The playoffs in the Croatian League have started with the first quarterfinal matches (best-of-two series).
Mladost, the 1st-placed team in the regular season, and Jug recorded convincing away wins. An encounter between Mornar and Primorje in Split ended in a draw.
The first game between Solaris and Jadran Split has been postponed due to Jadran’s successful participation in the Euro Cup.
The first quarterfinal match between Mornar and Primorje, which finished 5th and 3rd in the regular season, respectively, featured several twists and turns. Primorje started strong, establishing a 5:2 lead within the first eight minutes. However, the second period was entirely different, as Mornar dominated and took an 8:7 lead at halftime.
In a high-scoring third period, Primorje managed to level the score at 10:10. Nevertheless, Mornar maintained a slight edge before the final eight minutes, leading 14:13. With just one minute remaining, Primorje took the lead for the first and only time in the second half when Ivan Vukojevic scored with an extra player, making it 16:15.
However, Mornar forced an exclusion on their next possession, and experienced left-hander Duje Zivkovic converted a man-up opportunity to set the final score at 16:16.
Three players scored almost half of the goals in the match. Duje Zivkovic led Mornar with five goals.Tin Brubnjak and Ivan Vukojevic scored five each for Primorje.
Mornar made a change to the coaching staff before the playoffs. Hrvoje Koljanin, the current head coach of the Croatian U18 national team, made his debut as Mornar’s head coach in the quarterfinal match. Koljanin, a former head coach of Vouliagmeni and Olympiacos and an assistant coach at Jug, took over from Dino Dvornik.
Mladost struggled to break Zadar’s ressistance. Zadar shocked the favorite with a 5:1. The hosts maintained a 4-goal lead for a while (6:2, 7:3). At the finish of the second quarter, Mladost started recovering. Luka Loncar and Marko Radulovic scored in the final 36 seconds of the first half, reducing the gap to 7:8. Zadar regained a 2-goal lead twice in the early stages of the second half (9:7 and 10:8). Still, Mladost took control then, producing a 10:2 run in the last 12 minutes for a 19:12 win. Luka Bukic scored four, and Josip Vrlic three goals for Mladost. David Babic was Zadar’s top scorer with four goals.
Jug scored twice as many goals as Medvescak – 22:11 in Zagreb. Medvescak started quite well and led 3:1 in the first quarter. But, Jug turned the score by the first break (4:3) and dominated for the rest of the match, with six goals from Marko Zuvela and five from Bogdan Djerkovic.
2026 Croatian League, playoffs
Quarterfinals (best-of-two), 1st games
Zadar 1952 – Mladost 12:19 (5:2, 3:5, 4:7, 0:5)
Mornar – Primorje EB 16:16 (2:5, 6:2, 6:6, 2:3)
Medvescak – Jug AO 11:22 (3:4, 1:5, 5:6, 2:7)
Solaris – Jadran Split postponed to Wednesday
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
