The draws for the qualification rounds and group stages of the two top-tier club competitions—the Men’s Champions League and the Euro Cup—will take place on Monday.
As previously decided, the number of participating clubs has been reduced due to a new competition formula. At the end of the season, we published the lists of the clubs eligible to participate in both cups.
European Aquatics has determined the competition formula for the qualifications of both competition, while there are no changes regarding the group stages.
2026 Champions League
In the Champions League, the winners and runners-up from the leagues of the top 10 countries in the European Aquatics Rankings have confirmed their participation. The top 10 countries are Italy, Hungary, Serbia, Spain, Greece, Croatia, France, Germany, Romania, and Montenegro.
The champions of these leagues are directly qualified for the group stage.
Qualifications
The top 10 national leagues’ runners-up will be divided into three groups—two groups with three clubs and one group with four clubs in the qualifications. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Champions League Group Stage, while the remaining four teams will continue their season in the Euro Cup qualifications.
Novi Beograd, Sabadell, and Mladost Zagreb will host the qualification tournaments, which are scheduled for September 19–21.
The clubs are sorted into drawing pots/lines based on their placement in the European Aquatics Club Rankings.
Pot 1: Novi Beograd (2nd in the EA Clubs Rankings), Brescia (7th), Sabadell (10th)
Pot 2: Vasas (12th), Vouliagmeni (13th), Steaua (16th)
Pot 3/4 : Spandau (19th), Mladost (23rd), Primorac Kotor (25th), Pays d’Aix (70th)
Group Stage
The competition formula for the Champions League Group Stage has remained unchanged. The 16 clubs will be divided into four groups, each containing four teams.
Just as for the qualifications, the teams are sorted in the drawing pots based on the European Aquatics Club Rankings.
Pot 1: Ferencvaros (1st in the EA Rankings), Pro Recco (3rd), Barceloneta (4th), Olympiacos (5th)
Pot 2: Marseille (6th), Jadran Split (8th), Radnicki (14th), Oradea (15th)
Pot 3: Waspo 98 Hannover (21st), Jadran Herceg Novi (22nd), winners of Qualification groups A and B
Pot 4: winner of Qualification group C and 2nd-placed in Qualification groups A, B, C
(The teams that played in the same group in the qualifications cannot be drawn into the same group in the Group Stage)
2026 Euro Cup
A total of 21 clubs will begin their European season in the Euro Cup.
The third-placed teams in the leagues of the Top 10 countries had the right to enter the Group Stage directly. However, Strasbourg, the 3rd -placed team in the French League, withdrew, so only nine clubs are directly qualified for the Group Stage
The fourth-placed teams in the nine leagues of the Top 10 countries (the 4th-placed team from Montenegro, Cattaro, didn’t enter) will play in the qualifications, along with two clubs from the 11th-ranked league, Georgia (Dinamo Tbilisi and Sport Management), and the Dutch team ZV De Zaan, which won the 2021 Challenger Cup.
Qualifications
The qualifications will take place between October 3 and 5 in Greece, Croatia, Spain and France. Apollon Smyrnis, Solaris Sibenik, Terrassa and Montpellier will be the hosts.
The lines for the draw
Pot 1: the clubs eliminated from the Champions League Qualifications
Pot 2: Dinamo Tbilisi (20th in the EA Club Rankings), Crvena Zvezda (27th), Szolnok (30th), Apollon Smyrnis (34th)
Pot 3: Trieste (35th), Solaris (38th), ZV De Zaan (49th), Terrassa (50th)
Pot 4: Montpellier (71st), OSC Potsdam (92nd), Rapid Bucharest (not ranked), Sport Management (not ranked).
The four group winners and the three best 2nd-placed clubs will advance to the Euro Cup Group Stage.
The criterion that will be used to define the three highest-ranked 2nd-placed clubs will be: 1) number of points gained in the group; 2) the goal difference in regular time of each game; 3) a higher number of goals scored in regular time of each game; 4) the Club Men Ranking.
The eliminated teams (excluding those that played in the Champions League Qualification) will be able to enter the newly launched Conference Cup.
Group Stage
In the Group Stage, the teams will be split into four groups of four
The lines for the draw of the Group Stage
Pot 1: Savona (9th in the EA Club Ranking), Jug Dubrovnik (11th), Barcelona (17th), BVSC Budapest (24th)
Pot 2 : Sabac (26th), Panathinaikos (52nd), ASC Duisburg (53rd), Dinamo Bucharest (73rd)
Pot 3: Buducnost Podgorica (not ranked), the winners of Groups A, B, and C of the qualifications,
Pot 4: the winner of Group D in the qualifications and the three highest-ranked 2nd-placed teams in the qualifications.
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