The 2023–24 LEN Women's Champions League is the 36th edition of the water polo competition organised by the Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN). This is the first season under the new changes made by LEN.^[1] The defending champions are Astralpool Sabadell.

Format

This season, the format has undergone some changes. After one qualification round (instead of two), sixteen teams will qualify for the main round. For the first time ever, the groups in the main round are held in a home and away format. After the main round, the four groups winners will compete in the final four to decide the winners of the LEN Women's Champions League.^[2]

Rankings

Starting this season, LEN also started a club rankings. Countries inside the top 6 of the new LEN women's club rankings are eligible to enter teams 5 clubs into the Champions League.^[2][3] While countries outside the top 6 can enter their league champion into either the Champions League or Challenger Cup.

Rank[3]	Association	Points	Teams
1	Spain	105,597.5	5
2	Greece	91,125
3	Hungary	84,842.5
4	Italy	76,410	4
5	France	24,127.5	3
6	Russia	53.38	0
7	Netherlands	49.300	1
8	Slovakia	5,145	0
9	Germany	4,620	1
9	Portugal	4,620	0
11	Malta	3,940
12	Israel	2,500
13	Croatia	1,012.5

Teams

Alongside the new changes, LEN increased the amount of clubs a country can enter, from 4 to 5. German representative, Spandau 04, was the only club outside the top 6 who decided to enter, starting in the qualifiers. While on the other hand, despite being in the top 6, Russia was banned and Netherlands took the sixth-place spot. All other clubs and countries below the top six entered the 2023–24 LEN Women's Challenger Cup.

Main round

Olympiacos Piraeus (1st)	ZF Eger (1st)	Ekipe Orizzonte (1st)	Astralpool Sabadell CL (1st)

Qualification round

Lille UC (1st)	Mulhouse WP (2nd)	Grand Nancy AC (3rd)	Spandau 04 (1st)
NO Vouliagmeni (2hd)	Ethnikos Piraeus (3rd)	ANC Glyfada (4th)	Alimos NAC Betsson (5th)
Dunaújváros (2nd)	FTC Telekom (3rd)	UVSE Budapest (4th)	BVSC-Zugló (5th)
SIS Roma (2nd)	Antenore Plebiscito Padova (3rd)	Pallanuoto Trieste (4th)	ZV De Zaan (1st)
Assolim CN Mataró (2nd)	CN Sant Andreu (3rd)	CE Mediterrani (4th)	CN Terrassa (5th)

Round and draw dates

Draw

The draw was on 10 August 2023.^[6] The seeding was decided by the new LEN club rankings.^[7] H indicates which club is hosting the groups.

Qualification round

In the qualification round, teams play in a round robin format. The top 3 in every group makes the main round, while the fourth and fifth placed teams in the groups drop down to the 2023–24 LEN Women's Euro Cup group stage.^[8][9]

Group A

• 21–24 September 2023, Budapest, Hungary.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		UVSE	ALI	FTC	GLY	SPA
1	UVSE Budapest (H)	4	4	0	0	0	59	34	+25	12	Main round		—	12–7	11–9	21–11	15–7
2	Alimos NAC Betsson	4	3	0	0	1	51	43	+8	9			—	—	—	—	—
3	FTC Telekom	4	2	0	0	2	55	40	+15	6			—	13–14	—	17–8	16–7
4	ANC Glyfada	4	1	0	0	3	37	63	−26	3	Euro Cup		—	9–19	—	—	9–6
5	Spandau 04	4	0	0	0	4	29	51	−22	0			—	9–11	—	—	—

Source: Report
(H) Host

Group B

• 21–24 September 2023, Mulhouse, France.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MUL	ETH	MED	TRI	PAD
1	Mulhouse WP (H)	4	4	0	0	0	48	37	+11	12	Main round		—	13–10	14–12	10–9	11–6
2	Ethnikos Piraeus	4	2	1	0	1	44	42	+2	8			—	—	17–15[lower-alpha 1]	12–9	9–7
3	CE Mediterrani	4	1	0	2	1	55	50	+5	5			—	—	—	17–10	15–17[lower-alpha 2]
4	Pallanuoto Trieste	4	1	0	0	3	42	51	−9	3	Euro Cup		—	—	—	—	—
5	Antenore Plebiscito Padova	4	0	1	0	3	38	47	−9	2			—	—	—	12–14	—

Source: Report
(H) Host

1. ↑ Match ended 13–13, Ethnikos Piraeus won 4–2 on penalties
2. ↑ Match ended 13–13, Antenore Plebiscito Padova won 4–2 on penalties

Group C

• 21–24 September 2023, Mataró, Spain.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MAT	VOU	TER	BVSC	ZAAN
1	Assolim CN Mataró (H)	4	4	0	0	0	68	36	+32	12	Main round		—	15–9	20–7	18–9	15–11
2	NO Vouliagmeni	4	3	0	0	1	46	37	+9	9			—	—	11–6	12–8	14–8
3	CN Terrassa	4	2	0	0	2	42	57	−15	6			—	—	—	—	16–15
4	BVSC-Zugló	4	0	1	0	3	39	54	−15	2	Euro Cup		—	—	11–13	—	16–14[lower-alpha 1]
5	ZV De Zaan	4	0	0	1	3	45	56	−11	1			—	—	—	—	—

Source: Report
(H) Host

1. ↑ Match ended 11–11, BVSC-Zugló won 5–3 on penalties

Group D

• 21–24 September 2023, Rome, Italy.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SAN	ROM	DUN	LIL	NAN
1	CN Sant Andreu	4	4	0	0	0	62	32	+30	12	Main round		—	—	—	—	22–3
2	SIS Roma (H)	4	3	0	0	1	48	36	+12	9			9–15	—	9–8	9–8	21–5
3	Dunaújváros	4	1	1	0	2	51	36	+15	5			9–11	—	—	—	24–6
4	Lille UC	4	1	0	1	2	50	42	+8	4	Euro Cup		11–14	—	10–13[lower-alpha 1]	—	—
5	Grand Nancy AC	4	0	0	0	4	23	88	−65	0			—	—	—	9–21	—

Source: Report
(H) Host

1. ↑ Match ended 10–10, Dunaújváros won 3–0 on penalties

Main round

ZF Eger

Ekipe Orizzonte

SIS Roma

Dunaújváros

Catalonia

Budapest

Mulhouse WP

Athens

Athens teams
Alimos NAC Betsson
Ethnikos Piraeus
Vouliagmeni
Olympiacos Piraeus
Budapest teams
FTC Telekom
UVSE Budapest

Location of teams of the 2023–24 LEN Women's Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B; Yellow: Group C; Green: Group D.

The draw took place on 26 September 2023 in Barcelona, Spain.^[10] The four group winners advance to the final four.

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 is the first time that this round is being held in a home and away format. Five countries are being represented, with Spain boasting the most clubs with five.

Sabadell

Terrassa

Mediterrani

Mataró

Barcelona
Mediterrani
Sant Andreu

Location of Catalonia teams of the 2023–24 LEN Women's Champions League Main Round.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B;
Yellow: Group C; Green: Group D.

Seeding

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SAN	TER	ORI	ROM
1	CN Sant Andreu	4	3	1	0	0	49	38	+11	11	Final four		—	15–9	13–9	–
2	CN Terrassa	4	3	0	0	1	44	41	+3	9			–	—	10–8	13–10
3	Ekipe Orizzonte (E)	4	1	0	0	3	43	45	−2	3			10–11	–	—	16–11
4	SIS Roma (E)	4	0	0	1	3	39	51	−12	1			14–15[lower-alpha 1]	8–12	–	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 November 2023. Source: Report
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated

1. ↑ Match ended 10–10, CN Sant Andreu won 5–4 on penalties

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SAB	ALI	MUL	DUN
1	Astralpool Sabadell	4	4	0	0	0	60	35	+25	12	Final four		—	14–7	18–10	–
2	Alimos NAC Betsson	4	2	0	0	2	45	50	−5	6			–	—	12–15	14–10
3	Mulhouse WP (E)	4	1	1	0	2	50	64	−14	5			10–19	–	—	18–16[lower-alpha 1]
4	Dunaújváros (E)	4	0	0	1	3	44	50	−6	1			8–9	11–12	–	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 November 2023. Source: Report
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated

1. ↑ Match ended 15–15, Mulhouse WP won 3–1 on penalties

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MAT	FTC	ETH	EGER
1	Assolim CN Mataró	4	4	0	0	0	62	20	+42	12	Final four		—	13–5	–	18–6
2	FTC Telekom	4	2	0	0	2	48	46	+2	6			–	—	12–11	18–7
3	Ethnikos Piraeus (E)	4	1	0	1	2	41	49	−8	4			4–13	15–13	—	–
4	ZF Eger (E)	4	0	1	0	3	29	65	−36	2			5–18	–	16–15[lower-alpha 1]	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 November 2023. Source: Report
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated

1. ↑ Match ended 11–11, ZF Eger won 5–4 on penalties

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		OLY	VOU	UVSE	MED
1	Olympiacos Piraeus	4	4	0	0	0	49	31	+18	12	Final four		—	12–7	15–8	–
2	NO Vouliagmeni	4	3	0	0	1	45	42	+3	9			–	—	13–11	14–9
3	UVSE Budapest (E)	4	1	0	0	3	35	42	−7	3			6–7	–	—	10–7
4	CE Mediterrani (E)	4	0	0	0	4	36	50	−14	0			10–15	10–11	–	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 November 2023. Source: Report
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated

Final four

See also

• 2023–24 LEN Champions League
• 2023–24 LEN Euro Cup
• 2023–24 LEN Challenger Cup
• 2023 LEN Super Cup
• 2023–24 LEN Women's Euro Cup
• 2023–24 LEN Women's Challenger Cup
• 2023 LEN Women's Super Cup

References