Marseille and Jadran Split will play in the final of the 2026 Euro Cup after very exciting semifinals.
Marseille eliminated Radnicki, the runner-up in the 2025 season. The Kragujevac-based team arrived in Marseille with a solid three-goal advantage from the first leg (17:14). However, Marseille secured a 16:11 victory in the return match. A critical turning point occurred between the 19th and 27th minutes – Marseille scored nine goals while conceding only two during those eight minutes, turning a 7:8 deficit into a commanding 16:10 lead.
Jadran defeated BVSC both times. After a 13:12 victory in Split, the Croats recorded a 14:12 win in Budapest today. The return match was a close contest. The score was equalized a number of times, but Jadran had control throughout the game. BVSC never took the lead. Jerko Marinic Kragic was outstanding, contributing seven goals to Jadran’s victory.
The finals will be played on May 23 and June 6, with Marseille hosting the first game.
2026 Euro Cup, semifinals, return matches
Marseille – Radnicki 16:11 (3:2, 4:4, 6:4, 3:1) – 1st leg 14:17
Marseille: Nagy 3, Bouet 3, Kalogeropoulos 3, Crousillat 2, Larumbe 1, Spaic 1, Vernoux 1, Drasovic 1, Gbadamassi 1.
Radnicki: Prlainovic 4, S.Rasovic 2, Vapenski 2, N.Jaksic 1, V.Rasovic 1, Dadvani 1.
Marseille was without head coach Milos Scepanovic, because he received a red card in the first game in Kragujevac. Scepanovic was replaced by one of his assistants, Marc Amardeilh, who was Marseille’s head coach several years ago, and won the 2019 Euro Cup with the club. This time, Amardeilh led Marseille to the final.
The hosts, playing very well in defense, earned a 2:0 lead in the first four minutes and then had a great chance to widen the margin from a penalty shot. However, Radnicki’s goalkeeper, Radoslav Filipovic, saved a shot from Ugo Crousillat. Immediately after, Andrija Prlainovic, who spent the previous five seasons at Marseille, put the visitors on the scoreboard. The missed penalty was Marseille’s only opportunity to erase the three-goal deficit from the first match during the first half. It earned a 2-goal lead four times more (from 3:1 to 6:4), but on each occasion, Radnicki cut its deficit in its following possession. In the 15th minute, Radnicki equalized for the first time (6:6). Nagy responded shortly after. In the final moments of the first half, the hosts missed another penalty shot, with Vernoux hitting the post
Radnicki opened the third quarter with two goals. It was Prlainovic again who put Radnicki in front, 8:7. Unfortunately for the hosts, it was their only lead in the match. Marseille produced a 3:0 run in just 52 seconds (10:8). The visitors halved their deficit (9:10), but Marseille responded with a new series of three goals. Nine seconds before the end, Bouet converted a penalty shot, making it 13:9. Just six seconds later, Vapenski scored to level the aggregate score.
Efsthatios Kalogeropoulos Photo by CN Marseille
However, Marseille, with strong support from the stands, kept momentum, scoring three straight goals in the first two and a half minutes of the fourth period. Kalogeropoulos concluded a new 3:0 run, scoring from the penalty he forced in a counterattack (16:10). For the rest of the match, Marseille played patiently, focused on defense. Radnicki missed several good opportunities, including a penalty shot. The Serbs scored their only goal when it was too late. Jaksic set the final score 20 seconds before the end.
BVSC – Jadran Split 12:14 (3:4, 4:3, 2:3, 3:4) – 1st leg 12:13
BVSC: M.Meszaros 4, Tatrai 3, Csacsovszky 2, B.Ekler 1, Szeghalmi 1, Batizi 1.
Jadran: Marinic Kragic 7, Fatovic 3, Skejic 2, Matkovic 1, Curkovic 1.
Jadran, a double European champion (1991 and 1992), returned to the European final after almost three decades, following a loss to Partizan in the 1998 Euro Cup (then the LEN Trophy).
Jadran led for almost the entire first quarter. BVSC briefly equalized twice (1:1 and 2:2). At the finish of the opening period, Matkovic gave the visitors a two-goal lead (4:2). Shortly before the first break, Ekler made it 3:4. Jadran rebuilt a 2-goal advantage (5:3 and 6:4), but BVSC caught up with the visitors, leveling at 6:6 and 7:7.
Midway through the third period, Jadran regained a 2-goal lead, with goals from Marinic Kragic and Fatovic (9:7). Still, BVSC equalized 73 seconds before the end of the quarter – Csacsovszky made it 9:9 from a penalty shot. Thirty seconds later, Jerko Marinic Kragic scored his 6th goal in the game, this time with a double-man up, allowing Jadran to enter the final quarter with a 10:9 advantage.
Jerko Marinic Kragic (Jadran S) Photo by Vuk Ilic
The teams traded goals in the final period, with BVSC scoring equalizers at 10:10, 11:11, and 12:12. Szeghalmi made it 12:12 in the 31st minute. The decision came with 36 seconds to go. Jerko Marinic Kragic found the net from a distance, giving Jadran a 13:12 lead and practically booking the ticket for the final. BVSC played with seven field players in the rest of the match, but it didn’t help. Nerdo Skajic closed the match, scoring into the empty net.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
