The 2025–26 European Aquatics Challenger Cup Final Eight is played between 12 and 15 March 2026 to determine the champions of the 2025–26 European Aquatics Challenger Cup. The Final Eight is being held by Enka Sport Club in Istanbul.
Format The 8 teams were placed into two groups of four. In each group, teams will play against each other once in a round-robin format. The top two in each group advance to the semifinals.
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 on 16 February 2026 in Zagreb, Croatia. The draw started with, in order, pots 1 and 2 being drawn. The position for the team within the group would then be drawn (for the purpose of the schedule).
Seeding The pots were decided by as follows: Pot 1 consisted of the group winners of the Challenger Cup qualification round II Pot 2 consisted of the group runners-up of the Challenger Cup qualification round II.
+ Pot 1Team Sliema ASC Nexawin San Giljan ASC Enka Sport Club (H) Vitória SC + Pot 2Team EVK Zaibas AVK Branik Maribor Galatasaray SK Heybeliada ASC
Draw results + Group A TeamA1 Enka Sport Club (H)A2 AVK Branik MariborA3 EVK ZaibasA4 Vitória SC + Group B TeamB1 Sliema ASC NexawinB2 Galatasaray SKB3 Heybeliada ASCB4 San Giljan ASC
Groups
Group A
Group B
Knockout stage 7th place match
5th place match
Bracket
Semifinals
Third place game
Final
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 statistics of the tournament