The 2025–26 European Aquatics Women's Challenger Cup qualification round I is played between 5 and 8 March 2026 to determine the 4 teams advancing to the Final Four of the 2025–26 European Aquatics Women's Challenger Cup.
Format The 11 teams were place into two groups of five or six teams. 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.
Draw
The draw was held on 8 December 2025 in Zagreb, Croatia. The clubs that in the same group in the previous round (in both Conference and Challenger Cup) could not be drawn against each other. For security reasons, Hapoel Emek Hayarden had to be placed into the group that was held in Malta. (H) indicates which clubs is hosting a group.
Seeding The pots were decided by as follows Pot 1 consisted of the host teams Pot 2 consisted of the remaining teams dropping down from the Conference Cup Pot 3 consisted of the group winners of the Challenger Cup qualification round I Pot 4 consisted of the group runners-up of the Challenger Cup qualification round I
Key to coloursTeams advancing to Final Four
+ Pot 1Team San Giljan ASC (H) Goztepe SK (H) + Pot 2Team Jadran Split Clube Fluvial ZVK Crvena Zvezda Dalton Koleji SK Sirens ASC + Pot 3Team SSV Esslingen Otter London + Pot 4Team Nevşehir Belediye SK Hapoel Emek Hayarden
Groups Group A 5–8 March 2026, Cottonera, Malta.
Games involving Hapoel Emek Hayarden
Group B 5–8 March 2026, Izmit, Turkey.
Notes
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 ReferenceMatchday 1Matchday 2Matchday 3Matchday 4
External links
Official website Official statistics of the tournament