2015–16 LEN Champions League

The 2015–16 LEN Champions League was the 53rd edition of LEN's premier competition for men's water polo clubs. It ran from 4 September 2015 to 4 June 2016, and was contested by 27 teams from 13 countries. The Final Six (quarterfinals, semifinals, final, and third place game) took place on 2, 3 & 4 June in Budapest.

2015–16 LEN Champions League
LeagueLEN Champions League
SportWater Polo
Duration4 September 2015 to
4 June 2016
Number of teams12 (preliminary round)
27 (total)
Season MVPSerbia Filip Filipović (Pro Recco)
Top scorerHungary Denes Varga 33 goals (Szolnok)
Final Six
Finals championsCroatia Jug Dubrovnik (4th Title)
  Runners-upGreece Olympiacos
Finals MVPSpain Felipe Perrone (Jug Dubrovnik)
Champions League seasons

Overview

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Team allocation

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8 teams are directly qualified for the preliminary round.

Preliminary round
  Jug   Spandau 04   Eger   Partizan
  Atlètic-Barceloneta   Olympiacos   Pro ReccoTH   Galatasaray
Qualification round II
  Primorje   Szolnok   Radnički Kragujevac   Vouliagmeni
  Duisburg   Brescia   Sabadell
Qualification round I
  Mladost   Spartak Volgograd   Jadran   Montpellier
  Verona   Oradea   Budva   Valletta
  Marseille   Orvosegyetem   Waspo 98 Hannover   Lokomotiv Tbilisi

Round and draw dates

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

Phase Round First leg Second leg
Qualifying Qualification round I 4–6 September 2015
Qualification round II 18–20 September 2015
Qualification round III
(play-off round)
3 October 2015 17 October 2015
Preliminary round Matchday 1 28 October 2015
Matchday 2 11 November 2015
Matchday 3 28 November 2015
Matchday 4 16 December 2015
Matchday 5 3 February 2016
Matchday 6 10 February 2016
Matchday 7 30 March 2016
Matchday 8 16 April 2016
Matchday 9 30 April 2016
Matchday 10 18 May 2016
Final 6
(Budapest)
Quarter-finals 2 June 2016
Semi-finals 3 June 2016
Final 4 June 2016

Qualifying rounds

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Qualification I

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  • 4-6 September

Twelve teams took part in the Qualification round I. They were drawn into three groups of four teams, whose played on 4–6 September 2015. Top 3 teams of each group advance to qualification round II.[2]

Key to colours in group tables
Progress to the Round II

Group A

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Tournament was played in Herceg Novi, Montenegro.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   SPA   JAD   MON   HAVK
  Spartak Volgograd 3 3 0 0 46 30 +16 9 18–12 15–7
  Jadran Carine 3 2 0 1 29 25 +4 6 11–13 11–7 7–5
  Montpellier 3 1 0 2 27 35 −8 3 8–6
  HAVK Mladost 3 0 0 3 18 30 −12 0
Source: [citation needed]

Group B

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Tournament was played in Valletta, Malta.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   VER   ORA   BUD   VAL
  Verona 3 2 1 0 41 22 +19 7 11–6
  Oradea 3 1 2 0 36 29 +7 5 11–11 18–11
  Budva 3 1 1 1 22 23 −1 4 7–7
  Valletta 3 0 0 3 21 46 −25 0 5–19 5–9
Source: [citation needed]

Group C

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Tournament was played in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   WAS   OSC   CNM   LOK
  Waspo Hannover 3 2 1 0 28 24 +4 7 10–8
  OSC Budapest 3 1 2 0 32 20 +12 5 7–7
  CN Marseille 3 1 1 1 35 29 +6 4 10–10
  Lokomotiv Tbilisi 3 0 0 3 21 43 −22 0 9–11 3–15 9–17
Source: [citation needed]

Qualification II

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  • 18–20 September

Sixteen teams took part in the Qualification round II. Nine teams from first round and seven teams with wild cards. These clubs formed four groups of four and had round robin tournaments at four host cities on 18–20 October. Top 2 of these groups advance to play-off (qualification round 3).[3]

Key to colours in group tables
Progress to the Qualification Round III

Group D

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Tournament was played in Athens, Greece.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   OSC   BRE   VOU   MON
  OSC Budapest 3 2 1 0 29 17 +12 7 10–6
  AN Brescia 3 2 1 0 27 22 +5 7 8–8
  NC Vouliagmeni 3 1 0 2 21 26 −5 3 6–10 9–6
  Montpellier 3 0 0 3 17 29 −12 0 3–11 8–9
Source: [citation needed]

Group E

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Tournament was played in Hannover, Germany.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   SZO   WAS   RAD   BUD
  Szolnoki VSK 3 3 0 0 51 17 +34 9 11–10
  Waspo Hannover 3 2 0 1 36 24 +12 6 10–11 14–7 12–6
  VK Radnički 3 1 0 2 17 42 −25 3 2–21 8–7
  VK Budva 3 0 0 3 18 39 −21 0
Source: [citation needed]

Group F

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Tournament was played in Rijeka, Croatia.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   PRI   CNM   SPA   DUI
  VK Primorje 3 3 0 0 45 27 +18 9 13–12 14–7 18–8
  CN Marseille 3 2 0 1 38 30 +8 6 14–9
  Spartak Volgograd 3 0 1 2 30 42 −12 1
  ASC Duisburg 3 0 1 2 30 44 −14 1 8–12 14–14
Source: [citation needed]

Group G

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Tournament was played in Busto Arsizio, Italy.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   JAD   ORA   VER   SAB
  Jadran Carine 3 3 0 0 24 21 +3 9 10–9
  Digi Oradea 3 2 0 1 29 21 +8 6 6–7 13–6
  SM Verona 3 1 0 2 27 29 −2 3 8–10 10–9
  CN Sabadell 3 0 0 3 21 30 −9 0 6–7
Source: [citation needed]

Qualification III

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  • 3 October 2015: 1st match
  • 17 October 2015: 2nd match
Key to colors
Seeded in qualification round III draw
Unseeded in qualification round III draw
Group Winners Runners-up
D   OSC Budapest   AN Brescia
E   Szolnoki VSK   Waspo Hannover
F   VK Primorje   CN Marseille
G   Jadran Carine   Digi Oradea

Eight teams took part in the Qualification round III. These teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis. The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follow:

  • In the draw for the Qualification round III, the four group winners were seeded, and the four group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group could not be drawn against each other.

The first legs were played on 3 October, and the second legs were played on 17 October 2015.[4]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
VK Primorje   29–12   Waspo Hannover 19–6 10–6
Digi Oradea   10–19   OSC Budapest 7–9 3–10
CN Marseille   12–20   Szolnoki VSK 6–7 6–13
Jadran Carine   22–18   AN Brescia 14–6 8–12

Preliminary round

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Location of teams of the 2015–16 LEN Champions League group stage.
  Red: Group A;   Blue: Group B.

Main article: 2015–16 LEN Champions League preliminary round

The regular season was played between 28 October 2015 and 18 May 2016. If teams are level on record at the end of the preliminary round, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

  1. Head-to-head record.
  2. Head-to-head point differential.
  3. Point differential during the Regular Season.
  4. Points scored during the regular season.
  5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each Regular Season match.

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays were 28 October, 11 November, 28 November, 16 December 2015, 3 February, 10 February, 30 March, 16 April, 30 April, and 18 May 2016. The top three teams advanced to the final six.

The Final Six (quarterfinals, semifinals, third place game and final) were played in Budapest, Hungary from 2 to 4 June 2016.[5]

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification OLY EGE BAR PRI SPA JAD
1   Olympiacos 10 7 3 0 95 59 +36 24 Advance to semifinals 8–7 9–5 7–4 12–3 10–4
2   ZF Eger 10 4 4 2 90 80 +10 16 Advance to quarter-finals 8–8 6–5 12–12 10–7 8–7
3   CNA Barceloneta 10 4 4 2 79 74 +5 16 7–7 6–6 9–7 9–7 15–10
4   VK Primorje 10 4 3 3 91 83 +8 15 Eliminated 4–10 8–7 9–9 14–4 13–7
5   Spandau 04 10 0 5 5 75 106 −31 5 11–11 8–15 8–8 9–9 9–9
6   Jadran Carine 10 0 3 7 77 105 −28 3 6–13 11–11 5–6 9–11 9–9
Source: LEN

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification REC SZO JUG BUD PAR GAL
1   Pro Recco 10 8 1 1 130 67 +63 25 Advance to semifinals 14–11 14–6 7–2 15–3 15–4
2   Szolnoki VSK 10 8 0 2 121 90 +31 24 Advance to quarter-finals 12–11 13–10 8–7 12–9 16–7
3   Jug Dubrovnik 10 7 1 2 105 83 +22 22 5–5 10–9 10–7 12–4 17–8
4   OSC Budapest 10 3 0 7 75 84 −9 9 Eliminated 7–12 6–12 7–9 10–8 13–4
5   Partizan 10 2 1 7 69 112 −43 7 7–18 9–14 6–10 5–4 9–8
6   Galatasaray 10 0 1 9 76 140 −64 1 10–19 7–14 10–16 9–12 9–9
Source: LEN

Final Six

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Hajós Alfréd Nemzeti Sportuszoda, Budapest, Hungary

Quarterfinals
2 June 2016
Semifinals
3 June 2016
Final
4 June 2016
A1  Olympiacos8
B2  Szolnoki VSK7B2  Szolnoki VSK7
A3  CNA Barceloneta5A1  Olympiacos4
B3  Jug Dubrovnik6
B1  Pro Recco10(4)
A2  ZF Eger6B3  Jug Dubrovnik10(5)
B3  Jug Dubrovnik8
5th placeThird place
A3  CNA Barceloneta10B2  Szolnoki VSK11
A2  ZF Eger6B1  Pro Recco7
2015–16 LEN Champions League
Champions
 
Jug Dubrovnik
4st title
Marko Bijac, Marko Bautovic, Hrvonje Benic, Ivo Brailo, Cristijan Kulina, Loren Fatović, Javier García, Toni Jarak, Maro Jokovic, Filip Krzic, Luka Lončar, Marko Ivankovic, Marko Macan, Jacob Mercep, Paulo Obradovic, Nikola Pavlicevic, Pavo Markovic, Toni Popadic, Josip Vrlic, Felipe Perrone
Head coach
Vjekoslav Kobešćak

Final standings

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Team
    Jug Dubrovnik
    Olympiacos
    Szolnok
4   Pro Recco
5   CNA Barceloneta
6   ZF Eger

Awards

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Player of the Season Top Scorer Player of the Final Six Goalkeeper of the Final Six
  Filip Filipović (Pro Recco)   Denes Varga (Szolnok) 33 goals   Felipe Perrone (Jug Dubrovnik)   Marko Bijac (Jug Dubrovnik)

[6]

Total 7 of the Season
[7] LW   Ioannis Fountoulis

(Olympiacos)

CF  

Luka Lončar (Jug)

RW   Maro Joković

(Szolnok)

LD   Felipe Perrone (Jug Dubrovik) CB   Milan Aleksić (Szolnok) RD   Filip Filipović (Pro Recco)
GK   Marko Bijač (Jug Dubrovik)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "LEN Club Competition Programme Season 2015/2016" (PDF). LEN.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "LEN Champions League − Draw, Qualification round I". LEN. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
  3. ^ "LEN Champions League − Draw, Qualification round II". LEN. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  4. ^ "LEN Champions League − Draw, Qualification round III". LEN. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  5. ^ "LEN Champions League − Draw, Prelimininary Round". LEN. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
  6. ^ "Jug Dubrovnik stuns everyone, FINAL6 – LEN.eu | Ligue Européenne de Natation". Retrieved 2022-03-08.
  7. ^ Curcic, Ivan (2023-06-05). "LEN Champions League "Team of the Tournament"". Total Waterpolo. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
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