| 2023–24 LEN Women's Challenger Cup | |
| Sport: | Water polo |
| Pixels: | 225px |
| No Of Teams: | 14 |
| No Of Games: | 35 |
| League: | LEN Women's Challenger Cup |
| Finals Champ: |  Izmir BB GSK (1st title) |
| Finals Runner-Up: |  ZVK Crvena Zvezda |
| Seasonslist: | LEN Women's Challenger Cup |
| Seasonslistnames: | LEN Women's Challenger Cup |
| Nextseason Year: | 2024–25 |
The 2023–24 LEN Women's Challenger Cup was the inaugural edition of the new water polo competition organised by the Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN). It acted as the third tier, below the LEN Women's Champions League and the LEN Women's Euro Cup.[1]
Izmir BB GSK won the inaugural competition, beating ZVK Crvena Zvezda 10–9 in the final. Izmir BB GSK became the first Turkish club to win a European club water polo competition.[2] [3] [4]
A year after the men's competition started, LEN decided to inaugurate a women's version. Similar to the men's tournament, the LEN Women's Challenger Cup was designed to help developing countries and clubs grow and play more European club games.
15 teams are separated into three groups of five. Each group is held at one club. The top 2 from each group advance to the Final Six. The final six, the six teams club are pooled into two groups of three where the two group winners advance to the final, while the two runners up play for third. Like the previous round, the final six is held at one club.
Only teams below the top 6 can enter the competition.
| Rank[5] | Association | Points | Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Spain | 105,597.5 | align=center rowspan=9 | 0 |
| 2 | Greece | 91,125 | ||
| 3 |  Hungary | 84,842.5 | ||
| 4 |  Italy | 76,410 | ||
| 5 |  France | 24,127.5 | ||
| 6 |  Russia | 53.38 | ||
| 7 | Netherlands | 49.300 | ||
| 8 |  Slovakia | 5,145 | ||
| 9 | Germany | 4,620 | ||
| 9 | Portugal | 4,620 | 2 | |
| 11 |  Malta | 3,940 | 1 | |
| 12 |  Israel | 2,500 | 0 | |
| 13 | Croatia | 1,012.5 | 2 |
| Rank | Association | Points | Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NR | Bulgaria | 0 | align=center rowspan=2 | 1 |
| NR |  Czech Republic | 0 | ||
| NR |  Great Britain | 0 | align=center rowspan=2 | 2 |
| NR | Serbia | 0 | ||
| NR |  Sweden | 0 | align=center rowspan=1 | 1 |
| NR | Turkey | 0 | align=center rowspan=1 | 2 |
Only countries below the top 6 in the LEN women's club rankings can enter teams into this competition.[6]
| ŽAVK Mladost | ||||
| | Sirens ASC | |||
| Sport Lisboa e Benfica | ||||
| Järfälla | Izmir BB GSK |
| Phase | Round date |
|---|---|
| Qualification round | 19–22 October 2023 |
| Final six | 24–26 November 2023 |
The draw was on 11 September 2023. H indicates which club is hosting the groups.[7] [8] [9] Teams in bold advanced to the final six. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sirens ASC ŽAVK Mladost Sport Lisboa e Benfica | Clube Fluvial Portuense Jadran Split | ZVK Crvena Zvezda VK Vojvodina (H) Izmir BB GSK | ODTU Sport Club Asten Johnson Fezko Strakonice (H) Otter Swimming Club | City Of Manchester Water Polo Club Kvt Lokomotiv-N.Nanov (H) Järfälla |
Held in Strakonice, Czech Republic
There was originally going to be a home and away final to decide the champions.[6] But due to the unexcepted amount of clubs entering the competition, the water polo committee altered the format to introduce a final six tournament.[12]
The draw took place on 24 October in Barcelona.[12] Pots 1 and 2 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.
The tournament was announced to be held in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, by ŽAVK Mladost, on 6 November.[13] [14] [15]
--------
--------