# 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.

## Overview
### Team allocation

8 teams are directly qualified for the preliminary round.
Preliminary round :
| Jug | Spandau 04 | Eger | Partizan |
| Atlètic-Barceloneta | Olympiacos | Pro Recco | 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

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

## Qualifying rounds
### Qualification I

* 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.
* Key to colours in group tables
* Progress to the Round II

#### Group A

Tournament was played in Herceg Novi, Montenegro.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | SPA | 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 | | | |

#### Group B

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 | |

#### Group C

Tournament was played in Tbilisi, Georgia.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | WAS | OSC | CNM |
| 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 |

### Qualification II

* 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).
* Key to colours in group tables
* Progress to the Qualification Round III

#### Group D

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 | | |

#### Group E

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 | | | | |

#### Group F

Tournament was played in Rijeka, Croatia.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | 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 | |

#### Group G

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 | | | |

### Qualification III

* 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.
| 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

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:
* Head-to-head record.
* Head-to-head point differential.
* Point differential during the Regular Season.
* Points scored during the regular season.
* 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.

### Group A

| 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 | Advance to quarter-finals | 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 | Eliminated | 11–11 | 8–15 | 8–8 | 9–9 | — | 9–9 |
| 6 | Jadran Carine | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 77 | 105 | −28 | 3 | Eliminated | 6–13 | 11–11 | 5–6 | 9–11 | 9–9 | — |

### Group B

| 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 | Advance to quarter-finals | 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 | Eliminated | 7–18 | 9–14 | 6–10 | 5–4 | — | 9–8 |
| 6 | Galatasaray | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 76 | 140 | −64 | 1 | Eliminated | 10–19 | 7–14 | 10–16 | 9–12 | 9–9 | — |

## Final Six

Hajós Alfréd Nemzeti Sportuszoda, Budapest, Hungary
| Quarterfinals 2 June 2016 | Quarterfinals 2 June 2016 | Quarterfinals 2 June 2016 | Semifinals 3 June 2016 | Semifinals 3 June 2016 | Semifinals 3 June 2016 | Final 4 June 2016 | Final 4 June 2016 | Final 4 June 2016 |
| | | | A1 | Olympiacos | 8 | | | |
| B2 | Szolnoki VSK | 7 | B2 | Szolnoki VSK | 7 | | | |
| A3 | CNA Barceloneta | 5 | | | | A1 | Olympiacos | 4 |
| | | | | | | B3 | Jug Dubrovnik | 6 |
| | | | B1 | Pro Recco | 10$^{(4)}$ | | | |
| A2 | ZF Eger | 6 | B3 | Jug Dubrovnik | 10$^{(5)}$ | | | |
| B3 | Jug Dubrovnik | 8 | | | | | | |
| | | | 5th place | 5th place | 5th place | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | A3 | CNA Barceloneta | 10 | B2 | Szolnoki VSK | 11 |
| | | | A2 | ZF Eger | 6 | B1 | Pro Recco | 7 |
* 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

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

### Awards

| 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) |
Total 7 of the Season :
| 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) | Marko Bijač (Jug Dubrovik) | Marko Bijač (Jug Dubrovik) | Marko Bijač (Jug Dubrovik) | Marko Bijač (Jug Dubrovik) |