2024–25 LEN Challenger Cup

LEN Challenger Cup
2024–25
Tournament information
Sport	Water polo
Dates	Qualification round:; 1–3 November 2024; Knockout stage:; 18 January–26 April 2025
Teams	Total: 16 (from 12 countries)
Website	Official website
	← 2023–24 2025–26 →

The 2024–25 LEN Challenger Cup was the 3rd edition of a water polo competition organised by European Aquatics. It acts as the third tier, below the LEN Champions League and the LEN Euro Cup. The reigning champions are Galatasaray, but they won't defend their title as they didn't enter.

Format

16 teams are grouped into 4 pools of four clubs. The top 2 from every pool advances to the quarter-finals, followed by semi-finals and finals.^[1]

Rankings

Only teams below the top 12 can enter this competition.

Rank^[2]	Association	Points	Teams
1	Italy	110,260	0
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
8	Germany	33,042.5
9	Romania	17,087.5
10	Montenegro	14,977.5
11	Georgia	12,407.5
12	Turkey	7,245
13	Russia	5,162.5
14	Switzerland	3,685	1
15	Netherlands	3,280	2

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

Teams

No countries ranked in the top 12 of the LEN men's club rankings can take part in this tournament.^[3]

Participating teams
Royal Dauphins Mouscronnois	APOEL Nicosia	Limassol NC	Cetus Espoo
Welsh Wanderers	ASA Tel Aviv	Hapoel Palram Zvulun	EVK Zaibas
Sliema ASC	GZC Donk	ZV De Zaan	Vitória Sport Clube
Clube Fluvial Portuense	KVP Novaky	AVK Slovan Olimpija	Carouge Natation

Schedule

Rounds and dates

Phase	Round	Round date
Qualification round		1–3 November 2024
Quarter-finals	First leg	18 January 2025
Quarter-finals	Second leg	1 February 2025
Semi-finals	First leg	22 February 2025
Semi-finals	Second leg	8 March 2025
Final	First leg	5 April 2025
Final	Second leg	26 April 2025

Qualification round

In the qualification round, teams play in a round robin format. The top 2 in each group advance. Due to the lack of clubs wanting the host the groups, Nováky and Sliema hosted two groups.^[4]^[5]

Draw

The draw was on 16 September 2024.^[6] H indicates which club is hosting the groups. Teams in bold advanced to the quarter-finals. The seeding was decided by as follows:

LEN club rankings.^[7]
LEN country club rankings.^[8]
LEN men's national team rankings.^[9]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Carouge Natation EVK Zaibas KVP Novaky (H) Vitória Sport Clube	Royal Dauphins Mouscronnois ZV De Zaan ASA Tel Aviv Cetus Espoo	Clube Fluvial Portuense APOEL Nicosia GZC Donk AVK Slovan Olimpija	Welsh Wanderers Sliema ASC (H) Hapoel Palram Zvulun Limassol NC

Group A

Held in Sliema, Malta

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	DON	VIT	CET	WEL
1	GZC Donk	3	3	0	58	31	+27	9	Quarterfinals	—	15–12	—	—
2	Vitória Sport Clube	3	2	1	50	31	+19	6	Quarterfinals	—	—	13–10	25–6
3	Cetus Espoo	3	1	2	43	41	+2	3		8–17	—	—	25–11
4	Welsh Wanderers	3	0	3	28	76	−48	0		11–26	—	—	—

Source: European Aquatics

1 November 2024 16:00	Report	Cetus Espoo	25–11	Welsh Wanderers	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Riccardo Carmignani (ITA), Povilas Sriubas (LTU)
		Score by quarters: 6–2, 8–2, 5–4, 6–3
		Porobic 6	Goals	three players 2

1 November 2024 17:15	Report	GZC Donk	15–12	Vitória Sport Clube	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Erkan Turkkan (TUR), Neville Mercieca (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 3–4, 6–4, 3–3
		Veenhuis 4	Goals	Ramos 5

2 November 2024 16:00	Report	Vitória Sport Clube	13–10	Cetus Espoo	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Riccardo Carmignani (ITA), Erkan Turkkan (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 2–2, 4–1, 6–4
		Ramos 6	Goals	Porobic 3

2 November 2024 17:15	Report	Welsh Wanderers	11–26	GZC Donk	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Neville Mercieca (MLT), Povilas Sriubas (LTU)
		Score by quarters: 5–5, 1–5, 2–8, 3–8
		Laxton 6	Goals	Van Ijperen 6

3 November 2024 08:30	Report	Cetus Espoo	8–17	GZC Donk	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Riccardo Carmignani (ITA), Povilas Sriubas (LTU)
		Score by quarters: 2–4, 4–3, 0–5, 2–5
		Porobic, Vavic 2	Goals	Veenhuis, Winkelhorst 5

3 November 2024 09:45	Report	Vitória Sport Clube	25–6	Welsh Wanderers	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Erkan Turkkan (TUR), Neville Mercieca (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 8–1, 7–2, 3–3, 7–0
		Ferreira Sousa 6	Goals	Laxton 4

Group B

Held in Novaky, Slovakia

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ZAAN	ZAI	HAP	APO
1	ZV De Zaan	3	3	0	42	21	+21	9	Quarterfinals	—	—	8–7	21–2
2	EVK Zaibas	3	2	1	42	30	+12	6	Quarterfinals	12–13	—	12–10	18–7
3	Hapoel Palram Zvulun	3	1	2	31	31	0	3		—	—	—	14–11
4	APOEL Nicosia	3	0	3	20	53	−33	0		—	—	—	—

Source: European Aquatics

1 November 2024 15:30	Report	ZV De Zaan	8–7	Hapoel Palram Zvulun	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Robert Prelovsky (SVK), Roberto Guarnieri (BEL)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 2–1, 4–3, 1–2
		Bakker 3	Goals	Begin 3

1 November 2024 17:15	Report	EVK Zaibas	18–7	APOEL Nicosia	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Branimir Butigan (BIH), Koppany Toth (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 5–0, 4–2, 4–1, 5–4
		Gostautas 5	Goals	Konstantopoulos 3

2 November 2024 19:00	Report	EVK Zaibas	12–13	ZV De Zaan	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Roberto Guarnieri (BEL), Branimir Butigan (BIH)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 4–5, 2–2, 4–3
		Jelaca 3	Goals	Rempt 3

2 November 2024 20:45	Report	Hapoel Palram Zvulun	14–11	APOEL Nicosia	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Robert Prelovsky (SVK), Koppany Toth (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 5–1, 3–3, 4–2, 2–5
		Goldschmidt 4	Goals	three players 2

3 November 2024 09:00	Report	ZV De Zaan	21–2	APOEL Nicosia	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Koppany Toth (HUN), Roberto Guarnieri (BEL)
		Score by quarters: 7–0, 4–1, 5–0, 5–1
		Van Den Dobbelsteen 6	Goals	Economides, Robu 1

3 November 2024 10:45	Report	EVK Zaibas	12–10	Hapoel Palram Zvulun	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Branimir Butigan (BIH), Robert Prelovsky (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 4–4, 4–1, 2–3
		Jelaca 3	Goals	Begin, Carmon 3

Group C

Held in Sliema, Malta

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	SLI	FLU	CAR	ASA
1	Sliema ASC (H)	3	3	0	44	20	+24	9	Quarterfinals	—	15–7	16–5	13–8
2	Clube Fluvial Portuense	3	2	1	33	32	+1	6	Quarterfinals	—	—	—	14–8
3	Carouge Natation	3	1	2	32	35	−3	3		—	9–12	—	—
4	ASA Tel Aviv	3	0	3	23	45	−22	0		—	—	7–18	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

1 November 2024 18:30	Report	Carouge Natation	9–12	Clube Fluvial Portuense	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Robert Horvath (SVK), Maxim Gerasimov (GBR)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 2–3, 2–2, 3–6
		Gros 3	Goals	five players 2

1 November 2024 19:45	Report	Sliema ASC	13–8	ASA Tel Aviv	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Polydoros Filippou (CYP), Rok Vehovec (SLO)
		Score by quarters: 5–0, 2–3, 2–3, 4–2
		five players 2	Goals	three players 2

2 November 2024 18:30	Report	ASA Tel Aviv	7–18	Carouge Natation	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Maxim Gerasimov (GBR), Polydoros Filippou (CYP)
		Score by quarters: 2–4, 2–4, 1–4, 2–6
		Kolodny, Souva 2	Goals	Roscio 6

2 November 2024 19:45	Report	Sliema ASC	15–7	Clube Fluvial Portuense	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Rok Vehovec (SLO), Robert Horvath (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 5–3, 1–0, 6–3
		Zammit 4	Goals	Ornelas Pinto, Parati 2

3 November 2024 11:15	Report	Clube Fluvial Portuense	14–8	ASA Tel Aviv	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Maxim Gerasimov (GBR), Rok Vehovec (SLO)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 5–0, 5–3, 2–3
		Parati 4	Goals	Gal-on, Zonanstern 2

3 November 2024 12:30	Report	Sliema ASC	16–5	Carouge Natation	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Robert Horvath (SVK), Polydoros Filippou (CYP)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 2–2, 4–1, 5–0
		Zammit 5	Goals	Gros, Melet 2

Group D

Held in Novaky, Slovakia

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	NOV	SLO	MOU	LIM
1	KVP Novaky (H)	3	3	0	51	33	+18	9	Quarterfinals	—	14–10	18–12	19–11
2	AVK Slovan Olimpija	3	2	1	36	33	+3	6	Quarterfinals	—	—	14–12	12–7
3	Royal Dauphins Mouscronnois	3	1	2	43	42	+1	3		—	—	—	—
4	Limassol NC	3	0	3	28	50	−22	0		10–19	—	—	—

Source: European Aquatics
(H) Host

1 November 2024 19:00	Report	KVP Novaky	19–11	Limassol NC	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Luis Alves (POR), Tal Shildan (ISR)
		Score by quarters: 5–1, 2–3, 7–4, 5–3
		three players 4	Goals	Chalaris 5

1 November 2024 20:45	Report	AVK Slovan Olimpija	14–12	Royal Dauphins Mouscronnois	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Massimo Castrilli (SUI), Jarkko Virtanen (FIN)
		Score by quarters: 4–3, 3–2, 4–4, 3–3
		Potocnik 7	Goals	Mikael 5

2 November 2024 15:30	Report	AVK Slovan Olimpija	12–7	Limassol NC	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Tal Shildan (ISR), Jarkko Virtanen (FIN)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 3–0, 4–1, 3–3
		Canc 4	Goals	Monioudis 3

2 November 2024 17:15	Report	KVP Novaky	18–12	Royal Dauphins Mouscronnois	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Massimo Castrilli (SUI), Luis Alves (POR)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 4–4, 4–3, 5–3
		Dittmer, Tisaj 4	Goals	Mikael 4

3 November 2024 12:30	Report	Limassol NC	10–19	Royal Dauphins Mouscronnois	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Tal Shildan (ISR), Jarkko Virtanen (FIN)
		Score by quarters: 5–4, 1–6, 2–5, 2–4
		Ioannou, Trusico 2	Goals	Grman 5

3 November 2024 14:15	Report	KVP Novaky	14–10	AVK Slovan Olimpija	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Luis Alves (POR), Massimo Castrilli (SUI)
		Score by quarters: 5–3, 2–1, 4–2, 3–4
		Tisaj 7	Goals	Potocnik 3

Knockout stage

Draw

The draw was on 11 November 2024. The seeded and unseeded clubs consist of the teams that finished first and second in the previous round respectively. The only restriction was that clubs from the same group in the previous round could not be drawn against each other.

Seeded	Unseeded
GZC Donk ZV De Zaan Sliema ASC KVP Novaky	Vitória Sport Clube EVK Zaibas Clube Fluvial Portuense AVK Slovan Olimpija

Bracket

Quarterfinals				Semifinals	Final

ZV De Zaan	23	13	36

Vitória Sport Clube	11	4	15
				ZV De Zaan

				EVK Zaibas
KVP Novaky	8	14	22

EVK Zaibas	16	8	24



GZC Donk	20	18	38

Clube Fluvial Portuense	12	13	25
				GZC Donk

				Sliema ASC
Sliema ASC	15	13	28

AVK Slovan Olimpija	8	2	10

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Vitória Sport Clube	15–36	ZV De Zaan	11–23	4–13
EVK Zaibas	24–22	KVP Novaky	16–8	8–14
Clube Fluvial Portuense	25–38^[a]	GZC Donk	20–12	13–18
AVK Slovan Olimpija	10–28	Sliema ASC	8–15	2–13

^ Order of legs reversed.

Matches

18 January 2025 17:00	Report	Vitória Sport Clube	11–23	ZV De Zaan	Guimaraes, Portugal Referees: Tomi Kavcic (SLO), Jeremie Peden (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 3–7, 3–4, 4–7, 1–5
		Ferreira Sousa, Lopes 3	Goals	Brantjes 4

1 February 2025 20:30	Report	ZV De Zaan	13–4	Vitória Sport Clube	Het Sloterparkbad, Amsterdam Referees: Rastko Prlic (SRB), Lukasz Krol (POL)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 4–1, 3–1, 1–0
		Janssen, Rempt 3	Goals	four players 1

ZV De Zaan won 36–15 on aggregate

18 January 2025 19:00	Report	EVK Zaibas	16–8	KVP Novaky	Elektrenai, Lithuania Referees: Manuel Manea (ROU), Berk Gunkut (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 4–3, 4–1, 4–4, 4–0
		Bosic, Jelaca 4	Goals	Bielik, Furman 2

1 February 2025 17:30	Report	KVP Novaky	14–8	EVK Zaibas	National Water Polo Centre, Nováky Referees: Alex De Raffaele (MLT), Matjaz Homovec (SLO)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 3–1, 4–2, 4–2
		Bielk 4	Goals	Krapic 2

EVK Zaibas won 24–22 on aggregate

18 January 2025 14:00	Report	GZC Donk	20–12	Clube Fluvial Portuense	Groenhovenbad, Gouda Referees: Miroslav Mijanovic (MNE), Tomas Kaseta (LTU)
		Score by quarters: 5–3, 5–3, 2–2, 8–4
		Veenhuis 5	Goals	three players 2

1 February 2025 15:30	Report	Clube Fluvial Portuense	13–18	GZC Donk	Porto, Portugal Referees: Bogdan Beljin (SRB), Branimir Butigan (BIH)
		Score by quarters: 3–6, 3–6, 1–2, 6–4
		Mendes Teixeira 3	Goals	Van Den Heuvel 5

GZC Donk won 38–25 on aggregate

18 January 2025 18:00	Report	AVK Slovan Olimpija	8–15	Sliema ASC	Ljubljana, Slovenia
		Score by quarters: 2–5, 3–1, 1–4, 2–5
		three players 2	Goals	Galea, Zammit 5

1 February 2025 17:30	Report	Sliema ASC	13–2	AVK Slovan Olimpija	National Pool, Sliema Referees: Ali Tufan Cakirgil (TUR), Ruben Garcia (SUI)
		Score by quarters: 2–0, 5–1, 2–1, 4–0
		Galea, Zammit 3	Goals	Policnik 2

Sliema ASC won 28–10 on aggregate

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
ZV De Zaan	–	EVK Zaibas	–	–
GZC Donk	–	Sliema ASC	–	–

Matches

	[ Report]	ZV De Zaan	–	EVK Zaibas
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

	[ Report]	EVK Zaibas	–	ZV De Zaan
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

won – on aggregate

	[ Report]	GZC Donk	–	Sliema ASC
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

	[ Report]	Sliema ASC	–	GZC Donk
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

won – on aggregate

Final

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
	–		–	–

Matches

	[ Report]		–
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

	[ Report]		–
		Score by quarters: –, –, –, –

won – on aggregate

2024–25 LEN Challenger Cup Champions
First title

External links

Official statistics of the tournament

References

^ https://www.len.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/REGULATIONS-EUROPEAN-AQUATICS-WATER-POLO-CLUB-COMPETITIONS-1.pdf
^ "Men Clubs Country Ranking - LEN - European Aquatics". www.len.eu. August 18, 2024.
^ "Slovenija po dolgem času s predstavnikom v ligi prvakov". siol.net.
^ "Vodnopólové Nováky hostia Challenger Cup. Chceme postup z 1. miesta, znie z klubu". sportnet.sme.sk.
^ Camilleri, Valhmor (October 31, 2024). "Sliema and Sirens target qualification to next round of LEN Challenger Cup". SportsDesk.
^ LEN, Juliana (September 16, 2024). "Several Exciting Clashes Confirmed For Euro Cup and Challenger Cup Qualifiers - European Aquatics®". www.len.eu.
^ "Men Club Ranking - European Aquatics®". www.len.eu. September 23, 2024.
^ "Men Clubs Country Ranking - LEN - European Aquatics". www.len.eu. September 23, 2024.
^ "Men Country Ranking - European Aquatics®". www.len.eu. September 23, 2024.

[10] Order of legs reversed.

[1] ttps://www.len.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/REGULATIONS-EUROPEAN-AQUATICS-WATER-POLO-CLUB-COMPETITIONS-1.pdf

[2] "Men Clubs Country Ranking - LEN - European Aquatics". www.len.eu. August 18, 2024.

[3] "Slovenija po dolgem času s predstavnikom v ligi prvakov". siol.net.

[4] "Vodnopólové Nováky hostia Challenger Cup. Chceme postup z 1. miesta, znie z klubu". sportnet.sme.sk.

[5] Camilleri, Valhmor (October 31, 2024). "Sliema and Sirens target qualification to next round of LEN Challenger Cup". SportsDesk.

[6] LEN, Juliana (September 16, 2024). "Several Exciting Clashes Confirmed For Euro Cup and Challenger Cup Qualifiers - European Aquatics®". www.len.eu.

[7] "Men Club Ranking - European Aquatics®". www.len.eu. September 23, 2024.

[8] "Men Clubs Country Ranking - LEN - European Aquatics". www.len.eu. September 23, 2024.

[9] "Men Country Ranking - European Aquatics®". www.len.eu. September 23, 2024.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[a]

v t e LEN Challenger Cup and LEN Women's Challenger Cup
LEN Challenger Cup	2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
LEN Women's Challenger Cup	2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

v t e 2024–25 European club competitions
Football	Men Champions League Europa League Conference League Super Cup Youth League Women Champions League
Football variants	Futsal Champions League Women's European Champions Beach soccer Euro Winners Cup Women's Euro Winners Cup
Basketball	Men EuroLeague EuroCup Champions League FIBA Europe Cup Women EuroLeague EuroCup SuperCup
Volleyball	Men Champions League CEV Cup Challenge Cup Women Champions League CEV Cup Challenge Cup
Handball	Men Champions League European League European Cup Women Champions League European League European Cup
Water polo	Men Champions League Euro Cup Challenger Cup Super Cup Women Champions League Euro Cup Challenger Cup Super Cup
Rugby union	Men Champions Cup Challenge Cup Super Cup
Ice hockey	Men Champions Hockey League Continental Cup
Indoor hockey	Men EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup Women EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup
Field hockey	Men Euro Hockey League Trophy I Trophy II Women Euro Hockey League Trophy I Trophy II
Roller hockey	Men Champions League World Skate Europe Cup Continental Cup Women European League
Lacrosse	Men Ken Galluccio Cup
Floorball	Men Champions Cup Women Champions Cup
Korfball	Mixed Champions League Challenger Cup Satellite Cup

Format

Rankings

Teams

Schedule

Rounds and dates

Qualification round

Draw

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Draw

Bracket

Quarterfinals

Matches

Semifinals

Matches

Final

Matches

See also

External links

References