| 2023–24 LEN Challenger Cup | |
| Sport: | Water polo |
| Pixels: | 250px |
| No Of Teams: | 19 |
| No Of Games: | 50 |
| League: | LEN Challenger Cup |
| Finals Champ: |  Galatasaray (1st title) |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Triglav Kranj |
| Seasonslist: | LEN Challenger Cup |
| Seasonslistnames: | LEN Challenger Cup |
| Prevseason Link: | 2022–23 LEN Challenger Cup |
| Prevseason Year: | 2022–23 |
| Nextseason Year: | 2024–25 |
The 2023–24 LEN Challenger Cup was the 2nd edition of a water polo competition organised by the Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN). It acts as the third tier, below the LEN Champions League and the LEN Euro Cup. The reigning champions are GS Apollon Smyrnis, but they won't defend their title due to their involvement in this season's Champions League and Euro Cup.
Galatasaray won the competition, beating Slovenian side, Triglav Kranj, in the final. They become the first men's water polo team from Turkey to win a European title.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
This is the first season under the new changes made by LEN.[6] 19 teams are grouped into 4 pools, three with five clubs, and one with four clubs. The pools are held by one of the clubs. The top 2 from every pool advances to the quarter-finals, followed by semi-finals and finals.
Only teams below the top 12 can enter the competition.
| Rank[7] | Association | Points | Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Italy | 118,765 | align=center rowspan=13 | 0 |
| 2 |  Hungary | 91,047.5 | ||
| 3 |  Spain | 75,387.5 | ||
| 4 |  Serbia | 68,902.5 | ||
| 5 | Greece | 64,375 | ||
| 6 | Croatia | 56,065 | ||
| 7 |  France | 47,207.5 | ||
| 8 | Germany | 41,660 | ||
| 9 |  Romania | 19,800 | ||
| 10 |  Montenegro | 17,700 | ||
| 11 |  Georgia | 11,245 | ||
| 12 |  Russia | 10,490 | ||
| 13 | Netherlands | 5,005 |
| Rank | Association | Points | Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Turkey | 4,807.5 | 3 | |
| 15 |  Slovakia | 1,870 | 1 | |
| 16 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1,415 | ||
| 17 | Portugal | 1,385 | 3 | |
| 18 | Switzerland | 1,210 | 2 | |
| 19 | Slovenia | 1,160 | 1 | |
| 20 |  Israel | 860 | align=center rowspan=3 | 0 |
| 21 |  Poland | 635 | ||
| 22 | Denmark | 560 | ||
| 23 |  Lithuania | 515 | 1 | |
| 24 |  Malta | 435 | ||
| 24 |  Ukraine | 435 | align=center rowspan=1 | 0 |
| Rank | Association | Points | Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NR |  Belgium | 0 | align=center rowspan=2 | 1 |
| NR | 0 | |||
| NR |  Cyprus | 0 | align=center rowspan=2 | 1 |
| NR | 0 | |||
| NR |  Great Britain | 0 | align=center rowspan=1 | 2 |
The team were announced on 8 September 2023.[8] Starting this season, no countries ranked in the top 12 of the LEN men's club rankings can take part in this tournament.
 Cetus Espoo | EVK Zaibas | |||
| Valletta | Vitória Sport Clube | |||
| Triglav Kranj | SC Kreuzlingen | Carouge Natation | ||
| Galatasaray | ODTU Sport Club |
| Phase | Round | Round date |
|---|---|---|
| Qualification round | 19–22 October 2023 | |
| Quarter-finals | First leg | 25 November 2023 |
| Second leg | 9 December 2023 | |
| Semi-finals | First leg | 9 March 2024 |
| Second leg | 23 March 2024 | |
| Final | First leg | 6 April 2024 |
| Second leg | 27 April 2024 |
The draw was on 11 September 2023. H indicates which club is hosting the groups.[9] [10] [11] [12] Teams in bold advanced to the quarter-finals. The seeding was decided by as follows:
| width=20% | Pot 1 | width=20% | Pot 2 | width=20% | Pot 3 | width=20% | Pot 4 | width=20% | Pot 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vitória Sport Clube Galatasaray (H) Enka Istanbul Carouge Natation | Triglav Kranj VK Banja Luka KVP Novaky EVK Zaibas | Valletta (H) ODTU Sport Club Clube Fluvial Portuense (H) Sporting Clube De Portugal | SC Kreuzlingen Royal Dauphins Mouscronnois (H) KVT Komodor Polytechnic Water Polo Club |
Held in Porto, Portugal
Held in Valletta, Malta
The draw took place on 24 October in Barcelona.[15] The seeded and unseeded clubs consist of the teams that finished first and second in the previous round respectively. The only restriction was that clubs from the same group in the previous round could not be drawn against each other.
| width=50% | Seeded | width=50% | Unseeded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triglav Kranj Royal Dauphins Mouscronnois KVP Novaky Valletta |
EVK Zaibas won 35–14 on aggregate.---- Galatasaray won 25–18 on aggregate.---- Triglav Kranj won 29–21 on aggregate.---- SC Kreuzlingen won 27–26 on aggregate.
Galatasaray won 21–17 on aggregate---- Triglav Kranj won 21–20 on aggregate
Galatasaray won 33–19 on aggregate