Champions League Men: Huge Quarter Final Stage clashes set to commence across the continent

The Champions League Quarter Final Stage kicks off this week and all eyes will be on Wednesday night’s highly anticipated clash of the two giants, FTC-Telekom and Pro Recco. These two teams have lifted the trophy three times each in the last six editions, contested a brilliant Super Cup final in October, and now they have another showdown in Budapest, where all tickets have been sold.

2025/26 Champions League Men
Quarter Final Stage, Day 1

Group A
Tuesday 3 March
(Local times shown)

20.30 AN Brescia (ITA) v Zodiac CNAB (ESP)

Head-to-head: 6-7 (2 draws)

2023-24: 8-12, 5-12. 2021-22: 14-12, 12-12. 2020-21: 6-8, 9-10, 13-7 (bronze). 2018-19: 8-8, 14-8. 2017-18: 6-5, 7-5. 2014-15: 7-7, 12-4. 2013-14: 4-6 (quarter-final). 2012-13: 5-7, 7-9.

In this extremely balanced group, each game has paramount importance and Barceloneta’s visit to Brescia is definitely a must-see encounter on Tuesday. The Spaniards bounced back from their early struggles in the Group Stage – when they lost at home to Marseille on Day 2 – and won their remaining four matches. Still, the national team players also had to recover from their disappointing performance in Belgrade (they missed the European semis for the first time since 2016) and ever since the re-start they won all eight matches they played though none of those were really challenging.

This upcoming one in Brescia will be the first real tough test for the Spanish side. The Italians may not have the same plans as CNAB as they are still in a rebuilding process, but their surprise away win over title-holders Ferencvaros was a great demonstration of the team’s strength and composure. In fact, they returned to Budapest last week and had joint practices with Fradi to get ready for this new stage, so CNAB should expect nothing but enormous pressure in a pool where the locals usually create an atmosphere which helps their players to double their efforts.

“CNAB have a great history and are an extremely strong team” Brescia’s Vincenco Dolce said ahead of the match. “We have been drawn into an exciting and challenging group with three very strong sides that are all important on the European stage.

“We are confident that by playing at our pace we can put anyone under pressure. The desire to measure ourselves against these champions will make the difference. We approach every opponent with humility and with the ambition to improve.

“They are one of the most well-organised teams in the world – we know how they can create problems for us, but at the same time we know them well too. Defence remains the key for us. The whole team is aware that everything starts from there in matches of this level.

“We trained for three days with Ferencváros, and it was extremely helpful to regain motivation and physical and mental sharpness after a demanding period following the European Championships in Belgrade.”

Group A
Tuesday 3 March
(Local times shown)

20.30 VK Novi Beograd Tehnomanija (SRB) v Olympiacos SFP (GRE)

Head-to-head: 3-2 (1 draw)

2024-25: 8-5, 16-15. 2023-24: 13-11, 6-9. 2021-22: 9-12, 12-12.

Olympiacos have good reasons to look for some revenge, as a year ago Novi Beograd stunned them in their own pool, which sent the Greeks on a downward spiral, ending in being eliminated from the Final Four.

Indeed, that match in Pireaus was the one where a young goalie, Milan Glusac made headlines for the first time as he posted 15 saves from 20 shots for 75% and that triggered something for the Serbs, who, despite somewhat weakened compared to the previous years, ended up playing for the trophy once more.

NBG didn’t get stronger ever since, still, they made the top eight once more and proved several times that they are capable of catching big fishes, especially when Glusac is on fire.

And the young goalie is full of confidence ahead of this game. “We’ll face Olympiacos tomorrow, the best team in Greece. We expect a very tough and hard game, but we believe in ourselves and I hope we will have the chance to take all three points.”

At the same time, Olympiacos are fresh from passing a tough test against the other Serbian giant, Radnicki – they practically eliminated them three weeks ago and hunting down last year’s finalist in its home right away would be a great start for the Greeks.

They are in an upbeat mood anyway as they lifted the Greek Cup at the weekend, though the final was a bit tougher then perhaps expected as they edged out Panathinaikos 13-12, though that battle definitely prepared them well for this visit to Belgrade.

“This is an extremely important match for us,” Konstantinos Kakaris said. “It is the first game of this phase and we want to have a kick-start to lay the foundations for qualifying for the Final Four.

“We are coming off a Greek Cup title win. We are very happy. Even though we didn’t play a great game, we achieved our goal. Now, we must leave that behind and continue working so we can achieve our remaining goals, both in Greece and in Europe.”

Coach Elvis Fatovic echoed the same thoughts before the game. “This is an important match; it’s the start of a new competition. We know we are facing one of the top teams. They have everything, they are fast, physically strong, and have a youthful side.

“They are very powerful at 2m, with some very experienced players, like Milos Cuk. They also possess a strong and aggressive defence.

“We are aware of all these elements and we are prepared. We will give everything in this game. We are fully focused and hope for the best possible result.”

Group B
Wednesday 4 March
(Local times shown)

20.30 FTC Telekom Waterpolo (HUN) v Pro Recco (ITA)

Head-to-head: 1-5 (1 draw)

2023-24: 12-11 (final). 2022-23: 4-8 (quarter-final). 2021-22: 7-10 (semi-final). 2020-21: 6-9 (final). 2019-20: 13-13. 2018-19: 6-9, 7-13.

2025 Super Cup final: 15-14

Here they go again – after staging a memorable Super Cup in the autumn, the two giants clash again. It was amazing to watch their match in early October – the level was extremely high, something one may not have expected at the beginning of the season, however, both sides showed tremendous quality. Now they meet again and the teams just got stronger and more composed, so this Wednesday evening should offer everything water polo fans are waiting for.

This match features the victors of the last six editions as Fradi won in 2019, 2024, 2025 – Recco in 2021, 2022, 2023, so all eyes will be on them, and any outcome is in the cards though with five more rounds to go, the stakes are not that high.

Anyway, it is telling that Fradi haven’t lost a game in regular time since April 2024 – if only the official competitions are considered. In fact, Recco managed to edge them out in the second official game during the two teams’ memorable joint New York campaign in September.

At the same time, Recco’s only loss this season came here in Budapest in the aformentioned Super Cup Final – since that match, the Italians have had nothing but wins, 24 out of 24.

In contrast, Fradi, which had one single loss in each of the previous two seasons across all competitions and both had come on Day 4s in the Quarter-final Round (by they way, this time they are to visit Recco in that round…), already fell shy against Brescia in the Group Stage, losing in a shootout in Budapest.

The title-holders tried to learn from it and invited Brescia back to Budapest to hold joint trainings last week, considering that the best way to get ready for the Recco showdown.

At the weekend, they had a big match against the other Hungarian CL team, Vasas, whom they had met in the last two league finals, and won with ease which also marked the 100th league match without a loss for Fradi.

“I was kind of satisfied with the way we played against Vasas,” said coach Balasz Nyeki. “In defence, we did well, and this is the level we have to keep and further improve for Wednesday. In offence, we had some problems with our focus at the beginning, but I should say, I have no problem with that if we left those goals to be scored against Recco.”

“We’ve analysed the Super Cup final and we realised we did some good things but we also saw where we have to improve our game” Fradi’s experienced ace Szilard Jansik said. “We know all their players from cap No 1 to 14, and they also know us pretty well, so we can hardly surprise each other, but the depth in both teams is a guarantee for a great game.

“It’s going to be a fantastic celebration of water polo, I’d say we would need more matches like this, I’d rather play with Recco 10 times in the season instead of having league matches against smaller teams where we score almost thirty goals. Anyway, I recommend everyone to tune in and watch this match, as it will be brilliant.”

Recco’s Australian leftie Luke Pavillard is also in an upbeat mood. “It’s going to be a battle. They are an amazing team, with excellent individual players, but we’ve got some amazing players too. So it’s going to be a great game.

“Playing in Budapest, the last time was at the Super Cup which was another close game, so we are prepared, but understand it is going to be tough.

“It is going to be important that we play our style of water polo, we want to push the pace, we want to be aggressive, and we want to play four quarters of quality water polo.

“At the end of the day, we are going to trust our system and the result will take care of itself.”

Yes, it’s going to be huge, the sold-out message has already been posted on FTC’s official social media accounts which means that almost 2,000 fans will be jammed inside the Komjadi pool to watch The Game of the month, if not the whole spring.

Group B
Wednesday 4 March
(Local times shown)

20.30 HAVK Mladost Zagreb (CRO) v Waspo 98 Hannover (GER)

Head-to-head: 3-1 (1 draw)

2019-20: 15-13, 18-12. 2018-19: 11-11, 9-14. 2014: 13-8 (qualifications)

In the shadow of the two giants, Mladost and Waspo will also face off in Zagreb on Wednesday evening. These two caused the biggest surprises in the Group Stage as Mladost managed to finish ahead and oust Serbia’s new star team Radnicki, while Waspo sent Marseille and Sabadell to the Euro Cup with a series of great home wins.

The Croats also earned the right to play in this stage by beating all their rivals in their famous home pool, and the victims also included Olympiacos beside Radnicki (and Vasas), so in this coming match, Mladost are definitely the favourites.

The team got stronger and stronger in recent years and they are getting closer and closer to the leading clubs – and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them push Fradi and Recco to the limits too. But till then, they have a job to do, to beat Hannover as only this would let them have the chance to achieve bigger things against the top favourites in the following rounds.

Still, Hannover also got hungrier after their stunning Group Stage march, so they want to cause more surprises. And they have Croatians in their line-up like Luka Lozina, who thinks they have a chance against his fellow countrymen: “We are looking forward to the next Champions League game. We are happy to be in the top eight and we will continue to show that we deserve to be here.

“Mladost are a great all-round team, they have got every position covered and it’s going to be a hard game for us, but a good opportunity to grow and improve.”

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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