Men’s F4, Semifinal 2 preview: Two returnees, two different paths to Malta

The second semifinal at the Men’s Final Four brings together two returnees to the F4: Pro Recco and Olympiacos.

The two sides took very different routes to the Final Four. Pro Recco dominated throughout the campaign, defeating nearly all of its opponents with relative ease.

In contrast, Olympiacos had to battle hard for every point in the quarterfinal stage to secure its place in Malta.

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Champions League Final Four, Semifinal 2, Preview

Pro Recco– Olympiacos, June 11 at 21.00 CET

Pro Recco and Olympiacos have met several times in the decisive stages of the Champions League, producing some memorable clashes. One of Olympiacos’ greatest achievements came in 2018, when the Greek club stunned Pro Recco in the final in Genoa (9:7). A year later, Olympiacos again was again better than the Italians, eliminating them in the semifinals in Hannover.

In recent years, however, the balance has shifted in Pro Recco’s favor. The teams last faced each other during the 2024 season, meeting three times. Pro Recco emerged victorious on all three occasions, including a dramatic semifinal at the Final Four in Malta, where the Italians prevailed in a penalty shootout.

Encounters in the last five seasons – 2023/24: 12:11, 11:10, 13:11 (9:9); 2022/23: 7:9 and 10:9, 2020/21: 14:8 and 13:6

PRO RECCO

Last five Champions League seasons – 2025: didn’t play, won the Euro Cup; 2024: runner-up; 2023: winner; 2022: winner; 2021: winner

Best results: 11x winner (1965, 1984, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2021, 2022, 2023); 8x runner-up (1967, 1970, 1972, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2018, 2024), 4x bronze medalist (1966, 2005, 2017, 2019)

Trophies in other European competitions: 9x European Super Cup winner (2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2021, 2022, 2023), Euro Cup (2025)

Road to the Malta F4

Group Stage (1^st place in Group B): vs. Novi Beograd 12:8 (A) and 13:9 (H),  vs. Jadran Herceg Novi 16:7 (H) and 19:13 (A), vs. Jadran Split 15:9 (H) and 15:13 (A).

Quarterfinal Stage (1^st place in Group B): vs. Ferencvaros 13:9 (A) and 14:16 (H), vs. Mladost 13:10 (H) and 17:14 (A), vs. Waspo Hannover 20:14 (A) and 19:9 (H).

Other competitions in the 2025/26 season: the Italian Cup winner, the silver medal in the European Super Cup; advanced to the semifinals of the Italian League (to be played after the F4).

Roster: Gianmarco Nicosia, Tommaso Negri, Luca Perrone (goalkeepers), Francesco Di Fulvio, Alvaro Garnados (ESP), Giacomo Cannella, Andrea Fondelli, Lukas Durik (SVK), Nicholas Presciutti, Luke Pavillard (AUS), Andrea Patchalev, Rino Buric (CRO), Matteo Iocchi Gratta, Andrea Mladossich, Max Irving (USA), Francesco Cassia, Lorenzo Demarchi. Head coach: Sandro Sukno (CRO).

In the last 20 years, Pro Recco hasn’t participated in the Champions League semifinals only three times: in 2013, when it boycotted the competition; in 2014, when Partizan surprisingly defeated it in the quarterfinals; and in the last season, when it played in the Euro Cup.

Pro Recco’s record of 11 titles in the Champions League will be unbeaten for long, as Mladost and Partizan are the closest to the Italians with 7 titles each. Belgrade proved a lucky city for Recco, as the Italians clinched three consecutive titles at the F8s in the capital of Serbia between 2021 and 2023, matching Mladost’s achievement from the 1960s and 1970s.

After failing to become the first club to win four consecutive titles by losing to Ferencvaros in the 2024 final, the Italian team faced significant challenges. A long-time patron, Gabriele Volpi, departed from the club, casting doubt on its future. Several players left the team during this tumultuous period. However, with the support of a new sponsor, the club regrouped, retained most of its key players, and, with a few strategic additions, ultimately won its first-ever Euro Cup. Last summer, the Italian club reshaped its roster by signing several great players, headed by Alvaro Granados, whose arrival at Recco was delayed due to the troubles in 2024. Recco assembled a new team, with the ambition to win the 12th CHL trophy.

Throughout the season, the team has shown that it is capable of achieving great things. Apart from the loss to Ferencvaros in Genoa, Pro Recco dominated every other match, often defeating opponents more convincingly than the final scoreline suggested. Even in the defeat to Ferencvaros, Pro Recco demonstrated its strength. The Hungarian side stunned the Italians in the first half, racing to a 10:4 lead, but Recco nearly completed a remarkable comeback and came close to scoring an equalizer. Although they lost, the two-goal margin was enough for them to retain first place.

Ferencvaros remains the only team to have beaten Pro Recco this season. Earlier in the campaign, the reigning European champions had defeated the Euro Cup holders in a thrilling European Super Cup clash in Budapest in October, winning 15:14.

Pro Recco truly boasts a formidable squad, probably playing the best defense in Europe this year. It is a remarkable achievement to hold Ferencvaros to fewer than 10 goals, something the Italian side managed a few months ago in Budapest.

This is a team that every opponent fears, but the upcoming clash with Olympiacos will be far from an easy task for what many consider the leading favorite to win the title this season.

Mandic, Echenique, Di Fulvio
The most decorated players in the Champions League among those participating in the Malta tournament are Dusan Mandic (Ferencvaros), Francesco Di Fulvio (Pro Recco) and Gonzalo Echenique (Barceloneta), with four titles each.

Mandic celebrated its first Champions League trophy at the age of 17, playing for Partizan in 2011. Ten years later, he triumphed with Pro Recco in Belgrade. Di Fulvio and Echenique were his teammates then and Mandic was voted the MVP of the tournament. His third and fourth titles came in 2024 and 2025 with Ferencvaros.

Echenique was part of Barceloneta’s winning team in 2014 and then won three titles with Pro Recco (2021, 2022, 2023).

Francesco Di Fulvio (Pro Recco) Photo by Laszlo Balogh

Di Fulvio has become the European champion always wearing Recco’s cap (2015, 2021, 2022, 2023).

OLYMPIACOS

Last five Champions League seasons – 2025: 5^th/6^th place (3^rd place in the quarterfinal group), 2024: 3^rd place; 2023: 5^th place, 2022: 9^th/10^th place (5^th place in the group), 2021: 7^th place.

Best results: 2x winner (2002 and 2018), 3x runner-up (2001, 2016, 2019), a bronze medal (2024).

Trophies in other European competitions: Super Cup (2002)

Road to the Malta F4

Group Stage (1^st place, Group A): vs. Mladost 13:9 (H) and 13:14 (A); vs. Vasas 15:5 (A) and 20:8 (H), vs. Radnicki 13:12 (A), 16:14, PSO, 11:11 (H).

Quarterfinal Stage (2^nd place, Group A): vs. Novi Beograd 10:12 (A) and 16:15 (H), vs. Brescia 14:11 (H) and 17:16, PSO, 11:11(A), vs. Barceloneta 13:20 (A) and 9:12 (H).

Results in other competitions in the 2025/26 season: the Greek League and the Greek Cup

Roster: Emmanouil Zerdevas, Panagiotis Tzortzos (goalkeepers), Daniel Angyal (HUN), Konstantinos Genidounias, Ioannis Fountoulis, Nikolaos Gkillas, Konstantinos Gouvis, Gergo Zalanki (HUN), Dimitris Dimou, Ioannis Alafragkis, Konstantinos Kakaris, Dimitrios Nikolaidis, Alexandros Papanastasiou, Evangelos Pouros, Spyridon Lykoudis. Head coach: Elvis Fatovic (CRO).

Since playing in two back-to-back finals (gold in 2018 and silver in 2019), Olympiacos has experienced many ups and downs in the Champions League. Actually, there were more downs than ups. The 2021/22 season was especially disappointing, as the Greeks didn’t qualify for the Final Eight despite having a very good team.

They were close to the final two years ago, when Recco defeated them in the semifinals after a penalty shootout.

Konstantinos Genidounias Photo by EUROKINISSI Phoro Agency

The start of the 2025/26 season, under the new head coach Elvis Fatovic, was very promising. Olympiacos finished atop a very tough group in the first phase, ahead of Mladost, Radnicki and Vasas. Only Mladost defeated the Greeks, scoring a last-gasp goal from a penalty shot in the very last second.

But, Olympiacos struggled in the Quarterfinal Stage, suffering a heavy 13:20 defeat against Barceloneta, a match expected to be a derby. Despite this setback, Olympiacos managed to secure five points in their next two games against Novi Beograd and Brescia, earning a spot in the Final Four in Malta a round before the stage concluded.

The Piraeus-based team is the only one to enter the Final Four with a negative goal difference, having conceded more goals than they scored in the quarterfinals (-8) and finishing with only eight points. This outcome reflects the difficulty of their path—there were no easy victories, and they faced challenging opponents throughout.

Bookmakers do not give Olympiacos much of a chance. However, if the Greek side can reproduce the form it displayed during the first half of the season, it has the quality to make the game against Recco a competitive contest.

Olympiacos’s convincing victories over a strong Panathinaikos team in the Greek League finals are an indication that the club from Piraeus is heading in the right direction and reaching peak form at the most important stage of the season.

Replay of 2024 semifinals

The duel between Pro Recco and Olympiacos will be a replay of the mentioned 2024 semifinal, when the Italians recorded a 13:11 win in a penalty shootout (9:9).

However, even though only two years have passed since then, just six Recco’s players who participated in the 2024 semifinals are still at the club: Francesco Di Fulvio, Giacomo Cannella, Andrea Fondelli, Nicholas Presciutti, Francesco Condemi and the reserve goalkeeper Tommaso Negri. Matteo Iocchi Gratta was Recco’s player that season, but he wasn’t on the roster for the semifinal game.

Fountoulis Photo: Eurokinissi Photo Agency

Olympiacos kept more players: veterans Konstantinos Genidounias and Ioannis Fountoulis, then Konstantinos Gouvis, Nikolaos Gkillas, Ioannis Alafragkis, Dimitrios Dimou, Dimitrios Nikolaidis, Alexandros Papanastasiou and goalkeeper Emmanouil Zerdevas.

Genidounias, Fountoulis and, then young, Nikolaidis, were part of the team that beat Recco 9:7 in the 2018 final.

Gergo Zalanki and Konstantinos Kakaris, who played for Recco in 2024, are among Olympiacos’s key players today.

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