2010–11 LEN Women's Champions' Cup

The 2010–11 LEN Women's Champions' Cup was the 24th edition of the highest-level competition in women's European club water polo. It involved the champions and other top teams from European national leagues and ran from December 2010 to April 2011. The Final Four (semifinals, final, and third place game) took place in Sabadell, Spain.

Final Four host CN Sabadell became the first Spanish team to win the competition beating Orizzonte Catania in the final.[1] Olympiacos CFP and Kinef Kirishi also reached the final Four, with Olympiacos ranking third, while defending champion Vouliagmeni OC was defeated by Orizzonte in the quarter-finals.

Federation team allocation

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Each national federation can enter up to two teams into the Women's Champions' Cup.

  • Seeded Federations are the federations who placed a team in the final Four of the previous' year's competition. In 2009/10, these countries were: Greece (2), Italy, and Russia
  • All other federations are unseeded

Federations do not have to enter their top two teams into the Champions' Cup. If they do not think their clubs can be competitive, they can enter teams into the second-tier LEN Cup.

Format and Changes

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The original format for the Champions' Cup was to have four phases:

However, there were only 13 entries, so the qualification round was cancelled, and the preliminary round will be played with 3 groups of 3 and 1 group of 4.

Distribution

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Teams entering in this round Teams advancing from previous round
Preliminary Round
  • 1 or 2 teams from each federation
Knockout Phase
(8 teams)
  • 4 tournament winners from the preliminary round
  • 4 tournament runner-up from the preliminary round

Teams

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There were 13 entries from 7 countries. Each of the draw pots were organised according to the previous year's results:
Bold indicates countries that entered teams

Pot 1 Final Four qualifiers Greece (2), Italy, Russia
Pot 2 Losing quarterfinalists Italy, Russia, Spain (2)
Pot 3 3rd placed in preliminary round Germany, Hungary, Netherlands (2)
Pot 4 4th placed in preliminary round France, Great Britain (2), Switzerland

Note: The Netherlands only entered one team, so the two available places in Pot 3 were taken by a second German team and a French team elevated from Pot 4.

Draw Group A Group B Group C Group D
Pot 1   Orizzonte Catania   Kinef Kirishi   Olympiacos CFP  Vouliagmeni OC
Pot 2   CN Sabadell   CE Mediterrani   Shturm Ruza   Fiorentina WP
Pot 3   Blau-Weiss Bochum   Bayer Uerdingen   Olympic Nice   Polar Bears Ede
Pot 4   ASPTT Nancy

Round and Draw Dates

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Tournament Phase Draw Date Tournament
Preliminary Round 6 August 2010 Ends 5 December 2010
Knockout Phase Draw Date 1st Leg 2nd Leg
Quarterfinals 12–13 February 2011 19–20 March 2011
Final Four Draw Date Round Date
Semifinals 22 April 2011
Final 23 April 2011

Tournament Phase

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First qualifying round

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Key to colours in group tables
Progress to the Quarterfinal Round

Group A

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Team PL W D L F A Pts
1.   Sabadell 2 2 0 0 26 20 6
2.   Orizzonte Catania (host) 2 1 0 1 30 25 3
3.   Blau-Weiss Bochum 2 0 0 2 18 29 0
14 January 2011
Sabadell 12–7 Blau-Weiss Bochum
15 January 2011
Sabadell 14–13 Orizzonte Catania
16 January 2011
Orizzonte Catania 17–11 Blau-Weiss Bochum

Group B

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Team PL W D L F A Pts
1.   Kinef Kirishi (host) 2 2 0 0 42 16 6
2.   Bayer Uerdingen 2 1 0 1 30 33 0
3.   Mediterrani 2 0 0 2 17 40 0
14 January 2011
Bayer Uerdingen 20–11 Mediterrani
15 January 2011
Kinef Kirishi 22–10 Bayer Uerdingen
16 January 2011
Kinef Kirishi 20–6 Mediterrani

Group C

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Team PL W D L F A Pts
1.   Olympiacos 2 2 0 0 25 15 6
2.   Shturm Ruza 2 1 0 1 26 19 3
3.   Olympic Nice (host) 2 0 0 2 11 28 0
14 January 2011
Olympiacos 13–4 Olympic Nice
15 January 2011
Olympiacos 12–11 Shturm Ruza
16 January 2011
Shturm Ruza 15–7 Olympic Nice

Group D

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Team PL W D L F A Pts
1.   Vouliagmeni 3 3 0 0 43 17 9
2.   Polar Bears Ede 3 2 0 1 31 30 6
3.   Fiorentina (host) 3 1 0 2 24 28 3
4.   Nancy 3 0 0 3 19 42 0
14 January 2011
Vouliagmeni 15–6 Polar Bears Ede
Fiorentina 11–6 Nancy
15 January 2011
Vouliagmeni 17–6 Nancy
Polar Bears Ede 11–8 Fiorentina
16 January 2011
Vouliagmeni 11–5 Fiorentina
Polar Bears Ede 14–7 Nancy

Quarter-finals

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Team #1 Agg. Team #2 L #1 L #2
Sabadell   22–19   Shturm Ruza 16–8 6–11
Polar Bears Ede   18–26   Kinef Kirishi 9–11 9–15
Vouliagmeni   21–23   Orizzonte Catania 13–11 8–12
Bayer Uerdingen   14–35   Olympiacos 8–18 6–17

Final four

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Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
22 April
 
 
  Sabadell15
 
23 April
 
  Kinef Kirishi13
 
  Sabadell13
 
22 April
 
  Orizzonte Catania8
 
  Orizzonte Catania14
 
 
  Olympiacos13
 
Third place
 
 
23 April
 
 
  Kinef Kirishi12
 
 
  Olympiacos14
2011 LEN Women's Champions' Cup Champions

CN Sabadell
First title

References

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