2017–18 LEN Champions League

The 2017–18 LEN Champions League was the 55th edition of LEN's premier competition for men's water polo clubs.

2017–18 LEN Champions League
League	LEN Champions League
Sport	Water Polo
Number of teams	16 (preliminary round)
Season MVP	Josip Pavic (Olympiacos)
Top scorer	Darko Brguljan 42 goals (Hannover)
Final Eight
Champions	Olympiacos (2nd title)
Runners-up	Pro Recco
Finals MVP	Josip Pavic (Olympiacos)

Overview

Team allocation

12 teams are directly qualified for the preliminary round (TH: Champions League title holders).

Preliminary Round
Jug CO	Waspo 98 Hannover	Pro Recco	Dynamo Moscow
Olympic Nice ZF Eger	Olympiacos	AZC Alphen	Partizan
Spandau 04	Szolnoki VSCTH	Steaua București	CNA Barceloneta
Qualification round II
HAVK Mladost	NC Vouliagmeni	CSM Digi Oradea	Crvena zvezda
CN Marseille	AN Brescia	Spartak Volgograd	CN Sabadell
ASC Duisburg	UZSC Utrecht
Qualification round I
Banja Luka	Orvosegyetem SC	Jadran Carine	CN Terrassa
Mornar	ASA Tel Aviv	CF Portuense	Enka SK
Strasbourg	CC Napoli	Sintez Kazan	Galatasaray
ANC Glyfada

Phases and rounds dates

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

Phase	Round	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying rounds	Qualification round I	14–17 September 2017
	Qualification round II	28 September–1 October 2017
	Qualification round III	14 October 2017	18 October 2017
Preliminary round	Matchday 1	25 October 2017
	Matchday 2	8 November 2017
	Matchday 3	29 November 2017
	Matchday 4	9 December 2017
	Matchday 5	20 December 2017
	Matchday 6	13 January 2018
	Matchday 7	24 January 2018
	Matchday 8	7 February 2018
	Matchday 9	28 February 2018
	Matchday 10	14 March 2018
	Matchday 11	31 March 2018
	Matchday 12	18 April 2018
	Matchday 13	28 April 2018
	Matchday 14	9 May 2018
Final Eight	Quarterfinals	7 June 2018
	Semifinals	8 June 2018
	Final	9 June 2018

Qualifying rounds

Qualification round I

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		OSC	SIN	TER	POR	BAN
1	Orvosegyetem SC	4	4	0	0	73	16	+57	12	Round II		—	10–6			30–2
2	Sintez Kazan	4	3	0	1	58	21	+37	9				—		21–5
3	CN Terrassa	4	2	0	2	46	27	+19	6			5–11	4–6	—
4	CF Portuense	4	1	0	3	21	62	−41	3			3–22		3–14	—
5	Banja Luka (H)	4	0	0	4	16	88	−72	0				2–25	7–23	5–10	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JAD	NAP	STR	ESK
1	Jadran Carine	3	3	0	0	42	16	+26	9	Round II		—	18–7	7–6	17–3
2	CC Napoli	3	2	0	1	33	34	−1	6				—	9–8	17–8
3	Strasbourg (H)	3	1	0	2	28	23	+5	3					—
4	Enka SK	3	0	0	3	18	48	−30	0					7–14	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MOR	GLY	GAL	ASA
1	Mornar	3	3	0	0	31	16	+15	9	Round II		—		7–5
2	ANC Glyfada	3	2	0	1	35	21	+14	6			9–10	—	8–6
3	Galatasaray	3	1	0	2	24	22	+2	3					—
4	ASA Tel Aviv (H)	3	0	0	3	14	45	−31	0			2–14	5–18	7–13	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Qualification round II

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SPA	JAD	MLA	DUI
1	Spartak Volgograd	3	2	1	0	27	16	+11	7	Round III		—	7–5		14–5
2	Jadran Carine	3	2	0	1	36	19	+17	6				—		19–5
3	HAVK Mladost (H)	3	1	1	1	34	22	+12	4			6–6	7–12	—	21–4
4	ASC Duisburg	3	0	0	3	14	54	−40	0						—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MAR	OSC	NAP	GLY
1	CN Marseille	3	2	1	0	27	16	+11	7	Round III		—			13–10
2	Orvosegyetem SC (H)	3	2	0	1	36	19	+17	6			7–8	—		19–7
3	CC Napoli	3	1	1	1	34	22	+12	4			11–11	7–11	—
4	ANC Glyfada	3	0	0	3	14	54	−40	0					8–11	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BRE	SAB	MOR	UTR
1	AN Brescia	3	3	0	0	46	22	+24	9	Round III		—			23–2
2	CN Sabadell (H)	3	2	0	1	33	23	+10	6			12–13	—	8–3	13–7
3	Mornar	3	1	0	2	22	25	−3	3			8–10		—
4	UZSC Utrecht	3	0	0	3	16	47	−31	0					7–11	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CZV	SIN	VOU	ORA
1	Crvena zvezda	3	2	0	1	19	19	0	6[a]	Round III		—		6–5
2	Sintez Kazan	3	2	0	1	27	25	+2	6[a]			8–10	—
3	NC Vouliagmeni	3	1	0	2	20	21	−1	3[b]				7–10	—
4	CSM Digi Oradea (H)	3	1	0	2	19	20	−1	3[b]			6–3	8–9	5–8	—

Source: LEN
(H) Hosts
Notes:

1. Crvena zvezda 10–8 Sintez Kazan
2. NC Vouliagmeni 8–5 CSM Digi Oradea

Qualification round III

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CN Marseille	13–16	Jadran Carine	6–7	7–9
Spartak Volgograd	14–26	Orvosegyetem SC	7–14	7–12
AN Brescia	18–17	Sintez Kazan	11–9	7–8
Crvena zvezda	14–17	CN Sabadell	6–6	8–11

Preliminary round

Main article: 2017–18 LEN Champions League preliminary round

D. Moscow

Jug

Barcelona Province

Hannover

OSC

Partizan

Brescia

Olympiacos

S. București

Eger

Jadran HN

Alphen

Pro Recco

Spandau 04

Szolnok

Barcelona Province teams
Barceloneta
Sabadell

Location of teams of the 2017–18 LEN Champions League group stage.
Red: Group A; Blue: Group B.

The draw for the group stage was held on 29 August 2017 in Budapest.^[2] The 16 teams were drawn into two groups of eight.

In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners, runners-ups, third and fourth placed teams advance to the Final 8. The matchdays are 25 October, 8 and 29 November, 9 and 20 December 2017, 13 and 24 January, 7 and 28 February, 14 and 31 March, 18 and 28 April, 9 May 2018.

A total of 11 national associations are represented in the group stage.

Key to colors

Advance to the Final Eight	Home team win	Draw	Away team win

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		OLY	JUG	BAR	BRE	DYN	HAN	OSC	PAR
1	Olympiacos	14	12	1	1	153	102	+51	37	Final Eight		—	8–6	14–10	13–6	17–9	11–7	10–7	16–8
2	Jug CO	14	9	1	4	147	113	+34	28			10–8	—	9–9	10–7	15–10	14–9	12–10	16–5
3	CNA Barceloneta	14	8	3	3	137	102	+35	27			7–7	8–6	—	5–7	7–7	13–12	12–6	16–5
4	AN Brescia	14	8	2	4	114	106	+8	26			6–7	9–8	6–5	—	9–9	11–9	9–5	13–9
5	Dynamo Moscow	14	6	4	4	141	133	+8	22			9–13	12–11	5–9	9–9	—	9–6	7–7	16–4
6	Waspo 98 Hannover	14	4	0	10	133	150	−17	12			7–12	6–13	7–13	8–6	11–15	—	13–8	16–6
7	Orvosegyetem SC	14	3	1	10	103	126	−23	10			6–10	4–7	6–8	6–8	5–10	8–7	—	14–6
8	Partizan	14	0	0	14	91	187	−96	0			4–7	8–10	5–15	3–8	10–14	11–15	7–11	—

Source: LEN

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		REC	EGE	SZO	SPA	JAD	STE	SAB	ALP
1	Pro Recco	14	13	0	1	186	80	+106	39	Final Eight		—	14–6	8–5	12–4	10–5	15–6	13–5	19–1
2	ZF Eger	14	10	1	3	134	87	+47	31			4–6	—	6–3	8–4	8–4	12–9	14–5	15–4
3	Szolnoki VSC	14	10	0	4	169	99	+70	30			10–9	10–11	—	9–8	13–10	15–3	14–4	17–4
4	Spandau 04	14	8	1	5	133	125	+8	25			9–10	10–9	10–9	—	13–13	11–9	11–8	14–8
5	Jadran Carine	14	6	2	6	128	126	+2	20			5–15	4–4	6–14	11–5	—	16–10	7–8	15–7
6	Steaua București	14	4	0	10	109	152	−43	12			6–13	3–8	9–17	5–6	4–8	—	10–9	9–8
7	CN Sabadell	14	3	0	11	115	174	−59	9			9–18	7–15	5–16	9–11	8–10	10–11	—	12–10
8	AZC Alphen	14	0	0	14	87	218	−131	0			5–24	4–14	6–17	5–17	7–14	4–15	14–16	—

Source: LEN

Final Eight

Main article: 2017–18 LEN Champions League Final Eight

7–9 June 2018—Genoa, Italy

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	7 June
	Olympiacos	6
					8 June
	Spandau 04	5
					Olympiacos	6
	7 June
					CNA Barceloneta	4
	ZF Eger	4
									9 June
	CNA Barceloneta	9
									Olympiacos	9
	7 June
									Pro Recco	7
	Pro Recco (PSO)	12
					8 June
	AN Brescia	10
					Pro Recco	9
	7 June
					Jug CO	8			Third place game
	Jug CO	9
									9 June
	Szolnoki VSC	8
									CNA Barceloneta	14
									Jug CO	8

5th–8th place bracket

	5th–8th place semifinals				Fifth place game
	8 June
	Spandau 04	6
					9 June
	ZF Eger	10
					ZF Eger	6
	8 June
					Szolnoki VSC	10
	AN Brescia	7
	Szolnoki VSC	8
					Seventh place game
					9 June
					Spandau 04	10
					AN Brescia	14

2017–18 LEN Champions League Champions
Olympiacos (2nd title)

Josip Pavić, Emmanouil Mylonakis, Evangelos Delakas, Konstantinos Genidounias, Ioannis Fountoulis, Dimitrios Nikolaidis, Georgios Dervisis, Andro Bušlje, Konstantinos Mourikis, Alexandros Gounas, Stylianos Argyropoulos, Paulo Obradović, Stefanos Galanopoulos, Emmanouil Prekas

Head coach

Thodoris Vlachos

Final standings

	Team
	Olympiacos
	Pro Recco
	CNA Barceloneta
4	Jug CO
5	Szolnoki VSC
6	ZF Eger
7	AN Brescia
8	Spandau 04

Awards

Player of the Season	Top Scorer	Player of the Final Eight	Goalkeeper of the Final Eight
Josip Pavić (Olympiacos)	Darko Brguljan (Waspo'98 Hannover) 42 goals	Josip Pavic (Olympiacos)	Josip Pavic (Olympiacos)

^[3]

Total 7 of the Season
[4]	LW	Francesco Di Fulvio (Pro Recco)	CF	Josip Vrlić (Barceloneta)	RW	Maro Joković (Jug)
	LD	Ioannis Fountoulis (Olympiacos)	CB	Andro Bušlje (Olympiacos)	RD	Dušan Mandić (Pro Recco)
	GK	Josip Pavić (Olympiacos)

See also

• 2017–18 LEN Euro Cup