Honved beat Posillipo 15:12 in the big derby on Day 1 of the Conference Cup Quarter Final Stage.
Eight teams, split into two groups, compete in this stage. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Final Four.
Both groups have started in Athens, but in different pools.
Besides Honved and Posillipo, Panionios and Tenerife play in Group A. Panionios opened the tournament with a 15:8 victory over Tenerife.
In Group B, De Akker edged Mataro 14:13, and Apollon defeated Mornar Split.
2026 Conference Cup, Quarter Final Stage, Day 1
Posillipo – Honved 12:15 (2:4, 4:6, 4:3, 2:2)
Posillipo:Maksimovic 3, Rocchino 3, Mattiello 2, N. Nagy 1, Da. Radovic 1, Renzuto Iodice 1, Milicic 1.
Honved: Moskov 5, Vickovic 4, Bencz 1, Vadovics 1, Sugar 1, Szepfalvi 1
Panionios – Tenerife 15:8 (4:1, 2:4, 6:1, 3:2)
Panionios: Suzuki 5, Karatzas 3, Bitsakos 3, Mourikis 1, Gounas 1, Koukounas 1, Kapetanakis 1
Tenerife: Andion 3, De Weerd 2, Gutierrez 1, Gorria 1, Araya 1.
Posillipo took a 2:0 lead in the first 02:02 minutes. But, Honved took control in the middle of the first period and started rolling. The Hungarians went on a 5:0 run in less than five minutes. Nikola Moskov converted a man-up in Honved’s first possession in the second period to make it 5:2. From that point on, the difference was never smaller than two goals. Posillipo couldn’t come closer. Two and a half minutes before the end of the first half, the Budapest-based team established a 4-goal lead for the first time (8:4). In the rest of the match, the Hungarian team, led by Montenegrin Nikola Moskov and Serb Lazar Vickovic, had an answer to every Posillipo’s comeback attempt. Honved took revenge for a defeat in a penalty shootout to Posillipo in the first stage of the Conference Cup, played also in Greece, in Nea Smyrni, a suburb of Athens.
Host Panionios downed Tenerife thanks to an excellent third period. The Greeks started quite well. The Spaniards managed to reduce the gap to 5:6 before the middle break. However, Panionios opened the third quarter with three quick goals, jumped to 9:5, and never looked back.
Group B
De Akker – Mataro 14:13 (3:4, 4:4, 4:1, 3:4)
De Akker: McFarland 3, Campopiano 3, Erdelyi 3, Bragantini 2, Lucci 2, Painter 1.
Mataro:Bertran 4, Castro 2, Gil 2, Veich 2, Aguirre 1, Rodriguez 1, Prada 1.
Apollon – Mornar 17:9 (4:3, 3:4, 4:0, 6:2)
Apollon Smyrnis: Bogdanovic 4, Alveridis 3, Kapotsis 2, Gardikas 2, Solanakis 2, Laskaidis 1, Daube 1, Rompopoulos 1, Mitrakis 1.
Mornar Split: R.Akrap 3, D.Zivkovic 2, Katunaric 2, D.Akrap 1, Dragas 1.
Mataro got off to an excellent start in the match against Posillipo. In the fourth minute, the Spaniards led 3:0. A minute later, it stood 4:1. De Akker recovered quickly and leveled at 4:4. But Mataro rebuilt a 3-goal lead in the second quarter (7:4, 8:5). Still, as the match was approaching the end, Mataro started running out of gas, and De Akker imposed its rhythm. The Italians went ahead for the first time only in the 21st minute, 10:9. Shortly after, they doubled their advantage to 11:9. For the remainder of the match, the teams exchanged goals. Mataro cut its deficit to one goal four times, but failed to equalize.
The first quarter of the encounter between Apollon and Mornar saw a few twists and turns. Apollon had a slim lead at the first break, but Mornar built a 2-goal advantage in the second quarter (6:4 and 7:5). The Croats scored their seventh goal in the 14th minute. But, after that, Apollon kept them goalless for 12 minutes, while producing a 7:0 run, earning a safe 12:7 lead early in the fourth quarter.
More articles about the Conference Cup
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