Six of the eight competing sides are already in the history book by winning the
most prestigious trophy at least once, though host Pro Recco is targeting a record
9 th triumph in the Final Eight tournament in Genoa. LEN offers €381,000 in prize
money for the world’s best clubs, the winner will cash in €52,000.
The next three days will see the best eight clubs of the world going for the title,
featuring the greatest stars of present day water polo.
The quarterfinals onThursday promise brilliant clashes already. Just as last year, the final of the previous season shall be replayed in the quarters as 4-time Jug Dubrovnik (CRO)
and title-holder Szolnok (HUN) will have another face-off (last May Jug clashed
with Olympiacos as rematch of the 2016 final). Both teams, reshaped after last
season, had ups and downs in the prelims, and here only one can continue the
quest for glory.
The in-house battle of Italy, between 8-time winner Recco and Brescia, will offer
another exciting chapter of the two sides’ rich history. Recco beat Brescia 7-5 in
the Italian league final for the 4 th time this season a week ago, however, it’s Brescia
which managed to beat Recco for the last time in Italy, though it happened a year
ago, last May (that ended Recco’s all-Italian record of unbeaten runs, halted at 73
matches).
After missing last year’s F6, 2014 winner Barceloneta (ESP) is back but they face a
tough team, Eger (HUN). Both teams had a sluggish start but a brilliant 7-game
winning run from both in the middle of the season secured the qualification for
them. 2002 champion and 2016 runner-up Olympiacos (GRE) is one of the top
favourites and their first match seems to be an easy one against Spandau (GER) as
the Germans are not the same as they were in the 80s when they clinched the
trophy for four times. Still, Spandau claimed a couple of big wins in this season,
beat title-holder Szolnok and Eger and lost narrowly to Recco, so on a given day
they can be a threat to anyone.
For the first time, a Final Eight tournament is to be contested in the Champions
League. After the round-robin finals with four teams in the first decades, then the
clashes played on home-and-away basis, LEN introduced the Final Four format in
1997 and switched to Final Six in 2014.
As the Champions League hit unprecedented heights recently, there was a need for further expansion, thus a 16-team preliminary was staged which turned out to be an instant success. 2080 goals were scored in the main round, a 24.76 goals per game average,
guaranteeing outstanding entertainment for the water polo fans.
Champions League Final Eight, Schedule
Thursday 7 June
16.00 Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v Spandau 04 Berlin (GER)
17.30 ZF Eger (HUN) v CN Barceloneta (ESP)
19.00 Jug Croatia Osiguranje Dubrovnik (CRO) v Szolnoki Dozsa-Kozgep (HUN)
20.30 Pro Recco (ITA) v AN Brescia (ITA)
Friday 8 June
16.00 losers: Olympiacos/Spandau v Eger/Barceloneta
17.30 losers: Recco/Brescia v Jug/Szolnok
19.00 Semi-final: Olympiacos/Spandau v Eger/Barceloneta
20.30 Semi-final: Recco/Brescia v Jug/Szolnok
Saturday 9 June
16.00 For places 7-8
17.30 For places 5-6
19.00 Bronze medal game
20.30 Champions League Final
