Novi Beograd, Mladost and Waspo 98 Hannover secured the last three available tickets for the Champions League Quarter Final Stage.
In the big match of Round 6 of the Group Stage, Olympiacos defeated Radnicki 16:14 in a penalty shootout, while Mladost beat Vasas 15:13 and returned to 2nd place in Group A. Radnicki needed all three points in Piraeus to reach the Top 8 round. But the Serbian champion never took the lead. The match had a confusing ending. Olympiacos scored two winning goals in the dying seconds, for 12:11. However, both goals were disallowed after Radnicki’s complaints. However, the Serbs failed to secure a win in regular time and to qualify for the next stage. The match ended in a 11:11 draw, so the outcome of the penalty shootout had no importance for the standings.
Novi Beograd defeated Jadran Herceg Novi in a battle for 2nd place in Group B by three goals, 15:12. However, Novi Beograd’s victory was more convincing than the final score suggests.
Waspo Hannover convincingly lost to Barceloneta in Spain, 12:20. However, the Germans stayed in 2nd place in Group D, as Marselle returned home empty-handed from Sabadell, where the home team beat the French 16:13.
The teams that advanced to the Top 8 round
Group winners: Olympiacos, Pro Recco, Ferencvaros, Barceloneta
Runner-ups: Mladost, Novi Beograd, Brescia, Waspo 98 Hannover.
The third-placed and 4th-placed teams will go to the Euro Cup.
2026 Champions League, Group Stage, Round 6
GROUP A
(quarters 4:1, 3:3, 3:4, 1:3, PSO 5:3)
Olympiacos: Fountoulis 3, Nikolaidis 3, Papanastasiou 2, Pouros 1 Genidnounias 1,Kakaris 1.
Radnicki:Pijetlovic 3, N.Jaksic 2, Prlainovic 1, Murisic 1, Vlachopoulos 2, V.Rasovic 2
Olympiacos had a great start and Radnicki never fully recovered from that.
Papanastasiou scored an opening goal already in Olympiacos’ s first possesion, while Nikolaidis doubled the hosts’ advantage in the 4th minute. Fountoulis added two goals to make it 4:0 in the 6th minute. Radnicki had no good solutions in the attack, missed a few man-ups and one penalty in the first quarter. Dusko Pijetlovic broke the deadlock by converting a 6-on-5 for 1:4.
The Greeks rebuilt a 4-goal lead (5:1). Radnicki went on a 3:0 run and cut the deficit to 4:5 (14th minute), but Nikolaidis doubled the hosts’ advantage immediately. Radnicki then missed powerplay opportunity and paid for it. Fountoulis made it 7:4 from a penalty shot.
Dimitrios Nikolaidis Photo: Eurokinissi Photo Agency
Shortly after the middle break, Radnicki reduced the gap to one goal again. Greek ace on the visitors’ roster, Angelos Vlachopoulos, netted twice (with a man-up and from a penalty shot) for 6:7. Still, Olympiacos didn’t let the Serbs equalize. Radnicki came close once more in the third period – 7:8 (Jaksic). However, Olympiacos made fewer mistakes than the visitors in the following minutes. Just 19 seconds before the last break, Genidounias increased the Greeks’ lead to 10:7. Viktor Rasovic beat the buzzer (8:10) and saved Radnicki’s hope, before the final quarter.
Radnicki started chasing the rival and made it 9:10 and 10:11. On both occasions, the Kragujevac-based team missed chances to equalize. Finally, Dusko Pijetlovic equalized just 63 seconds before the end at 11:11, with an excellent close-range shot. But the clock was going too fast for Radnicki. At 00:43, Olympiacos forced an exclusion. Olympiacos’ head coach Elvis Fatovic, called a timeout. After a pause, Danial Angyal made it 12:11 with 22 seconds left on the clock. Radnicki’s bench protested, indicating that the time for the attack had expired before the goal. After referees and delegates watched the video several times, they disallowed the goal.
Radnicki got a new chance to secure the win. The visitors played with seven field players in the final possession. Andrija Prlainovic missed, and Olympiacos sent the ball into the empty net. But a new series of protests from Radnicki bench followed. After a long discussion, that goal was disallowed too. Radnicki started their replayed last possession, but failed to score and the match entered a shootout.
However, Mladost could start celebrating after the final buzzer.
(quarters 4:2, 3:1, 5:4, 3:6)
Mladost: Kharkov 5, Nagaev 2, Lazic 2, Biljaka 2, Vukicevic 1, Loncar 1, Basic 1, Buljubasic 1.
Vasas: Szaai 5, Gyarfas 3, Batori 2, Djurdjic 2, Varnai 1.
Mladost quickly earned a 2:0 lead. Vasas managed to catch up with the hosts late in the first quarter (2:2), but the Zagreb-based side ruled the field after the equalizer and established a huge 7:2 lead (13th minute). The Croats controlled the match, maintaining a safe difference and awaiting news from Piraeus. Vasas reduced the gap to two goals late into the match, but didn’t endanger Mladost’s victory.
Photo by Tom Franic/HAVK Mladost
Standings: 1. Olympiacos 14, 2. Mladost 12, 3. Radnicki 10, 4. Vasas 0.
GROUP B
(quarters 2:4, 1:5, 2:4, 7:2)
Jadran Herceg Novi: Merkulov 3, Stupar 2, Vujovic 1, Lazic 1, Sladovic 1.
Novi Beograd: Martinovic 4, Lukic 3, Urosevic 1, Gladovic 1, Cuk 1, Trtovic 2, Dimitrijevic 1, Perkovic 1, Milojevic 1.
Novi Beograd beat Jadran thanks to an outstanding defense. Three goals separated the rivals at the end of the gae, but it was only because Novi Beograd’s defense weakened when the match was already decided.
Jadran earned an early 1:0 lead, but Novi Beograd quickly replied with three for 3:1 and maintained a 2-goal difference until the end of the first quarters. Five out of six goals in the first period were scored with a man-up advantage (only Novi Beograd’s goal for 4:2 was from a counterattack). The Serbs’ defense, led by the best goalkeeper at the European Championships, Milan Glusac, improved steadily. The visitors kept their momentum and stretched the margin to four (6:2) midway through the second period. By halftime, Novi Beograd jumped to 9:3.
Vasilije Martinovic Photo by VK Novi Beograd
In the 19th minute, Vasilije Martinovic scored his fourth goal, widening the difference to 11:3. It became clear that Novi Beograd will play in the Champions League Quarter Final Stage and that Jadran will continue the season in the Euro Cup. Three minutes before the end, Novi Beograd was seven steps ahead of Jadran (15:8) and, after that, allowed the hosts to avoid a big defeat.
(quarters 4:4, 1:2, 3:4, 5:5)
Pro Recco kept its perfect record with victory in Split in the game that could change nothing in the standings.
Standings: 1. Pro Recco 18, 2. Novi Beograd 9, 3. Jadran HN 6, 3. Jadran S 3.
GROUP C
(quarters 3:5, 4:9, 6:5, 2:6)
17:13 (quarters 5:3, 4:3, 3:4, 5:3)
More to follow…
Standings: 1. Ferencvaros 16, 2. Brescia 14, 3. Oradea 0, 4. Primorac 0.
GROUP D
16:13 (5:2, 3:4, 6:3, 2:4)
Marseille desperately needed a win in Sabadell to advance to the Quarter Final Stage, while the match had no big importance for the hosts. However, the Spaniards dictated the pace throughout the first half. Marseille leveled the score twice at 1:1 and 2:2. Then Sabadell scored three goals in 69 seconds, going to 5:2. Marseille narrowed the gap to one goal thrice, but Sabadell led 8:6 at halftime.
Early in the third period, Sabadell earned a 4-goal lead for the first time (10:6). Marseille didn’t show any signs that it could make a comeback. Moreover, Sabadell jumped to 15:9 in the 25th minute and sealed the victor.
20:12 (4:1, 5:1, 6:6, 5:4)
Barceloneta got into the match furiously, jumping to an 8:1 lead (15th minute). In the rest of the game, the hosts played more relaxed, and Hannover did everything to prove it deserved a spot among the top 8 teams in the Champions League.
Standings: 1. Barceloneta 15, 2. Hannover 9, 3. Sabadell 6, 4. Marseille 6.
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