2016–17 LEN Champions League

The 2016–17 LEN Champions League was the 54th edition of LEN's premier competition for men's water polo clubs. It ran from 30 September 2016 to 27 May 2017.

2016–17 LEN Champions League
League	LEN Champions League
Sport	Water Polo
Duration	30 September 2016 to 27 May 2017
Number of teams	12 (preliminary round) 31 (total)
Season MVP	Felipe Perrone (Jug Dubrovnik)
Top scorer	Felipe Perrone 42 goals (Jug Dubrovnik)
Final Six
Finals champions	Szolnok (1st title)
Runners-up	Jug
Finals MVP	Andrija Prlainovic (Szolnok)

Team allocation

See also: 2016–17 LEN Champions League squads

8 teams are directly qualified for the preliminary round.

Preliminary round
JugTH	Spandau 04	Szolnok	Partizan
Atlètic-Barceloneta	Olympiacos	Pro Recco	Olympic Nice
Qualification round II
Primorje	Duisburg	Eger	Crvena zvezda
Sabadell	Vouliagmeni	Brescia	Marseille
Qualification round I
Mornar	Sintez Kazan	Jadran	Waspo 98 Hannover
Verona	Orvosegyetem	Portuense	Valletta
Utrecht	Oradea	Galatasaray	Arkonia Szczecin
Barendrecht	Steaua București	Enkaspor

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows.

Phase	Round	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	Qualification round I	30 September–2 October 2016
	Qualification round II	14–16 October 2016
	Qualification round III (play-off round)	26 October 2016	9 November 2016
Preliminary round	Matchday 1	30 November 2016
	Matchday 2	10 December 2016
	Matchday 3	21 December 2016
	Matchday 4	18 January 2017
	Matchday 5	8 February 2017
	Matchday 6	18 February 2017
	Matchday 7	1 March 2017
	Matchday 8	22 March 2017
	Matchday 9	5 April 2017
	Matchday 10	26 April 2017
Final 6	Quarter-finals	25 May 2017
	Semi-finals	26 May 2017
	Final	27 May 2017

Qualifying rounds

Qualification I

Fifteen teams take part in the Qualification round I. They were drawn into three groups of four teams and one group of three teams, whose played on 30 September−2 October 2016. Top 2 teams of each group advance to qualification round II.

Group A

Tournament was played in Oradea, Romania.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ORA	MOR	UTR	GAL
1	Oradea (H)	3	3	0	0	35	18	+17	9	Round II		—	10–6	11–5	14–7
2	Mornar	3	2	0	1	32	23	+9	6			—	—	—	13–7
3	Utrecht	3	1	0	2	20	31	−11	3			—	6–13	—	—
4	Galatasaray	3	0	0	3	21	36	−15	0			—	—	7–9	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group B

Tournament was played in Budapest, Hungary.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ORV	WAS	BAR
1	Orvosegyetem (H)	2	2	0	0	32	17	+15	6	Round II		—	12–11	20–6
2	Waspo 98 Hannover	2	1	0	1	30	17	+13	3			—	—	—
3	Barendrecht	2	0	0	2	11	39	−28	0			—	5–19	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group C

Tournament was played in Porto, Portugal.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VER	SIN	ENK	POR
1	Verona	3	2	1	0	59	17	+42	7	Round II		—	10–10	—	—
2	Sintez Kazan	3	2	1	0	44	15	+29	7			—	—	14–3	—
3	Enkaspor	3	1	0	2	17	41	−24	3			6–21	—	—	—
4	Portuense (H)	3	0	0	3	9	56	−47	0			1–28	2–20	6–8	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group D

Tournament was played in Valletta, Malta.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JAD	STE	VAL	ARK
1	Jadran	3	3	0	0	57	11	+46	9	Round II		—	9–7	—	23–3
2	Steaua București	3	2	0	1	43	18	+25	6			—	—	19–6	—
3	Valletta (H)	3	1	0	2	19	46	−27	3			1–25	—	—	—
4	Arkonia Szczecin	3	0	0	3	8	52	−44	0			—	3–17	2–12	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Qualification II

Sixteen teams take part in the Qualification round II. Eight teams from first round and eight teams with wild cards. They were drawn into four groups of four teams, whose played on 14−16 October 2016. Top 2 teams of each group advance to qualification round III.

Group E

Tournament was played in Eger, Hungary.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VER	EGE	MAR	MOR
1	Verona	3	3	0	0	45	24	+21	9	Round III		—	—	18–9	17–6
2	Eger (H)	3	2	0	1	42	23	+19	6			9–10	—	18–5	15–8
3	Marseille	3	1	0	2	27	47	−20	3			—	—	—	13–11
4	Mornar	3	0	0	3	25	45	−20	0			—	—	—	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group F

Tournament was played in Brescia, Italy.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BRE	ORV	SIN	CZB
1	Brescia (H)	3	2	1	0	35	27	+8	7	Round III		—	11–11	15–11	9–5
2	Orvosegyetem	3	1	2	0	30	29	+1	5			—	—	11–11	—
3	Sintez Kazan	3	1	1	1	33	30	+3	4			—	—	—	11–4
4	Crvena zvezda	3	0	0	3	16	28	−12	0			—	7–8	—	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group G

Tournament was played in Herceg Novi, Montenegro.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		WAS	JAD	VOU	DUI
1	Waspo 98 Hannover	3	2	0	1	26	22	+4	6	Round III		—	—	—	8–5
2	Jadran (H)	3	2	0	1	27	18	+9	6			6–8	—	9–6	12–4
3	Vouliagmeni	3	2	0	1	32	28	+4	6			11–10	—	—	—
4	Duisburg	3	0	0	3	18	35	−17	0			—	—	9–15	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts
Notes:

Group H

Tournament was played in Rijeka, Croatia.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PRI	ORA	SAB	STE
1	Primorje (H)	3	2	0	1	24	28	−4	6	Round III		—	9–7	5–12	10–9
2	Oradea	3	2	0	1	29	25	+4	6			—	—	—	—
3	Sabadell	3	1	1	1	28	25	+3	4			—	6–10	—	—
4	Steaua București	3	0	1	2	29	32	−3	1			—	10–12	10–10	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts
Notes:

Qualification III

Eight teams take 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. Teams from the same group could not be drawn against each other.

Key to colors
Seeded in qualification round III draw
Unseeded in qualification round III draw

Group	Winners	Runners-up
E	Verona	Eger
F	Brescia	Orvosegyetem
G	Waspo 98 Hannover	Jadran
H	Primorje	Oradea

• 1st leg: 26 October 2016
• 2nd leg: 9 November 2016

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Waspo 98 Hannover	23–18	Oradea	12–7	11–11
Brescia	22–16	Jadran	14–5	8–11
Primorje	11–23	Eger	6–12	5–11
Orvosegyetem	21–19	Verona	10–6	11–13

Preliminary round

Barceloneta

Olympiacos

Olympic Nice

Spandau 04

Pro Recco

Partizan

Jug

Szolnok

Brescia

OSC

Waspo 98

Eger

class=notpageimage|

Location of teams of the 2016–17 LEN Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B.

The regular season was played between 30 November 2016 and 26 April 2017. 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 30 November, 10 December, 21 December 2016 and 18 January, 8 February, 18 February, 1 March, 22 March, 5 April, 26 April 2017. 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 25 to 27 May 2017.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		SZO	OLY	BRE	ORV	SPA	NIC
1	Szolnok	10	9	1	0	101	62	+39	28	Semifinals		—	5–5	8–4	10–8	12–7	17–4
2	Olympiacos	10	7	1	2	90	63	+27	22	Quarterfinals		4–6	—	8–4	7–4	10–8	15–2
3	Brescia	10	5	2	3	91	78	+13	17			9–10	13–10	—	6–6	9–6	13–4
4	Orvosegyetem	10	3	3	4	79	74	+5	12			8–9	7–8	7–7	—	5–5	11–9
5	Spandau 04	10	2	1	7	75	95	−20	7			8–12	6–11	10–14	6–10	—	11–6
6	Olympic Nice	10	0	0	10	60	124	−64	0			5–12	8–12	9–12	7–13	6–8	—

Source: LEN

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		PRO	EGE	JUG	BAR	PAR	WAS
1	Pro Recco	10	10	0	0	116	63	+53	30	Semifinals		—	9–4	9–5	8–6	12–7	18–8
2	Eger	10	6	0	4	78	84	−6	18	Quarterfinals		7–11	—	6–5	10–9	8–4	10–7
3	Jug	10	5	2	3	115	92	+23	17			8–11	10–6	—	11–10	21–9	15–15
4	Atlètic-Barceloneta	10	4	2	4	89	81	+8	14			6–11	10–6	7–7	—	12–5	12–10
5	Partizan	10	1	1	8	76	124	−48	4			5–17	8–9	9–16	4–8	—	13–9
6	Waspo 98 Hannover	10	0	3	7	98	128	−30	3			7–10	11–12	10–17	9–9	12–12	—

Source: LEN

Final Six

Danube Arena, Budapest, Hungary

Quarterfinals 25 May 2017

Semifinals 26 May 2017

Final 27 May 2017

A1

Szolnok

7

B2

Eger

6

B2

Eger

5

A3

Brescia

4

A1

Szolnok

10

B3

Jug

5

B1

Pro Recco

9

A2

Olympiacos

8

B3

Jug

10

B3

Jug

11

5th place

Third place

A3

Brescia

8

B2

Eger

6

A2

Olympiacos

5

B1

Pro Recco

15

Quarterfinals

25 May 2017 19:00	Report	Olympiacos	8–11	Jug	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Xavier Buch Sergey Naumov
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 1–4, 5–3, 1–1
		Genidounias 4	Goals	four players 2

---

25 May 2017 20:30	Report	Eger	6–4	Brescia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Vojin Putnikovic Matan Schwartz
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 1–1, 1–1, 2–0
		Hárai 3	Goals	Nora 2

5th place

26 May 2017 17:30	Report	Olympiacos	5–8	Brescia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Sergey Naumov Matan Schwartz
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 0–3, 1–1, 2–2
		Fountoulis 2	Goals	three players 2

Semifinals

26 May 2017 19:00	Report	Jug	10–9	Pro Recco	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Adrian Tiberiu Alexandrescu Xavier Buch
		Score by quarters: 4–2, 2–2, 3–4, 1–1
		Lončar, García 2	Goals	Filipović 4

---

26 May 2017 20:30	Report	Eger	5–7	Szolnok	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Boris Margeta Vojin Putnikovic
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 0–2, 1–2, 2–2
		five players 1	Goals	Younger, Prlainović 3

Third place

27 May 2017 15:15	Report	Pro Recco	15–6	Eger	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Xavier Buch Sergey Naumov
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 4–1, 3–2, 5–2
		Ivović 4	Goals	Vapenski 2

Final

27 May 2017 16:45	Report	Jug	5–10	Szolnok	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Adrian Tiberiu Alexandrescu Boris Margeta
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 2–5, 1–2, 0–2
		Marković 2	Goals	Aleksić, Prlainović 3

2016–17 LEN Champions League Champions
Szolnok 1st title

Viktor Nagy, Márton Vámos, Živko Gocić, Tamás Mezei, Aaron Younger, Dénes Varga, Milan Aleksić, Andrija Prlainović, Ugo Crousillat, Gábor Kis, David Jansik, Peter Kotlar, Patrik Bagi, Zlotan Hangay, Istvan Kardos, Zsombor Szeghalmi, Tamas Bodoroczki, Kristof Szatmari, Bence Fulop,

Head coach

Sándor Cseh

Final standings

	Team
	Szolnok
	Jug
	Pro Recco
	Eger
	Brescia
	Olympiacos

Awards

Player of the Season	Top Scorer	Player of the final Six	Goalkeeper of the final Six
Felipe Perrone (Jug)	Felipe Perrone (Jug) 42 goals	Andrija Prlainovic (Szolnok)	Viktor Nagy (Szolnok)

Total 7 of the Season
	LW	Andrija Prlainović (Szolnok)	CF	Luka Lončar (Jug)	RW	Márton Vámos (Szolnok)
	LD	Felipe Perrone (Jug)	CB	Aleksandar Ivović (Pro Recco)	RD	Filip Filipović (Pro Recco)
	GK	Marko Bijač (Jug)

See also

• 2016–17 LEN Euro Cup
• 2017 LEN Super Cup