Next season water polo Champions League will feature 12 teams in the main round and a single-round qualification but the Final Eight remains in place and is to be staged in Hannover on 3-5 June 2021. Euro Cup and women’s Euro League will also be held.
Reflecting on the impacts of the global pandemic and the challenges the sporting world is yet to face, LEN has restructured the 2020-21 edition of the water polo Champions League. It will feature 12 teams in the regular season and the qualification process is also cut to a single round.
Since the 2017-18 season, accommodating the clubs’ demands, the regular season was played with 16 teams in two groups of 8, twelve teams held wildcards and four joined them from the qualification. The newly shaped Champions League proved to be a tremendous success and became the reference point in the water polo world thanks to its branding policies, live TV action and social media coverage.
Still, the global pandemic and its impact forced LEN to reconsider the playing format for the following season for several reasons. One of them is that the competition calendar has already been overloaded by the postponement of several national team events including the Olympic qualification tournaments.
The main round shall be played with 10 wildcard-holders and two teams are set to join them from the qualification. This latter process will be cut back to a single round where one or two round-robin tournaments are planned, depending on the number of entries. These tourneys are scheduled for 23-25 October, while the main round is to kick off on 10-11 November.
Despite the reduced number of participants in the regular season, the Final Eight format is kept as the highlight of the year. The event is set to take place in Hannover over the first weekend of June.
The Euro Cup, LEN’s second-tier competition, will welcome all other teams including those missing the cut in the Champions League qualifications. Here two qualification rounds appear in the schedule – teams falling in the CHL qualifiers will join the field at this stage. Then the competition will continue with the knockout phase played on a home-and-away basis, starting with the eight-finals. The finals are to be played on 10 and 24 April.
The women’s competition shall not be altered, the Euro League will feature the usual quarter-finals where the winners shall qualify for the Final Four, PRESS RELEASE LEN PR 40/2020 while the losers will play for the LEN Trophy. The qualification process begins on 27-29 November and the Final Fours are scheduled for 16-17 April and 30 April-1 May.
Wildcard-holders in the Champions League
FTC-Telekom Waterpolo (HUN), Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE), Pro Recco (ITA), Zodiac-Atletic Barceloneta (ESP), Jug Croatia Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO), CN Marseille (FRA), Spandau 04 (GER), Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO), Waspo 98 Hannover (GER)
Champions League
QUALIFICATION ROUND: October 23-25, 2020 (the competition will start earlier in the groups with more than four teams).
PRELIMINARY ROUND
1st match: November 10/11, 2020
2nd match: December 1/2, 2020
3rd match: December 15/16, 2020
4th match: January 5/6, 2021
5th match: January 19/20, 2021
6th match: March 2/3, 2021
7th match: March 23/24, 2021
8th match: April 9/10, 2021
9th match: April 20/21, 2021
10th match: May 7/8, 2021
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE “FINAL EIGHT”: June 3 – 5, 2021
LEN Euro Cup
QUALIFICATION ROUND 1: October 30 – November 1, 2020 (the competition will start earlier in the groups with more than four teams).
QUALIFICATION ROUND 2: November 13 -15, 2020 (the competition will start earlier in the groups with more than four teams).
EIGHT FINALS: December 2 and 16, 2020
QUARTERFINALS: January 6 and 20, 2021
SEMIFINALS: March 6 and 20, 2021
FINALS: April 10 and 24, 2021
Euro League Women
QUALIFICATION ROUND 1: November 27 – 29, 2020 (the competition will start earlier in the groups with more than four teams)
QUALIFICATION ROUND 2: February 5 – 7, 2021 (the competition will start earlier in the groups with more than four teams).
QUARTERFINALS: February 27 and March 13, 2021
WOMEN LEN TROPHY “FINAL FOUR”: April 15 – 17, 2021
WOMEN EURO LEAGUE “FINAL FOUR”: April 29 – May 1, 2021
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