A four-day festival of high-quality water polo in Malta begins on Wednesday with the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League.
The Final Four of the men’s elite competition kicks off on Thursday.
The four teams that were favorites before the draw and successfully won their groups in the first phase have qualified for the tournament: Pro Recco, Barceloneta, Ferencvaros, and Olympiacos.
All four teams have been dominant in their national competitions for years and have previously won the Champions League.
Two of these teams, Ferencvaros and Barceloneta, participated in the Final Four last year, while Pro Recco and Olympiacos are returning to this prestigious tournament after being absent last year.
The clash between the reigning champion, Ferencvaros, and Barceloneta, the bronze medalist in 2025, will open the Men’s Final Four on June 11 at 19:00.
That match was supposed to be a clash between the brothers, Vendel and Vince Vigvari. However, Vince Vigvari, the top scorer of the 2026 Champions League, will not play in Malta. Find out more in the article.
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Champions League Final Four, Semifinal 1, Preview
Barceloneta – Ferencvaros, June 11 at 19.00 CET
The two teams haven’t met at the final tournaments since 2019, when Ferencvaros defeated Barceloneta 9:7 in the semifinals in Hannover on its way to the first European crown. However, they have faced off several times in recent seasons during the group stages. Ferencvaros has enjoyed more success, but Barceloneta has delivered wins, including a memorable 17:7 victory in Budapest in 2022.
Encounters in the previous five seasons– 2024/25: 10:18 and 13:12 (PSO, 9:9), 2023/24: 8:10 and 11:13, 2021/22: 12:12 and 17:7.
BARCELONETA
Last five Champions League seasons – 2025: 3rd place; 2024: 5th/6th place (3rd place in the Quarter Final group); 2023: 3rd place; 2022: 5th place; 2021: 4th place.
Best results: winner (2014), 3rd place (2013, 2015, 2018, 2023, 2025).
Other European trophies: LEN Super Cup (2014)
Road to Malta
Group Phase (1st place in Group D): vs. Sabadell 16:12 (A) and 13:7 (H), vs. Marseille 11:12 (H) and 12:11 (A), Waspo 98 Hannover 27:11 (A) and 20:12 (H)
Quarterfinal Phase (1st place in Group A): vs. Brescia 13:11 (A) and 17:6 (H), vs. Novi Beograd 19:16 (H) and 16:14 (A), vs. Olympiacos 20:13 (H) and 12:9 (A).
Results in other competitions in the season 2025/26– Spanish League: winner, Spanish Cup: winner, Spanish Super Cup: winner.
Roster: Unai Aguirre, Bruno Delmas (goalkeepers), Alberto Munarriz, Unai Biel, Gerely Burian (HUN), Jose Javier Bustos, Alejandro Bustos, Gonzalo Echenique (ITA), Biel Gomilla, Bernat Sanahuja, Roger Tahull, Vince Vigvari (HUN), Alessandro Velotto (ITA), Marc Valls, Max Casabella, Unai Lema, Daniel Merida. Head coach: Francisco Fernandez.
Barceloneta has been the driving force behind the development of Spainish water polo for years.
However, the club has been waiting for a European trophy for more than a decade.
Barceloneta’s triumph in the 2014 Champions League was one of the milestones for modern Spanish water polo, paving the way for the national team’s successes.
But since 2014, Barceloneta hasn’t played in the final, despite being an almost regular participant in the final tournaments.
Last summer, long-time team leader Felipe Perrone retired from water polo, while one of the club’s key players from the previous season, Alvaro Granados, left Barceloneta once again. There were doubts about whether Barceloneta, without those two and under rookie head coach Francisco Fernandez, could reach the Final Four again. Those doubts only grew after the Spaniards were defeated by Marseille in Barcelona in the 2nd round of the Group Phase.
However, from that point on, Barceloneta continued to improve. Fernandez’s approach, which entrusted greater responsibility to several younger players, proved highly effective. Barceloneta’s trademark in this season has been breaking opponents’ resistance with a series of quick goals within a few minutes.
Francisco Fernandez will not count on Vince Vigvari, the best scorer of the 2026 Champions League (43 goals), in Malta.
The Hungarian broke his finger in the final of the Spanish League against Sabadell. After detailed examinations, the doctors decided that Vince needed to undergo surgery, which went well. However, Vigvari still doesn’t know how long the recovery will last; he mentioned this in an interview with the Hungarian website Vlv.hu.
Judging by the quality of its roster and the number of elite players, Ferencvaros enters the first semifinal as the favorite.
Nevertheless, Barceloneta’s performances throughout the season—especially in the second half, following the European Championship—have given the Spanish side and its supporters plenty of confidence. Since February, they have been winning matches in convincing fashion – more convincingly than Ferencvaros.
Barceloneta was the only team to maintain a perfect record in the quarterfinal stage, winning all eight of its matches. In most games, the Spaniars left their opponents with little hope of success. The only team to remain competitive with the Spaniards deep into the contest was Novi Beograd, but they ultimately fell short.
Alberto Munarriz Photo by VK Novi Beograd Tehnomanija
A particularly impressive performance was Barceloneta’s 20:13 victory over Olympiacos in the fourth round. Barceloneta is in excellent form.
Will that be enough to dethrone Ferencváros and reach the final for only the second time in the club’s history?
FERENCVAROS
The last five Champions League seasons: 2025: winner; 2024: winner; 2023: 6th place; 2022: 3rd place; 2021: runner-up.
Best results: 3x winner (2019, 2024, 2025), runner-up (2021), bronze medal (2022)
Trophies in other European competitions: 4x winner of the Cup Winners’ Cup (1975, 1978, 1980, 1998), 2x Euro Cup winner (2017, 2018), 6 x Super Cup winner (1978, 1980, 2018, 2019, 2024, 2025).
Road to the Malta Final Four
Group Stage (1st place in Group C): vs. Oradea 19:11 (H) and 17:5 (A); vs. Brescia 21:17 (A) and 13:16, PSO, 12:12 (H), vs. Primorac 26:15 (H) and 25:15 (A).
Quarterfinal Stage (2nd place in Group B): vs. Pro Recco 9:13 (H) and 16:14 (A); vs. Waspo Hannover 21:13 (A) and 17:8 (H), vs. Mladost 15:10 (A) and 16:10 (H).
Results in other competitions this season: the Hungarian champion, the Hungarian Cup winner, the European Super Cup winner.
Roster: Soma Vogel, Daniel Szakonyi, Marton Levai (goalkeepers), Dusan Mandic (SRB), Krisztian Manhercz, Marton Vamos, Edoardo Di Somma (ITA), Akos Nagy, Gergo Fekete, Stylianos Argyropoulos (GRE), Vendel Vigvari, Szilard Jansik, Miguel De Toro (ESP), Zsombor Vismeg, Csongor Lugosi, Vince Varga. Head coach: Balazs Nyeki.
Ferencvaros arrives in Malta aiming to become the third team in the 52-year history of the Champions League to win three titles in a row. Just Mladost Zagreb (1968-1970) and Pro Recco (2021-2023) have claimed three straight crowns.
Two years ago, in the first of three consecutive F4s in Malta, Ferencvaros earned a penalty shootout over Novi Beograd in the semifinals (18:17) and edged Pro Recco in the final (13:12). Ferencvaros ended its 2025 Champions League campaign beating Marseille 14:11 in the semifinals and Novi Beograd 13:11 in the gold-medal match.
Last season, Ferencvaros played 49 games across all competitions and won 48. Only Barceloneta defeated the Hungarians after a penalty shootout.
Vendel Vigvari (Ferencvaros) Photo: FTC Telekom Waterpolo
The title-holder hasn’t been as dominant on the European stage this season as it was a year earlier. It suffered two losses, both at home, against Italian clubs. While the loss to Brescia wasn’t very painful, a 9:13 defeat to Pro Recco prevented Ferencvaros from finishing in 1st place in its quarterfinal group. The Hungarians took revenge in the match in Italy, but a 2-goal win wasn’t enough to overtake Recco in the top spot.
The Hungarian defense was vulnerable in many matches. But it is important to note that several key players (Mandic, Argyropoulos, Di Somma) have faced injuries throughout the season.
However, Fradi has a lot of great aces on the roster, and despite the problems, it cruised to trophies in Hungarian competitions and confidently booked its place in the final tournament. Now the Budapest-based side wants to crown the season with the most prestigious trophy.
One similarity between Ferencvaros and Barceloneta is that both teams were underdogs when they won their first European titles. Barceloneta, the host of the inaugural Final Six in 2014, entered the tournament as the 3rd-place team in their group. On their path to the title, they defeated Brescia, along with two strong favorites, Primorje and Radnicki.
Similarly, Ferencvaros qualified for the 2019 Final Eight as the 4th-placed team in their group. They went on to beat Jug, the winner of the other group, as well as Barceloneta and the defending champion, Olympiacos in the gold-medal match at the Final Eight in Hannover.
Two players who won the title with Barceloneta in 2014 will participate in the 2026 Final Four: Barceloneta’s captain Alberto Munarriz and Gonzalo Echenique, who returned to the team last summer. Today’s coach, Francisco Fernandez, was also on the winning team in 2024
As for a comparison of Ferencvaros in 2019 and 2026, three players from today’s team claimed the historic title seven years ago: Szilard Jansik, Marton Vamos and goalkeeper Soma Vogel. Balaz Nyeki, who guides the team as the head coach, was an assistant coach in 2019.
Visit Total Waterpolo Arena for live results and the statistics of the 2025/26 Champions League
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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
