FTC and Recco ready to resume rivalry in Super Cup final

It’s going to be something special – the men’s Super Cup final features FTC-Telekom and Pro Recco, the two teams that won the last six editions of the Champions League – three times apiece. They will clash in Budapest for the famous trophy, with FTC gunning for their sixth title, while Recco are targeting a record-breaking 10th victory.

2025/26 Super Cup Men
Wednesday 8th October
Budapest (local time shown)

20:00: FTC Telekom (HUN ) v Pro Recco (ITA)

The Champions League winners have dominated the Super Cup since the contest was restarted in 2002. The best sides in Europe have claimed 21 wins out of 22 finals, with the lonely exception coming in the autumn of 2018 when Ferencvaros upset Olympiacos in a thrilling shootout.

However, that was only a preview of how the 2018/19 season would end, as the Hungarians repeated their success over the Greeks in the 2019 Champions League final, edging out their rivals in another shootout.

That was a rare scenario when the Euro Cup winners had enough depth to match the strength of the best team of the Champions League from the previous season.

Seven years on, and the scene is set for another thriller, a Super Cup final which can be anybody’s game.

This is going to be a grand clash between two giants, the winners of the last six Champions League titles. Ferencvaros triumphed in 2019, 2024 and 2025, while Recco took three in a row in 2021, 2022 and 2023 – so one could not wish for any better match-up.

To have this showdown after their brilliant 2024 battle for the Champions League trophy in Malta, where Fradi had edged out the title-holders, Recco had to opt for passing last season in the top-tier competition.

For the better of the game, they managed to find the solutions last summer to stay strong, entered the Euro Cup and sailed through to lift the trophy, to earn the right to challenge FTC for the Super Cup this autumn.

What makes Wednesday’s match even more compelling is that there is no need to try measuring the sides on paper. Just weeks ago, they enjoyed a joint tour in New York, where they played two matches. Those games showed nothing less that something big will happen in the good old Komjadi Pool in Budapest this week.

Both Stateside matches produced several twists and turns before everything came down to the last possessions. It was 13-13 in the first, 15-15 in the second – the first went to Fradi after winning the shootout, while Andrea Fondelli hit the winner 51 seconds from time in the second epic clash.

That was Fradi’s first regular time loss since April 2024, when Olympiacos downed them in a Quarterfinal Stage clash in Piraeus, as the Hungarians came up with a monstrous 88-2 win-loss march over the last two seasons across all competitions (their only loss last season came in Barceloneta, in a shootout, again on Day 2 in the QF Stage).

FTC’s last home loss dates back even further, to May 2023, when Sabadell beat them in a stake-less Champions League match in the last round of the group.

Though Recco also produced something similar in the last two years. When FTC beat them in that 2024 Champions League final, that was their first regular time loss in the whole season. And last year they just fell once, ironically to a Hungarian side, BVSC, in Budapest, almost exactly a year ago on 29 September, in the Euro Cup qualifications.

After that, they remained unbeaten in 14 matches in the Euro Cup, and lost only twice in the Italian league and the home cup competitions while winning all three trophies on offer.

Last year, the Hungarians beat Jug 13-9 to lift the Super Cup trophy for the 5th time, while Recco top this list too with nine triumphs under their belt.

What’s common, that they both lost only once, FTC to fellow Hungarian side Szolnok in 2017, in a shootout, while Recco’s only defeat happened in 1984, when POSK Split upended them 12-11 – that was their first-ever Super Cup final, they then won their following nine.

Now only one of the two greats can prevail and this clash promises sheer excitements for Wednesday evening.

Before that, on Tuesday afternoon, a press conference in Budapest will introduce the event with the respective coaches, Balazs Nyeki and Sandro Sukno, and captains Soma Vogel and Francesco di Fulvio in attendance, alongside European Aquatics President Antonio Silva and Hungarian Water Polo President Norbert Madaras.

The press conference can be viewed live below, or on the FTC YouTube channel from 17:00–18:00 local time.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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