As we already reported, the Champions League Final Eight will be probably moved from Hannover, due to the strict anti-corona measures in Germany.
According to unofficial sources, LEN found a new host – the Final Eight will be held in Belgrade.
The capital of Serbia has been a host of many water polo events in the last few years, including the Champions League Final Four in 2013, the 2016 European Championships, and the 2019 World League Final Eight.
The 2013 Final Four was held in the pool Banjica, the 2019 World League F8 at the pool Tasmajdan, while the Belgrade Arena was the venue of the 2016 European Championship (a temporary pool was installed in this sports hall).
There is still no official confirmation of this information. Several pools in Belgrade might be potential venues for the Final Eight. As things stand now, there won’t be spectators at this years’ F8, so the venue capacity won’t be a crucial factor.
Besides, our sources say that Belgrade will be the host of the Final Eight tournaments in 2022, and 2023, which means that a Serbian club will get a wild-card for the F8 in the next two seasons. Serbia didn’t have a club in the Champions League in this and the previous season. Partizan and Crvena Zvezda were wild-card holders earlier. Radnicki Kragujevac was very close to earning a Champions League berth this season. It finished 2nd in Group B of the qualifications.
In the past few seasons, some of the Serbian clubs are growing into respectable clubs. Several excellent players returned to the homeland. Some of the clubs which participated in the LEN competition this year (Radnicki, Crvena Zvezda are in the quarterfinals of the LEN Euro Cup, newcomer Novi Beograd was eliminated in the eighth-finals) maybe can reach the level needed for the Champions League.
