2020–21 LEN Champions League

The 2020–21 LEN Champions League was the 58th edition of LEN's premier competition for men's water polo clubs.

2020–21 LEN Champions League
LeagueLEN Champions League
SportWater Polo
Duration11 November 2020 – 5 June 2021
Number of teams28 (from 13 countries)
Qualification round: 18
Preliminary round: 10
Season MVPSerbia Dusan Mandic (Pro Recco)
Top scorerGreece Angelos Vlachopoulos (AN Brescia) 41 goals
Final 8
ChampionsItaly Pro Recco (9th title)
  Runners-upHungary FTC Telekom Budapest
Finals MVPSerbia Dusan Mandic (Pro Recco)
Champions League seasons

Teams

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Preliminary round
  Jug CO Dubrovnik   Spandau 04   FTC Telekom   Jadran Herceg Novi
  CN Marseille   Waspo 98 Hannover   Pro Recco   Zodiac CNA Barceloneta
  Dinamo Tbilisi   Olympiacos
Qualification round
  Mladost Zagreb   Ydraikos   Primorac Kotor   Radnički Kragujevac
  Jadran Split   OSC Budapest   Steaua Bucharest   CN Barcelona
  Pays d’Aix Natation   Szolnok   Digi Oradea   CN Terrassa
  Tourcoing   AN Brescia   Sintez Kazan   Enka Istanbul
  Vouliagmeni   Ortigia Siracusa

Schedule

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

Phase Round Date
Qualification round 11–15 November 2020
Preliminary round Round 1 14–18 December 2020
Round 2 1–5 March 2021
Round 3 19–23 April 2021
Final 8 3–5 June 2021

Qualification round

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The qualification round is scheduled for 11–15 November 2020.[2]

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification   CCO   CNB   JST   PRI   STE
1   Ortigia Siracusa (H) 4 3 1 0 33 21 +12 10 Final 5–3 11–7 8–8 9–3
2   CN Barcelona 4 2 1 1 34 20 +14 7 8–8 12–3 11–4
3   Jadran Split 4 2 1 1 45 42 +3 7 16–11 14–12
4   Primorac Kotor 4 1 1 2 33 44 −11 4 11–8
5   Steaua Bucharest 4 0 0 4 27 45 −18 0
Source: LEN
(H) Hosts
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification   MZG   SZO   AIX   YDR
1   Mladost Zagreb 3 2 1 0 44 31 +13 7 Final 18–18 16–13 10–0
2   Szolnok 3 2 1 0 39 27 +12 7 11–9 10–0
3   Pays d’Aix Natation 3 1 0 2 32 27 +5 3 10–0
4   Ydraikos 3 0 0 3 0 30 −30 0 Disqualified
Source: LEN

Final

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Team 1  Score  Team 2
Ortigia Siracusa   9–8   Mladost Zagreb

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification   RKG   OSC   SIN   CNT   ENT
1   Radnički Kragujevac 4 2 2 0 45 38 +7 8 Final 9–9 16–14 13–8
2   OSC Budapest (H) 4 2 1 1 48 45 +3 7 15–16 12–9
3   Sintez Kazan 4 2 0 2 54 47 +7 6 11–12
4   CN Terrassa 4 1 1 2 45 56 −11 4 12–9 11–11
5   Tourcoing 4 0 2 2 36 42 −6 2 7–7 9–12
Source: LEN
(H) Hosts
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification   BRE   NCV   ORA   ESK
1   AN Brescia 3 3 0 0 38 7 +31 9 Final 10–6 10–0
2   Vouliagmeni 3 2 0 1 32 19 +13 6 16–9
3   Digi Oradea 3 1 0 2 20 34 −14 3 1–18 10–0
4   Enka Istanbul 3 0 0 3 0 30 −30 0 Disqualified 0–10
Source: LEN

Final

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Team 1  Score  Team 2
Radnički Kragujevac   9–13   AN Brescia

Preliminary round

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Location of teams of the 2020–21 LEN Champions League preliminary round.

LEN decided to play the 10 match-days of the 2020–21 LEN Champions League preliminary round in bubble format in three rounds, using two venues at each occasion. The ten match-days will be played in three rounds at two venues each time. Teams of the same group will contest three match-days, one time four, where the participants will be isolated for the entire duration of event because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The draw for the group phase took place in Rome on 19 October 2020.

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification   REC   JUG   OLY   CNM   S04   CCO
1   Pro Recco 10 10 0 0 127 68 +59 30 Final 8 18–3 13–6 11–9 19–6 10–3
2   Jug CO Dubrovnik 10 6 1 3 102 106 −4 19 11–12 11–11 11–10 12–10 8–6
3   Olympiacos 10 4 2 4 89 92 −3 14 8–14 8–9 11–7 8–8 6–4
4   CN Marseille 10 4 1 5 93 94 −1 13 8–10 15–13 9–8 8–5 10–11
5   Spandau 04 10 1 3 6 79 104 −25 6 7–10 7–13 9–13 7–7 12–6
6   Ortigia Siracusa 10 1 1 8 69 95 −26 4 7–10 9–11 8–10 7–10 8–8
Source: LEN

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification   FTC   BAR   BRE   HAN   DTB   JHN
1   FTC Telekom 10 8 0 2 113 73 +40 24 Final 8 11–10 7–10 13–9 15–11 12–5
2   Zodiac CNA Barceloneta 10 8 0 2 119 81 +38 24 7–8 10–9 12–8 17–5 13–11
3   AN Brescia 10 7 0 3 117 80 +37 21 9–6 6–8 19–11 14–6 6–7
4   Waspo 98 Hannover 10 3 0 7 89 122 −33 9 6–19 8–16 10–18 10–3 9–4
5   Dinamo Tbilisi 10 2 0 8 74 121 −47 6 4–11 6–14 9–15 6–7 11–8
6   Jadran Herceg Novi 10 2 0 8 74 109 −35 6 2–11 9–12 6–11 12–11 10–13
Source: LEN

Final 8

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3–5 June 2021, Belgrade, Serbia.[3][4]

Location of the 2020–21 LEN Champions League Final 8

Qualified teams

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Group Winners Runners-up Third Fourth
A   Pro Recco   Jug AO Dubrovnik   Olympiacos   CN Marseille
B   FTC Telekom   Zodiac CNAB   AN Brescia   Waspo 98 Hannover

Bracket

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QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
 
          
 
3 June
 
 
  Pro Recco16
 
4 June
 
  Waspo 98 Hannover9
 
  Pro Recco12
 
3 June
 
  Zodiac CNAB10
 
  Zodiac CNAB22
 
5 June
 
  Olympiacos9
 
  Pro Recco9
 
3 June
 
  FTC Telekom6
 
  FTC Telekom14
 
4 June
 
  CN Marseille6
 
  FTC Telekom14
 
3 June
 
  AN Brescia12 Third place game
 
  Jug AO Dubrovnik10
 
5 June
 
  AN Brescia12
 
  Zodiac CNAB7
 
 
  AN Brescia13
 


5th–8th place bracket
 
5th–8th place semifinalsFifth place game
 
      
 
4 June
 
 
  Waspo 98 Hannover10
 
5 June
 
  Olympiacos8
 
  Waspo 98 Hannover11
 
4 June
 
  Jug AO Dubrovnik16
 
  CN Marseille13
 
 
  Jug AO Dubrovnik16
 
Seventh place game
 
 
5 June
 
 
  Olympiacos13
 
 
  CN Marseille12

All times are local (UTC+2).

Quarterfinals

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3 June 2021
13:00
Report Pro Recco   16–9   Waspo 98 Hannover Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Kun
  Schwartz
Score by quarters: 5–2, 4–3, 1–2, 6–2
Ivović 5 Goals Brguljan 3

3 June 2021
15:30
Report FTC Telekom   14–6   CN Marseille Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Alexandrescu
  Voevodin
Score by quarters: 3–0, 4–1, 3–3, 4–2
Fountoulis 4 Goals Vukičević 2

3 June 2021
18:00
Report Jug AO Dubrovnik   10–12   AN Brescia Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Stavridis
  Zwart
Score by quarters: 2–3, 3–3, 3–3, 2–3
Fatović 4 Goals Alesiani 3

3 June 2021
20:30
Report Zodiac CNA Barceloneta   22–9   Olympiacos Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Margeta
  Putniković
Score by quarters: 6–0, 7–2, 6–3, 3–4
three players 4 Goals Genidounias 3

5th–8th place semifinals

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4 June 2021
13:00
Report Waspo 98 Hannover   10–8   Olympiacos Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Putniković
  Ivanovski
Score by quarters: 2–1, 4–2, 3–3, 1–2
Radović 6 Goals Genidounias 3

4 June 2021
15:30
Report CN Marseille   13–16   Jug AO Dubrovnik Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Zwart
  Kun
Score by quarters: 1–1, 4–6, 5–5, 3–4
Crousillat 4 Goals Papanastasiou 5

Semifinals

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4 June 2021
18:00
Report Pro Recco   12–10   Zodiac CNA Barceloneta Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Alexandrescu
  Stavridis
Score by quarters: 2–4, 4–3, 4–1, 2–2
Mandić 4 Goals Perrone 3

4 June 2021
20:30
Report FTC Telekom   14–12   AN Brescia Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Martega
  Voevodin
Score by quarters: 4–0, 4–6, 3–5, 3–1
Vámos, Varga 4 Goals Joković, Vlachopoulos 3

Seventh place game

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5 June 2021
13:00
Report Olympiacos   13–12   CN Marseille Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Schwartz
  Ivanovski
Score by quarters: 5–2, 2–4, 4–4, 2–2
Chrysospathis, Genidounias 3 Goals three players 2

Fifth place game

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5 June 2021
15:30
Report Waspo 98 Hannover   11–16   Jug AO Dubrovnik Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Stavridis
  Kun
Score by quarters: 2–3, 1–6, 4–5, 4–2
Macan, Nagaev 3 Goals Merkulov 5

Third place game

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5 June 2021
18:00
Report Zodiac CNA Barceloneta   7–13   AN Brescia Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Zwart
  Putniković
Score by quarters: 1–3, 2–6, 2–2, 2–2
Granados 3 Goals Vlachopoulos 4

Final

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5 June 2021
20:30
Report Pro Recco   9–6   FTC Telekom Sports Centre April 11th, Belgrade
Referees:
  Margeta
  Alexandrescu
Score by quarters: 3–2, 2–3, 2–0, 2–1
Mandić 3 Goals Constantin-Bicari, Vigvari 2


2020–21 LEN Champions League
Champions
 
Pro Recco
9th title
Marko Bijač, Francesco Di Fulvio, Dušan Mandić, Pietro Figlioli, Aaron Younger, Alessandro Velotto, Nicholas Presciutti, Gonzalo Echenique, Aleksandar Ivović, Benjamin Thomas, Matteo Aicardi, Stefano Luongo, Tommaso Negri
Head coach
Gabriel Hernández

Final ranking

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Team
    Pro Recco
    FTC Telekom Budapest
    AN Brescia
4   Zodiac CNA Barceloneta
5   Jug AO Dubrovnik
6   Waspo 98 Hannover
7   Olympiacos
8   CN Marseille

Awards

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Season MVP Top Scorer Final Eight MVP Final Eight Best Goalkeeper
  Dušan Mandić (Pro Recco)   Angelos Vlachopoulos[5] (AN Brescia) 31 goals   Dusan Mandic[6] (Pro Recco)   Marko Bijac (Pro Recco)
Total 7 of the Season
[7] LW   Dénes Varga

(Ferecvaros)

CF  

Ben Hallock (Pro Recco)

RW   Gergő Zalánki

(Ferecvaros)

LD   Angelos Vlachopoulos (AN Brescia) CB   Nikola Jakšić (Ferecvaros) RD   Dušan Mandić (Pro Recco)
GK   Marko Bijač (Pro Recco)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "LEN club competition programme season 2020–2021" (PDF). LEN.com.
  2. ^ "Champions League, Qualification Draw". LEN.com.
  3. ^ Ivan Curcic (24 March 2021). "Confirmed: Champions League F8 will be held in Belgrade in 2021, 2022, and 2023". total-waterpolo.com. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Belgrade hosts the Final Eight in 2021-2023". len.eu. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  5. ^ "LEN Champions League 2020/2021 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive". globalsportsarchive.com. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
  6. ^ "PRO REKO JE PRVAK EVROPE, DUŠAN MANDIĆ MVP! Ferencvaroš nije uspeo da odbrani tron u Beogradu! (VIDEO)". espreso.co.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 2022-03-08.
  7. ^ Curcic, Ivan (2023-06-05). "LEN Champions League "Team of the Tournament"". Total Waterpolo. Retrieved 2023-06-05.

Notes

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