Water Polo Premier League
| Abbreviation | WPPL; LPWP (French) |
|---|---|
| Sport | Water polo |
| Teams | 18 |
| Country |  Kelssek |
| Most recent champions | Redswyth Marlins (1st title) |
The Water Polo Premier League (French: Ligue première de waterpolo) is a professional water polo league which is the highest-level competition of the sport in Kelssek. The league is governed by the national sport federation, Water Polo Kelssek. It has men's and women's divisions, in which the same clubs compete. The KWPL consists of two tiers. Division A is fully professional, while Division B is semi-professional, divided by geographic regions, and includes development teams of the Division A clubs. The league also has age-group divisions for under-21 and under-18 players.
The league has a regular season and playoffs tournament format. The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs, which are contested using a final eight system originally devised for the Australian Football League. Playoff rounds are best-of-three series of matches played on consecutive days at the home venue of the team which finished with a higher league ranking in the regular season.
- Round one (Qualifying/Elimination):
- Teams placing in the top four play Qualifying Finals against each other with winners receiving a bye to the Semi-Finals
- Teams placing 5th to 8th play Elimination Finals in which the losing team is knocked out. The winners proceed to round two.
- Round two (Quarter-finals):
- Winners of the Elimination Finals play against the losers of the Qualifying Finals.
- Round three (Semi-finals):
- Winners of the Qualifying Finals play against the winners of the Quarter-finals.
- Final series
- Winners of the Semi-finals play for the championship at a pre-selected neutral venue.
Current Division A teams[edit]
| Team | City | Pool | Colours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breton Mooseheads |  Breton |
Haligonian Bank Centre | |
| Burnaby Thunderbirds |  Burnaby |
UCB Aquatic Centre | |
| Club aquatique de Langlois |  Langlois |
Complexe sportif Des Plages | |
| Clayquot Neptunes |  Clayquot |
Portage Athletic Park | |
| Colwyn Aquatics |  Colwyn |
Commonwealth Park | |
| Dollard-des-Oiseaux | Outineau |
Complexe sportif DDO | |
| Dynamo Lupinissia |  Ulyanof |
NUL Swimming Centre | |
| Lakeland Storm | Kingstown |
Commonwealth Place | |
| Kewatin Vipers |  Torbay |
Rockland Sports Complex | |
| Kirkenes Blues | Kirkenes |
Varsity Aquatics Centre | |
| Kirkenes Jets | Kirkenes |
Hydestone Park | |
| Kraken d'Outineau | Outineau |
Centre Saint-Hélène | |
| Latrobe Dolphins | Latrobe |
Southbank Park | |
| Laneux Natation 1874 |  Laneux |
Centre Saint-Hélène | |
| Natanel Aquatic Club | Natanel |
Willems Park | |
| Redswyth Marlins | Redswyth |
Lancswold Athletic Centre | |
| Neorvins Sharks |  Neorvins |
National Aquatics Arena | |
| Vickery Tsunami |  Vickery |
Northlands Place |
Match days[edit]
Matches are commonly scheduled in coordination with Interuniversity Sport Kelssek and junior competitions, so spectators would be able to take in a junior-level or amateur match, followed by a match between Division B or university teams, before the Division A game.
Broadcasting[edit]
Teams are free to make their own agreements with regional broadcasters, but only the "big five" clubs have such deals which for all of their matches to be televised. KWPL matches are broadcast nationally in Kelssek on the National Sports Network and KBC Sport cable channels. Since 2006, the final series of the KWPL playoffs is also shown live on KBC broadcast channels. It has the fourth-highest viewership of domestic Kelssekian sports leagues, behind hockey, soccer, and rugby union.
Most successful clubs[edit]
| Club | Titles | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamo Lupinissia | 12 | 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 25, 26, 33, 34 |
| Burnaby | 8 | 2, 6, 19, 21, 23, 27, 28, 32 |
| Latrobe | 3 | 9, 10, 20 |
| Kirkenes Jets | 3 | 13, 29, 32 |
| Dollard-des-Ormeaux | 3 | 5, 30, 31 |
| CA Langlois | 2 | 11, 18 |
| Kirkenes Blues | 2 | 12, 22 |
| Breton | 1 | 14 |
| Kraken d'Outineau | 1 | 24 |
| Redswyth Marlins | 1 | 37 |