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

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

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

Teams entering in this roundTeams 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

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 1Final Four qualifiersGreece (2), Italy, Russia
Pot 2Losing quarterfinalistsItaly, Russia, Spain (2)
Pot 33rd placed in preliminary roundGermany, Hungary, Netherlands (2)
Pot 44th placed in preliminary roundFrance, 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.

DrawGroup AGroup BGroup CGroup D
Pot 1Italy Orizzonte CataniaRussia Kinef Kirishi Greece Olympiacos CFPGreeceVouliagmeni OC
Pot 2Spain CN SabadellSpain CE Mediterrani Russia Shturm RuzaItaly Fiorentina WP
Pot 3Germany Blau-Weiss BochumGermany Bayer Uerdingen France Olympic NiceNetherlands Polar Bears Ede
Pot 4France ASPTT Nancy

Round and Draw Dates

Tournament PhaseDraw DateTournament
Preliminary Round6 August 2010Ends 5 December 2010
Knockout PhaseDraw Date1st Leg2nd Leg
Quarterfinals12–13 February 201119–20 March 2011
Final FourDraw DateRound Date
Semifinals22 April 2011
Final23 April 2011

Tournament Phase

First qualifying round

Key to colours in group tables
Progress to the Quarterfinal Round

Group A

Team PL W D L F A Pts
1.Spain Sabadell 220026206
2.Italy Orizzonte Catania (host) 210130253
3.Germany Blau-Weiss Bochum 200218290
14 January 2011
Sabadell12–7Blau-Weiss Bochum
15 January 2011
Sabadell14–13Orizzonte Catania
16 January 2011
Orizzonte Catania17–11Blau-Weiss Bochum

Group B

Team PL W D L F A Pts
1.Russia Kinef Kirishi (host) 220042166
2.Germany Bayer Uerdingen 210130330
3.Spain Mediterrani 200217400
14 January 2011
Bayer Uerdingen20–11Mediterrani
15 January 2011
Kinef Kirishi22–10Bayer Uerdingen
16 January 2011
Kinef Kirishi20–6Mediterrani

Group C

Team PL W D L F A Pts
1.Greece Olympiacos 220025156
2.Russia Shturm Ruza 210126193
3.France Olympic Nice (host) 200211280
14 January 2011
Olympiacos13–4Olympic Nice
15 January 2011
Olympiacos12–11Shturm Ruza
16 January 2011
Shturm Ruza15–7Olympic Nice

Group D

Team PL W D L F A Pts
1.Greece Vouliagmeni 330043179
2.Netherlands Polar Bears Ede 320131306
3.Italy Fiorentina (host) 310224283
4.France Nancy 300319420
14 January 2011
Vouliagmeni15–6Polar Bears Ede
Fiorentina11–6Nancy
15 January 2011
Vouliagmeni17–6Nancy
Polar Bears Ede11–8Fiorentina
16 January 2011
Vouliagmeni11–5Fiorentina
Polar Bears Ede14–7Nancy

Quarter-finals

Team #1 Agg. Team #2 L #1 L #2
Sabadell Spain22–19Russia Shturm Ruza16–86–11
Polar Bears Ede Netherlands18–26Russia Kinef Kirishi9–119–15
Vouliagmeni Greece21–23Italy Orizzonte Catania13–118–12
Bayer Uerdingen Germany14–35Greece Olympiacos8–186–17

Final four

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

CN Sabadell
First title

References

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