Radnicki won the inaugural VRL Premier League.
In the final game of the F4 tournament in Kragujevac, the hosts beat Primorac 17:11.
The Kotor-based side shocked Radnicki with an early 4:1 lead. However, Radnicki gained momentum in an action-packed third quarter. Three minutes before the end of the first half, Primorac took the lead for the first time (7:6). Then Radnicki started dominating and scored eight consecutive goals before the last break, building a huge 14:7 lead.
Jadran m:tel goes home with a bronze medal. The Herceg Novi-based team defeated Sabac Elixir in the third-place match after a penalty shootout 16:15.
After the final, the MVP of the entire season of the Premier VRL, the best goalkeeper, and the best scorer were awarded.
Strahinja Gojkovic, a young player of Jadran m:tel, was picked as the MVP of the season. The best scorer is Marko Mrsic (Primorac) with 44 goals, while Darko Djurovic (Sabac) is the best goalkeeper, with 138 saves (45,4 % efficiency)
The MVP was chosen based on the the statistics of the Total Waterpolo Arena,, which uses a comprehensive formula that evaluates each player’s performance throughout the season. The calculation includes positive contributions (goals, assists, saves, blocks, forced exclusions), but also negative factors (turnovers, misses, mistakes in the attack). Each parameter is assigned a corresponding weight, and their sum is obtained by obtaining a unique cumulative rating. The title of MVP is won by the player with the highest final score.
Strahinja Gojkovic Photo by Uros Elekovic
Only the players and the goalkeepers who participated in the Final Four were in competition for the awards for the best player and the best goalkeeper of the season.
2026 VRL Premier League, Final Four, medal matches
Final
(quarters 4:2, 3:7, 0:5, 4:3)
Primorac was very motivated to show its best. That factor, combined with the fact that the Montenegrins had no pressure on them, unlike the hosts, helped them open the match well. Primorac built a 2:0 lead before Dusko Pijetlovic scored the first goal for Radnicki in the 4th minute. But Primorac quickly responded with two back-to-back goals (Brkic and Vuckovic), establishing a 4:1 lead (5th minute). Radnicki missed too many chances, but managed to reduce the gap to two thanks to Strahinja Rasovic.
Radnicki defended a man-down in Primorac’s first possession in the second quarter, and after that forced a penalty shot. Nikola Jaksic made it 3:4 from the 5m line, but Djuro Radovic responded immediately with an extra player. Nikola Jaksic took the stage in the second quarter. He added a goal from a counterattack and then leveled from another penalty shot in the 12th minute. Savo Cetkovic gave Primorac a 6:5 lead by converting a man-up. However, the Kotor-based side didn’t enjoy that lead for long as shortly after, the third penalty shot was awarded to Radnicki. This time, Andrija Prlainovic took responsibility and made no mistake -6:6. The series of penalty fouls continued shortly after, but with the first penalty shot for Primorac. Mrsic hit the back of the net – 7:6. Still, the finish of the first half belonged to the Kragujevac-based team, which scored three unanswered goals in the last two and a half minutes, establishing a 9:7 lead at halftime.
After a 5-minute break, Radnicki continued rolling. Strahinja Rasovic scored three goals, Dadvani and Murisic added one each, while the hosts’ defense was perfect. Before the fourth quarter, Radnicki had a 14:7 advantage. It was impossible for Primorac to make a comeback.
3rd-place game
(quarters 2:3, 3:2, 4:1, 2:5, PSO 5:4)
The third-place match was similar to the semifinal between Jadran and Primorac. Once again, Jadran didn’t win in regular time even though it had a solid lead, but today, the Herceg Novi-based team managed to secure a victory in a shootout.
Today, Jadran wasted a 5-goal advantage in the fourth period. Sabac caught up with the Montenegrins in the dying seconds but eventually fell in the shootout.
The defenses with good goalkeepers, Andric and Djurovic, dominated in the first half. Sabac’s Barac scored the first goal in the 3rd minute. Jadran got on the scoreboard only in the sixth minute. In the last 01:45 seconds of the quarter, the teams quickly exchanged goals, and Sabac led 3:2 at the first break. Jadran tuned the score early in the second period, with goals by Sladovic and Gojkovic. Barac leveled at 4:4 in the middle of the quarter from a penalty shot. Merkulov immediately replied with a man-up, but Nebojsa Tholj tied the game in the 16th minute from a close range.
Photo by Slobodan Sandic
Jadran improved its defense and man-up conversion in the second half, which allowed the Montenegrins to enter the final quarter leading 9:6. Sladovic and Janovic opened the fourth period with goals, and Jadran jumped to 11:6 with 06:11 minutes remaining in the match. It looked like the contest was over. However, Sabac pulled a great comeback. Between the 26th and 29th minutes, Stojanovic and Novakovic scored two goals each, and Sabac cut its deficit to only one goal – 10:11. Jadran then called a timeout, but it didn’t help. Just 11 seconds before the end, Ognjen Stojanovic scored his 4th goal to level at 11:11 and prolong the match to a shootout.
Photo by Uros Elekovic
The decision came in the 4th round of the penalty shots, when Jadran’s goalkeeper, Lazar Andric, saved a shot from Aljosa Macic.
Stojanovic was the best scorer of the game. Sladovic netted three for Jadran, and his teammate Fran Valera was chosen as the MVP of the match because of his contribution both in defense and in attack.
Visit the Premier League’s page on Total Waterpolo Arena for the live scores, schedule and standings.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
