The race for the prestigious Final Six tournament can now begin. After a busy three-round qualification phase the main Champions League season gets underway with the preliminary phase opening round this Wednesday. An exciting draw leaves little room for qualification in group A as Final Six hosts ZF-Eger are already sure of participation in the final tournament in Budapest, early June, with the two other spots to be taken by several contenders including last year's finalists Primorje. In group B reigning champions Pro Recco are the favourites but will meet fellow contenders in Hungarian champs Szolnok and strengthened Croatian powerhouse Jug.
But first things first as the opening round will not see these teams meet just yet although that doesn't mean there is no exciting water polo on display across Europe. Not at all. An interesting case this season will be to see whether Greek champions Olympiacos will finally make it to the Final Six. The team saw veteran Serbian defender Nikola Radjen being suspended and subsequently fired for alleged drug substance abuse last season as the dominant Greek force signed Croatian 2012 World Player of the Year goalkeeper Josip Pavic from Mladost and added Team USA veteran defender Jesse Smith to the roster for this season. After a majority of the team, including coach Thodoris Vlachos, qualified for the 2016 Olympics thanks to a bronze medal at the World Championships in Kazan with the national team playing some sensational water polo, the team will be looking to continue that momentum into the club season and reward their success with a spot in the Final Six tournament. Kicking things off for the Greek will be a visit to Eger, Hungary where the Final Six hosts, already qualified, await. Example of the last two years, Barceloneta, two times proved that doesn't hold a team back from competing and trying to obtain the highest place in the group, to also prove their spot in the final tournament is legitimate. Such will be the case for Eger who had their fair share of troubles in the Champions League prelims in recent years, made it to the Final Six last year eliminating Olympiacos, and will be eager to show their worth in the league this season. Both teams met in last year's group stage with close final scores as a result (Eger won home match 10-9, lost away match 8-6).
In other matches in group A will see Jadran Herceg Novi host Primorje Rijeka in the battle of the qualifiers. Each team survived the qualification phase, with some convincing results, while the Croatian champions made it all the way to the final in Barcelona last season only to fall to Pro Recco. Despite some transfers this past summer they can still be considered favourites, especially in their group, for this year's campaign. A recent first top match-up, last weekend in the Croatian cup preliminary round, saw Primorje draw level with Croatian rivals Jug.
Spanish champs Barceloneta will start their Champions League adventure at home hosting German's best Spandau. The Spanish side will have their goal set on returning to the Final Six but haven't showed their best form just yet. Most recently lower ranked Sant Andreu were close to an upset in the Spanish league 5th round as Barceloneta just prevailed 6-7. And in the previous round they drew level with Mataro Quadis 8-8 so that the dominant force Barceloneta was in the past season, despite a similar scenario in Spain last year leading to another convincing championship, is yet to be reached this season. Visiting Spandau have shown to be a tough side to deal with in Europe, especially at home, playing close results against Jug and Partizan last year in the prelims.
Meanwhile in group B defending champs Pro Recco kick things off at home hosting Galatasaray. A nice match-up as last year's head coach Igor Milanovic, who led Recco to the 'treble', left the club this summer and found a new employer in the Turkish champion who will travel to Sori for Wednesday's opening round match. The Serbian legend will be able to shake hands with most of last year's players as Recco parted ways with Maro Jokovic (returned to Jug) and Federico Lapenna (who left for Lazio). The incoming transfers however were spectacular once again with Michaël Bodegas coming over from rivals Brescia, Serbian sensation lefty Dusan Mandic leaving Partizan and Sandro Sukno being signed for his 2nd stint with the club, this time coming from Primorje. It creates a stunning and All-Star filled roster for the European matches with Serbian world champions Filip Filipovic and Andrija Prlainovic, who only play the European matches this season, joining the team in the Champions League instantly making Recco title favourites again. On Wednesday Galatasaray faces the daunting task of starting their prelims campaign playing Recco in Italy. The Turks, led by Serbian centre forward Slobodan Nikic, will hope to gain rythm for later matches which could prove vital in the battle for the top 3 positions in this group.
An interesting battle with several contenders. One of them sure is Szolnok. The Hungarian champions who had a successful domestic season last year but played a disappointing Final Six in Barcelona will surely seek revenge in an attempt to live up to the expectations considering their impressive roster. Things are going as planned in the domestic league so far, now the squad will have to prove things to go the same way in the Champions League, and more importantly, at the Final Six, later on. They start with an away match in Belgrade visiting Partizan. The young squad, ever-tough and even successful last season in Europe, received a major blow as team leader Dusan Mandic left to Recco this summer, but will try to give it their best. And so once more, the team led by coach Vladimir Vujasinovic, can be considered a young, highly talented, tough one to beat, especially at home in Belgrade. The squad was blown away by Primorje in the Regional league two weeks ago (15-3) and so know their Champions League campaign could turn out to be a rather tough one. But the team holds relatively experienced youngsters such as top scorer Gavril Subotic who is capable of scoring and leading his team against any opponent. All will realise though that Szolnok will come in as the clear favourite for this meeting. The game marks the always-special return to the long home ground for world champions Stefan Mitrovic, Milan Aleksic and Zivko Gocic who matured playing for Partizan.
The final match of the day, played in Budapest, could be a rather interesting one as OSC, last year's finalist in Hungary, host Jug. Despite the Croatian visitors will come in enjoying a favourite role, they will face some fierce opposition by the ambitious home side who have their eyes set on gaining success in Europe this season. Surviving the qualification phase, including eliminating Romanian champs CSM DiGi Oradea, has given OSC some highly competitive matches to gain rhythm early on in the season. They will need it against the favourite Jug squad who are comfortably leading the Regional league gaining four wins in as many rounds of play while qualifying for the Croatian cup Final Four this weekend. Here the first top match-up of the season saw them drawing level with main rivals Primorje 7-7. Now they visit Budapest to take on the side leading group B of the Hungarian league despite an upset defeat by Debrecen early October (7-5). However they returned to winning ways this weekend comfortably beating UVSE 14-7 behind proven scorers Bence Batori and veteran Drasko Brguljan. The absence of centre forward Joe Kayes, who had to return to Australia in order to continuing his effort of obtaining Australian citizenship, will be felt but it doesn't leave OSC of pursuing success in the Champions League. Their first big test is right there on Wednesday.
Champions League 2015-2016
Preliminary phase
Wednesday, 28 October - Round 1
Group A
18.00: Jadran Herceg Novi (MNE) vs. Primorje EB Rijeka (CRO)
18.45: ZF-Eger (HUN) vs. Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE)
19.15: CN Atletic-Barceloneta (ESP) vs. Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin (GER)
Group B
18.30: Pro Recco (ITA) vs. Galatasaray Istanbul (TUR)
20.00: Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade (SRB) vs. Szolnoki VSK (HUN)
20.15: OSC (HUN) vs. Jug CO Dubrovnik (CRO)
N.b.: time mentioned is local time.
Pictured: Eger's Uros Cuckovic defending Olympiacos' Christodoulos Kolomvos in the teams last year's Champions League meeting.
Wednesday, 11 November - Round 2
Group A
Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin vs. Olympiacos Piraeus
Primorje EB Rijeka vs. ZF-Eger
CN Atletic-Barceloneta vs. Jadran Herceg Novi
Group B
Galatasaray Istanbul vs. Jug CO Dubrovnik
Szolnoki VSK vs. OSC
Pro Recco vs. Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade
Saturday, 28 November - Round 3
Group A
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Primorje EB Rijeka
Jadran Herceg Novi vs. Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin
ZF-Eger vs. CN Atletic-Barceloneta
Group B
Jug CO Dubrovnik vs. Szolnoki VSK
Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade vs. Galatasaray Istanbul
OSC vs. Pro Recco
Wednesday, 16 December - Round 4
Group A
Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin vs. Primorje EB Rijeka
CN Atletic-Barceloneta vs. Olympiacos Piraeus
Jadran Herceg Novi vs. ZF-Eger
Group B
Galatasaray Istanbul vs. Szolnoki VSK
Pro Recco vs. Jug CO Dubrovnik
Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade vs. OSC
Wednesday, 3 February 2016 - Round 5
Group A
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Jadran Herceg Novi
ZF-Eger vs. Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin
Primorje EB Rijeka vs. CN Atletic-Barceloneta
Group B
OSC vs. Galatasaray Istanbul
Jug CO Dubrovnik vs. Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade
Pro Recco vs. Szolnoki VSK
Wednesday, 10 February 2016 - Round 6
Group A
Jadran Herceg Novi vs. Olympiacos Piraeus
Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin vs. ZF-Eger
CN Atletic-Barceloneta vs. Primorje EB Rijeka
Group B
Galatasaray Istanbul vs. OSC
Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade vs. Jug CO Dubrovnik
Szolnoki VSK vs. Pro Recco
Saturday, 12 March 2016 - Round 7
Group A
Primorje EB Rijeka vs. Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin
Olymiacos Piraeus vs. CN Atletic-Barceloneta
ZF-Eger vs. Jadran Herceg Novi
Group B
Szolnoki VSK vs. Galatasaray Istanbul
Jug CO Dubrovnik vs. Pro Recco
OSC vs. Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade
Saturday, 16 April 2016 - Round 8
Group A
Primorje EB Rijeka vs. Olympiacos Piraeus
Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin vs. Jadran Herceg Novi
CN Atletic-Barceloneta vs. ZF-Eger
Group B
Szolnoki VSK vs. Jug CO Dubrovnik
Galatasaray Istanbul vs. Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade
Pro Recco vs. OSC
Saturday, 30 April 2016 - Round 9
Group A
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin
ZF-Eger vs. Primorje EB Rijeka
Jadran Herceg Novi vs. CN Atletic-Barceloneta
Group B
Jug CO Dubrovnik vs. Galatasaray Istanbul
OSC vs. Szolnoki VSK
Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade vs. Pro Recco
Wednesday, 18 May 2016 - Round 10
Group A
Wasserfreunde Spandau Berlin vs. CN Atletic-Barceloneta
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. ZF-Eger
Primorje EB Rijeka vs. Jadran Herceg Novi
Group B
Galatasaray Istanbul vs. Pro Recco
Jug CO Dubrovnik vs. OSC
Szolnoki VSK vs. Partizan Raiffeisen Belgrade
Qualifying for the Final Six (2-4 June, 2016) in Budapest will be the top 2 teams from Group A (Final Six hosts ZF-Eger excluded), and the top 3 teams of group B.
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