The Can Llong swimming pool in Sabadell will host the final four of the Women's Champions League on March 31 and April 1, which will feature the local team, Astralpool CN Sabadell, and Assolim CN Mataró, who qualified on Saturday. The organization is run by the Catalan Swimming Federation (FCN), with the collaboration of the two Catalan clubs.
The draw held today at the LEN headquarters has not paired the Catalan teams, who could meet in the final if they win their respective semifinal duels. Astralpool CN Sabadell will face Orizzonte Catania, an old acquaintance, a repeat offender in the Champions League, while Assolim CN Mataró will face Hungarian Dunauvjaros.
CN Sabadell aspires to lift its sixth Champions League at home. It will play the final four for the tenth time, it is the team with the most experience in these battles, with the exception, precisely, of its rival, the most successful club in the highest competition (8 titles -although the last, in 2008-).
The players led by David Palma, who suffered a defeat in Rome (13-10) to qualify, face a very rocky Italian rival. It is an old acquaintance: in their last match, the Sicilians left the Vallesans without a fourth European Super Cup, precisely in Can Llong (11-13) in November 2019. Previously, Sabadell had beaten Orizzonte twice in the final four , in a semifinal and in the 2011 final, the first won.
For CN Sabadell, playing the final four in its Can Llong pool is practically a guarantee of success: in the four editions played in the Valles pool (2011, 2014, 2016 and 2019), Astralpool CN Sabadell always won the title , four of the five he has. The last one, in 2019, against Olympiacos.
CN Mataró, who had applied to play the final four in their pool in El Sorrall, will arrive at the event as a feared rival after striking down the current champion, Olympiacos, whom they defeated in the two quarterfinal matches (9- 11 in Piraeus and 15-12 in Maresme).
The players coached by Dani Ballart will face a very powerful Hungarian rival, Dunaujvaros, who eliminated CE Mediterrani (9-8 in the second leg).
It will be the second participation of the Maresmenses in the final four (the previous one, in 2017). Dunaujvaros, also unusual in the final phase of the Champions League, became a finalist two years ago, when they lost to Olympiacos.
