68 43 +25 7 18–6 22–4
5 Portugal Vitória Sport Clube 5 1 0 4 38 84 −46 3 0–10DSQ 17–13
6 Poland AZS Warsaw 5 0 0 5 26 104 −78 0 0–10DSQ 5–26
Source: LEN

Group B

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Hungary OSC Croatia JST Montenegro JHN Greece APO Russia SIN Turkey ESK Lithuania ŽAI
1 Hungary OSC Budapest 6 6 0 0 94 55 +39 18 Round II 14–9 15–8 15–12 17–11
2 Croatia Jadran Split 6 5 0 1 97 63 +34 15 14–11 18–6
3 Montenegro Jadran Herceg Novi 6 4 0 2 85 55 +30 12 9–12 10–15 14–8 12–6 15–5 25–9
4 Greece Apollon Smyrnis 6 3 0 3 78 78 0 9 11–19 18–15 21–6
5 Russia Sintez Kazan 6 2 0 4 75 72 +3 6 12–6
6 Turkey Enka Istanbul 6 1 0 5 60 87 −27 3 11–22 9–12
7 Lithuania EVK Žaibas 6 0 0 6 43 122 −79 0 6–21 7–19 9–18
Source: LEN

Qualification round II

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The top two ranked sides from each group advance.[3][4]

Group C

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Hungary SZO Italy RNS Greece NCV Montenegro JHN
1 Hungary Szolnok VSC 3 2 1 0 37 34 +3 7 Round III 13–13 13–12 11–9
2 Italy RN Savona 3 0 3 0 34 34 0 3 11–11
3 Greece NC Vouliagmeni 3 0 2 1 33 34 −1 2 10–10
4 Montenegro Jadran Herceg Novi 3 0 2 1 31 33 −2 2 11–11
Source: LEN

Group D

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Serbia CZB Croatia MZG Greece APO France MON
1 Serbia Crvena zvezda 3 2 0 1 33 24 +9 6[a] Round III 14–8 11–7
2 Croatia Mladost Zagreb 3 2 0 1 28 25 +3 6[a] 9–8 9–10 10–7
3 Greece Apollon Smyrnis 3 2 0 1 33 37 −4 6[a]
4 France Montpellier 3 0 0 3 28 36 −8 0 14–15
Source: LEN
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c Crvena zvezda 2 Pts, +5 GD; Mladost Zagreb 2 Pts, 0 GD; Apollon Smyrnis 2 Pts, −5 GD

Group E

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Italy BRE Hungary OSC France NLS Spain CNT
1 Italy AN Brescia 3 2 1 0 35 28 +7 7 Round III 10–10
2 Hungary OSC Budapest 3 2 1 0 28 24 +4 7 8–7
3 France CN Noisy-le-Sec 3 1 0 2 31 32 −1 3 11–16 7–10 13–6
4 Spain CN Terrassa 3 0 0 3 20 30 −10 0 7–9
Source: LEN

Group F

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Croatia JST Spain CNB Montenegro PRI Romania ORA
1 Croatia Jadran Split 3 3 0 0 42 19 +23 9 Round III 8–4 16–7
2 Spain CN Barcelona 3 2 0 1 33 24 +9 6 14–10 15–6
3 Montenegro Primorac Kotor 3 1 0 2 25 36 −11 3 8–6
4 Romania CSM Oradea 3 0 0 3 20 41 −21 0 8–18
Source: LEN

Qualification round III

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The winners in the third round will continue in the preliminary round. The losers in the third round will be transferred in the Euro Cup quarter-finals.[5]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Jadran Split Croatia 21–10 Croatia Mladost Zagreb 14–7 7–3
Szolnok VSC Hungary 18–25 Hungary OSC Budapest 6–15 12–10
RN Savona Italy 19–20 Serbia Crvena zvezda 8–9 11–11
CN Barcelona Spain 26–33 Italy AN Brescia 13–17 13–16

Preliminary round

[edit]
Location of teams of the 2021–22 LEN Champions League preliminary round.

The draw for the 2021–22 LEN Champions League preliminary round took place in Ostia, Italy.[6] The upcoming season is planned with the usual pre-pandemic round-robin format with 14 rounds contested on a home-and-away basis. The top three teams in group A and the top four teams in group B will advance to the Final 8. Also, Novi Beograd will participate in the Final 8 as the host of tournament. The matchdays will be from 26 October 2021 to 15 June 2022.[7]

Group A

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BRE FTC NBG BAR OLY RKG JST DTB
1 Italy AN Brescia 14 9 3 2 162 133 +29 30 Final 8 8–8 13–16 14–12 8–7 12–8 6–5 16–8
2 Hungary FTC Telekom 14 8 4 2 154 138 +16 28 8–6 11–10 7–17 9–9 13–12 14–8 16–10
3 Serbia Novi Beograd[a] 14 8 3 3 188 149 +39 27[b] 11–11 11–14 11–9 9–12 16–10 14–7 19–7
4 Spain Zodiac CNA Barceloneta 14 8 3 3 173 121 +52 27[b] 12–12 12–12 12–12 9–5 13–7 11–6 18–4
5 Greece Olympiacos 14 6 2 6 146 131 +15 20 5–8 8–10 12–12 8–4 11–7 12–10 20–9
6 Serbia Radnički Kragujevac 14 4 1 9 139 159 −20 13 8–14 11–11 11–13 3–9 10–8 13–10 14–7
7 Croatia Jadran Split 14 3 0 11 141 173 −32 9 14–15 9–7 12–17 13–15 12–16 9–8 15–13
8 Georgia (country) Dinamo Tbilisi 14 2 0 12 130 229 −99 6 11–19 7–14 8–17 7–20 14–13 13–17 12–11
Source: LEN
Notes:
  1. ^ Novi Beograd is already qualified as the Final 8 host.
  2. ^ a b Novi Beograd 23–21 (Agg.) Zodiac CNA Barceloneta

Group B

[edit]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification REC CNM JUG HAN OSC BER CZB STE
1 Italy Pro Recco 14 13 0 1 200 100 +100 39 Final 8 11–8 10–0w/o 18–3 17–14 14–9 13–7 23–5
2 France CN Marseille 14 11 0 3 170 119 +51 33 7–13 12–13 13–10 13–9 12–7 10–0w/o 15–10
3 Croatia Jug AO Dubrovnik 14 10 1 3 174 143 +31 31 11–8 9–14 13–7 11–12 12–9 17–11 14–7
4 Germany Waspo 98 Hannover 14 6 3 5 150 180 −30 21 7–20 7–14 14–14 12–12 10–9 14–11 13–12
5 Hungary OSC Budapest 14 6 1 7 151 168 −17 19 8–14 9–14 10–15 12–17 0–10w/o 13–9 14–8
6 Germany Spandau 04 14 3 1 10 133 148 −15 10 6–11 7–13 8–16 11–11 11–12 11–12 10–8
7 Serbia Crvena zvezda 14 2 1 11 133 178 −45 7 12–14 8–11 13–19 12–15 8–11 12–9 10–10
8 Romania Steaua București 14 1 1 12 111 186 −75 4 3–14 6–14 8–10 9–10 9–15 5–16 11–8
Source: LEN

Final 8

[edit]
Location of the 2021–22 LEN Champions League Final 8
 
QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
 
          
 
2 June
 
 
Italy AN Brescia12
 
3 June
 
Germany Waspo 98 Hannover5
 
Italy AN Brescia13
 
2 June
 
Serbia Novi Beograd14
 
France CN Marseille10
 
4 June
 
Serbia Novi Beograd16
 
Serbia Novi Beograd16
 
2 June
 
Italy Pro Recco (PSO)17
 
Italy Pro Recco11
 
3 June
 
Spain Zodiac CNAB10
 
Italy Pro Recco10
 
2 June
 
Hungary FTC Telekom7 Third place game
 
Hungary FTC Telekom14
 
4 June
 
Croatia Jug AO Dubrovnik13
 
Italy AN Brescia12
 
 
Hungary FTC Telekom14
 
5th–8th place bracket
 
5th–8th place semifinalsFifth place game
 
      
 
3 June
 
 
Germany Waspo 98 Hannover11
 
4 June
 
France CN Marseille9
 
Germany Waspo 98 Hannover10
 
3 June
 
Spain Zodiac CNAB12
 
Spain Zodiac CNAB12
 
 
Croatia Jug AO Dubrovnik9
 
Seventh place game
 
 
4 June
 
 
France CN Marseille15
 
 
Croatia Jug AO Dubrovnik13
2021–22 LEN Champions League
Champions
Italy
Pro Recco
10th title

Marco Del Lungo, Francesco Di Fulvio, Luka Loncar, Gergő Zalánki, Aaron Younger, Alessandro Velotto, Nicholas Presciutti, Gonzalo Echenique, Aleksandar Ivović, Benjamin Thomas, Matteo Aicardi, Stefano Luongo, Tommaso Negri

Head coach Sandro Sukno


Awards

[edit]
Season MVP Top Scorer Finals MVP
Italy Francesco Di Fulvio (Pro Recco) Hungary Gergő Zalánki 42 goals (Pro Recco) Italy Giacomo Cannella (Pro Recco)
Total 7 of the Season
[8] LW Italy Francesco Di Fulvio

(Pro Recco)

CF Serbia

Duško Pijetlović (Novi Beograd)

RW Hungary Gergő Zalánki

(Pro Recco)

LD Spain Álvaro Granados (Novi Beograd) CB Montenegro Aleksandar Ivović (Pro Recco) RD Serbia Dušan Mandić (Novi Beograd)
GK Italy Marco Del Lungo (Pro Recco)

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ "LEN club competition programme season 2021–2022" (PDF). LEN.com.
  2. ^ "Champions League, Euro Cup – Qualification Round 1". LEN.com.
  3. ^ "Water Polo Champions League – Qualification Round II". LEN.com.
  4. ^ "Champions League, Qualification Round II". LEN.com.
  5. ^ "Water Polo Champions League – Qualification Round III , Draw". LEN.com.
  6. ^ "Champions League 2021-2022 Draw Main Round". LEN.com. Archived from the original on 2021-10-08. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  7. ^ "LEN Champions League preliminary round calendar season 2021-2022" (PDF). LEN.com.
  8. ^ Curcic, Ivan (2023-06-05). "LEN Champions League "Team of the Tournament"". Total Waterpolo. Retrieved 2023-06-05.

Notes

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