2021–22 LEN Champions League

2021–22 LEN Champions League
League	LEN Champions League
Sport	Water Polo
Duration	22 September 2021–4 June 2022
Season MVP	Francesco Di Fulvio (Pro Recco)
Top scorer	Gergő Zalánki 42 goals (Pro Recco)
Final 8
Champions	Pro Recco (10th title)
Runners-up	Novi Beograd
Finals MVP	Giacomo Cannella (Pro Recco)
Champions League seasons
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

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

Preliminary round

Spandau 04	CN Marseille	Steaua București
Waspo 98 Hannover	Dinamo Tbilisi	Zodiac CNA Barceloneta
Novi Beograd	Olympiacos
Radnički Kragujevac	FTC Telekom
Jug AO Dubrovnik	Pro Recco

Qualification round II

Mladost Zagreb	Szolnok VSC	CN Barcelona
CN Noisy-le-Sec	AN Brescia	Crvena zvezda
NC Vouliagmeni	CSM Oradea

Qualification round I

Jadran Herceg Novi	OSC Budapest	Sintez Kazan
Primorac Kotor	RN Savona	CN Terrassa
Jadran Split	EVK Žaibas	Enka Istanbul
Montpellier	AZS Warsaw
Apollon Smyrnis	Vitória Sport Clube

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

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.

• 23–26 September 2021, Savona, Italy.

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

• 22–26 September 2021, Podgorica, Montenegro.

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

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

• 8–10 October 2021, Szolnok, Hungary.

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

• 8–10 October 2021, Zagreb, Croatia.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CZB	MZG	APO	MON
1	Crvena zvezda	3	2	0	1	33	24	+9	6[a]	Round III		—	—	14–8	11–7
2	Mladost Zagreb	3	2	0	1	28	25	+3	6[a]			9–8	—	9–10	10–7
3	Apollon Smyrnis	3	2	0	1	33	37	−4	6[a]			—	—	—	—
4	Montpellier	3	0	0	3	28	36	−8	0			—	—	14–15	—

• 8–10 October 2021, Paris, France.

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

• 8–10 October 2021, Split, Croatia.

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

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	21–10	Mladost Zagreb	14–7	7–3
Szolnok VSC	18–25	OSC Budapest	6–15	12–10
RN Savona	19–20	Crvena zvezda	8–9	11–11
CN Barcelona	26–33	AN Brescia	13–17	13–16

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]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BRE	FTC	NBG	BAR	OLY	RKG	JST	DTB
1	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	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	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	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	Olympiacos	14	6	2	6	146	131	+15	20			5–8	8–10	12–12	8–4	—	11–7	12–10	20–9
6	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	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	Dinamo Tbilisi	14	2	0	12	130	229	−99	6			11–19	7–14	8–17	7–20	14–13	13–17	12–11	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		REC	CNM	JUG	HAN	OSC	BER	CZB	STE
1	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	Steaua București	14	1	1	12	111	186	−75	4			3–14	6–14	8–10	9–10	9–15	5–16	11–8	—

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	2 June
	AN Brescia	12
					3 June
	Waspo 98 Hannover	5
					AN Brescia	13
	2 June
					Novi Beograd	14
	CN Marseille	10
									4 June
	Novi Beograd	16
									Novi Beograd	16
	2 June
									Pro Recco (PSO)	17
	Pro Recco	11
					3 June
	Zodiac CNAB	10
					Pro Recco	10
	2 June
					FTC Telekom	7			Third place game
	FTC Telekom	14
									4 June
	Jug AO Dubrovnik	13
									AN Brescia	12
									FTC Telekom	14

5th–8th place bracket

	5th–8th place semifinals				Fifth place game
	3 June
	Waspo 98 Hannover	11
					4 June
	CN Marseille	9
					Waspo 98 Hannover	10
	3 June
					Zodiac CNAB	12
	Zodiac CNAB	12
	Jug AO Dubrovnik	9
					Seventh place game
					4 June
					CN Marseille	15
					Jug AO Dubrovnik	13

2021–22 LEN Champions League Champions
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

Season MVP	Top Scorer	Finals MVP
Francesco Di Fulvio (Pro Recco)	Gergő Zalánki 42 goals (Pro Recco)	Giacomo Cannella (Pro Recco)

Total 7 of the Season
[8]	LW	Francesco Di Fulvio (Pro Recco)	CF	Duško Pijetlović (Novi Beograd)	RW	Gergő Zalánki (Pro Recco)
	LD	Álvaro Granados (Novi Beograd)	CB	Aleksandar Ivović (Pro Recco)	RD	Dušan Mandić (Novi Beograd)
	GK	Marco Del Lungo (Pro Recco)

• 2021–22 LEN Euro Cup

• Official website, len.microplustiming.com