Starting on Tuesday, eight teams will continue their quest for the title of European champion.
The first round of the Champions League Quarterfinal Stage will take place on March 3 and 4.
A major highlight of the week is the matchup between the top title contenders, as Ferencvaros will host Pro Recco in the first round of Group B on Wednesday.
A few other matches could be quite interesting.
2026 Champions League, Quarter Final Stage, Day 1, Preview
GROUP A
Tuesday, March 3 (all games start at 20:30 CET): Novi Beograd – Olympiacos, Brescia – Barceloneta.
Group A is more balanced than Group B, despite Olympiacos and Barceloneta being considered the favorites as group winners in the first phase. Novi Beograd and Brescia have potential and the right to hope about participating in the Final Four.
Olympiacos and Novi Beograd will face each other in the Quarter Final Stage for the second consecutive season. However, Olympiacos must put aside the bad memories from last season’s matches against Novi Beograd.
In the previous season, Novi Beograd, thanks in part to an outstanding performance from Milan Glusac, beat Olympiacos 8:5 in Athens. The Serbs downed the Greek powerhouse in Belgrade, too (16:15) and advanced to the Final Four, eventually winning a silver medal, while Olympiacos ended its European journey in the QF stage.
Olympiacos was a favorite last season, but it didn’t prove it. This time, the quality gap is, on paper, even larger than last year, as Olympiacos hasn’t made significant changes to its roster, while Novi Beograd has undergone another rejuvenation.
Experience vs. youth: Fountoulis and Genidounias (Olympiacos) attempt to block Gladovic (NBG) Photo by Slobodan Sandic
Olympiacos qualified for the Quarter Final Stage as the winner of the toughest group in the first phase, leaving Mladost, Radnicki, and Vasas behind. Novi Beograd had ups and downs, but it did its best when it mattered the most. It outclassed Jadran Herceg Novi in the crucial match of Round 6.
Water polo fans in Belgrade will once again have the opportunity to watch many players who recently stood on the podium at the European Championships. This includes four members from the home team and nine from Olympiacos. In addition to these 13 players, other great stars will be competing in the water.
Brescia and Barceloneta didn’t face off in the 2024/25 season, but they have met many times in the Champions League. However, Brescia hasn’t beaten the best Spanish team since 2021, when it recorded a 14:12 victory at home. Since then, one match ended in a draw, and Barceloneta achieved two convincing wins in the season 2023/24.
Barceloneta didn’t start the current season as expected, losing at home to Marseille in the 2nd round. However, the Spaniards collected 15 points in the remaining five matches to finish atop Group D. A relatively young Brescia team has also played great matches this season. The Italians are the only team that beat Ferencvaros this season, defeating the reigning European champion in Budapest (16:13 after a penalty shootout).
So, it won’t be a surprise if Brescia wins tomorrow.
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GROUP B
Wednesday, March 4 (all games start at 20:30 CET): Ferencvaros – Pro Recco, Mladost – Waspo 98 Hannover.
Only two teams have won the Champions League in the last six editions. They will meet on Wednesday. Ferencvaros clinched its first-ever CHL trophy in 2019, and then triumphed in 2024 and 2025. Pro Recco won three consecutive titles between 2021 and 2023.
Pro Recco triumphed over Ferencvaros in each of its three consecutive Champions League-winning seasons. In 2021, the Italians won the final 9:6. The following season, they faced Ferencvaros in the semifinals, winning 10:7. In the 2023 quarterfinals, Pro Recco recorded a convincing 8:4 victory.
Ferencvaros edged Pro Recco 12:11 in the 2024 final. In the last season, Pro Recco played in the Euro Cup. Following the win in the Euro Cup, Recco returned to the Champions League, and it is the only team that arrived at the Quarter Final Stage with a perfect 6 – 0 record.
Since last summer, the two giants have faced off several times. After friendly games in the USA, they clashed in the European Super Cup in Budapest, with Ferencvaros emerging victorious, 15:14.
There is no doubt that a new clash of the teams composed of great stars (including the winners of the Total Player Award – Dusan Mandic, Francesco Di Fulvio and Alvaro Granados) will be a water polo spectacle.
Mladost is a apsolute favorite in the match against Hannover. The Germans made the most of a series of surprises in Group D and reached the Top 8 round, beating Sabadell twice and Marseille once. They deserved a spot in the quarterfinals, but it’s hard to expect them to win points in duels against far better teams at the Quarter Final Stage.
Mladost boasts a strong team. The Croats played very well in the first phase, but in the “group of death,” they will need to surprise one of the heavy favorites at least once to keep chances of qualifng for the Final Four.
The Zagreb-based team has faced Hannover five times in the Champions League, but all of those matches occurred before 2021. Mladost won three of those encounters, Hannover secured one victory, and one match ended in a draw.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
