2025–26 European Aquatics Challenger Cup qualification round I

For the equivalent women's tournament, see 2025–26 European Aquatics Women's Challenger Cup qualification round I.

2025–26 European Aquatics Challenger Cup qualification round I

2025–26
Tournament information
Sport	Water polo
Date	28–30 November 2025
Host(s)	Valletta Maribor Istanbul Mouscron
Teams	14 (from 10 countries)
Website	[ Official website]
Tournament statistics
Matches played	18

The 2025–26 European Aquatics Challenger Cup qualification round I is played between 28 and 30 November 2025 to determine the 8 teams advancing to the qualification round II of the 2025–26 European Aquatics Challenger Cup.

Format

The 14 teams were place into four groups in total, two with four teams and two teams with three. In each group, teams will play against each other once in a round-robin format. The top two in each group advance to the next round.

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 2 points for a penalty shootout win, 1 point for a penalty shootout loss, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

• Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
• Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
• Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
• Goal difference in all group matches;
• Goals scored in all group matches.

Group composition

External videos
Draw

There was no draw, rather the groups were pre-selected for geographical reasons on 11 August 2025 in Zagreb, Croatia. (H) indicates which clubs is hosting a group.

Key to colours
Teams advancing to qualification round II

Group A

Team	Rank	Points
Sliema ASC (H)	98	126
APOEL Nicosia	66	940
Hapoel Palram Zvulun	68	860
San Giljan ASC	N/A

Group B

Team	Rank	Points
AVK Branik Maribor (H)	N/A
Carouge Natation	44	2,625
VK Ljubljana Slovan	61	1,310
Club Naval Povoense	N/A

Group C

Team	Rank	Points
Enka Sport Club (H)	45	2,507.5
Welsh Wanderers	85	560
Heybeliada ASC	N/A

Group D

Team	Rank	Points
Royal Dauphins Mouscronnois (H)	48	2,170
Cetus Espoo	58	1,420
West London Penguin	N/A

Groups

Group A

28–30 November 2025, Valletta, Malta.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SLI	GIL	HAP	APO
1	Sliema ASC (H)	3	3	0	0	0	65	35	+30	9	Qualification round II		—	—	18–13	28–9
2	San Giljan ASC	3	2	0	0	1	53	39	+14	6			13–19	—	—	—
3	Hapoel Palram Zvulun	3	1	0	0	2	40	44	−4	3			—	10–14	—	17–12
4	APOEL Nicosia	3	0	0	0	3	31	71	−40	0			—	—	10–26	—

Source: European Aquatics Challenger Cup
(H) Host

28 November 2025 18:30	Report	Sliema ASC	18–13	Hapoel Palram Zvulun	Valletta, Malta Referees: Robert Prelovsky (SVK), Roberto Guarnieri (BEL)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 3–5, 6–4, 4–2

28 November 2025 20:00	Report	APOEL Nicosia	10–26	San Giljan ASC	Valletta, Malta Referees: Rok Vehovec (SLO), Luis Alves (POR)
		Score by quarters: 3–7, 2–7, 3–5, 2–7

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29 November 2025 16:30	Report	Hapoel Palram Zvulun	17–12	APOEL Nicosia	Valletta, Malta Referees: Roberto Guarnieri (BEL), Rok Vehovec (SLO)
		Score by quarters: 6–3, 6–0, 4–5, 1–4

29 November 2025 17:45	Report	San Giljan ASC	13–19	Sliema ASC	Valletta, Malta Referees: Luis Alves (POR), Robert Prelovsky (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 3–7, 4–5, 3–3, 3–4

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30 November 2025 9:00	Report	Hapoel Palram Zvulun	10–14	San Giljan ASC	Valletta, Malta Referees: Rok Vehovec (SLO), Robert Prelovsky (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 3–4, 3–3, 3–5, 1–2

30 November 2025 10:30	Report	Sliema ASC	28–9	APOEL Nicosia	Valletta, Malta Referees: Luis Alves (POR), Roberto Guarnieri (BEL)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 8–2, 7–3, 8–2

Group B

28–30 November 2025, Maribor, Slovenia.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MAR	CAR	SLO	NAV
1	AVK Branik Maribor (H)	3	3	0	0	0	58	31	+27	9	Qualification round II		—	20–13	17–12	21–6
2	Carouge Natation	3	2	0	0	1	44	40	+4	6			—	—	—	—
3	VK Ljubljana Slovan	3	1	0	0	2	38	42	−4	3			—	9–13	—	17–12
4	Club Naval Povoense	3	0	0	0	3	29	56	−27	0			—	11–18	—	—

Source: European Aquatics Challenger Cup
(H) Host

28 November 2025 18:00	Report	VK Ljubljana Slovan	9–13	Carouge Natation	Maribor, Slovenia Referees: Bozo Duraskovic (MNE), Georg Schoen (AUT)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 2–5, 2–4, 2–2

28 November 2025 12:00	Report	AVK Branik Maribor	20–13	Club Naval Povoense	Maribor, Slovenia Referees: Erkan Turkkan (TUR), Alex De Raffaele (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 5–0, 7–3, 4–1, 5–2

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29 November 2025 17:00	Report	Club Naval Povoense	11–18	Carouge Natation	Maribor, Slovenia Referees: Bozo Duraskovic (MNE), Alex De Raffaele (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 2–5, 4–4, 4–6

29 November 2025 19:00	Report	AVK Branik Maribor	17–12	VK Ljubljana Slovan	Maribor, Slovenia Referees: Erkan Turkkan (TUR), Georg Schoen (AUT)
		Score by quarters: 6–3, 3–4, 3–4, 5–1

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30 November 2025 10:00	Report	VK Ljubljana Slovan	17–12	Club Naval Povoense	Maribor, Slovenia Referees: Alex De Raffaele (MLT), Georg Schoen (AUT)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 7–2, 4–3, 3–5

30 November 2025 12:00	Report	AVK Branik Maribor	20–13	Carouge Natation	Maribor, Slovenia Referees: Bozo Duraskovic (MNE), Erkan Turkkan (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 5–4, 3–1, 6–4, 6–4

Group C

28–30 November 2025, Istanbul, Turkey.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ENKA	HEY	WEL
1	Enka Sport Club (H)	2	2	0	0	0	52	17	+35	6	Qualification round II		—	21–7	31–10
2	Heybeliada ASC	2	1	0	0	1	29	33	−4	3			—	—	—
3	Welsh Wanderers	2	0	0	0	2	22	53	−31	0			—	12–22	—

Source: European Aquatics Challenger Cup
(H) Host

28 November 2025 12:00	Report	Enka Sport Club	21–7	Heybeliada ASC	Istanbul, Turkey Referees: Jarkko Virtanen (FIN), Georgios Polychronopoulos (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 7–1, 5–1, 5–2, 4–3

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29 November 2025 12:00	Report	Enka Sport Club	31–10	Welsh Wanderers	Istanbul, Turkey Referees: Jarkko Virtanen (FIN), Tobias Laufer (GER)
		Score by quarters: 8–3, 8–2, 8–1, 7–4

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30 November 2025 12:00	Report	Welsh Wanderers	12–22	Heybeliada ASC	Istanbul, Turkey Referees: Tobias Laufer (GER), Georgios Polychronopoulos (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 4–4, 1–6, 6–4, 1–8

Group D

28–30 November 2025, Mouscron, Belgium.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MOU	CET	PEN
1	RD Mouscronnois (H)	2	2	0	0	0	39	26	+13	6	Qualification round II		—	15–12	24–14
2	Cetus Espoo	2	1	0	0	1	24	24	0	3			—	—	12–9
3	West London Penguin	2	0	0	0	2	23	36	−13	0			—	—	—

Source: European Aquatics Challenger Cup
(H) Host

28 November 2025 20:30	Report	RD Mouscronnois	15–12	Cetus Espoo	Mouscron, Belgium Referees: Tal Shildan (ISR), Ioannis Soulos (CYP)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 3–1, 6–5, 4–3

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29 November 2025 20:30	Report	Cetus Espoo	12–9	West London Penguin	Mouscron, Belgium Referees: Roeland Sonnemans (NED), Tal Shildan (ISR)
		Score by quarters: 3–4, 1–3, 3–0, 5–2

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30 November 2025 11:00	Report	RD Mouscronnois	24–14	West London Penguin	Mouscron, Belgium Referees: Ioannis Soulos (CYP), Roeland Sonnemans (NED)
		Score by quarters: 5–1, 4–4, 8–4, 7–5

See also

• 2025–26 European Aquatics Champions League
• 2025–26 European Aquatics Euro Cup
• 2025–26 European Aquatics Conference Cup
• 2025–26 European Aquatics Challenger Cup
• 2025 European Aquatics Super Cup
• 2025–26 European Aquatics Women's Champions League
• 2025–26 European Aquatics Women's Euro Cup
• 2025–26 European Aquatics Women's Conference Cup
• 2025–26 European Aquatics Women's Challenger Cup
• 2025 European Aquatics Women's Super Cup

References

Matchday reports

Reference
[ Matchday 1]
[ Matchday 2]
[ Matchday 3]