Men's Champions League: FTC-Telekom defends title as the first Hungarian team

As the semifinals against Marseille hinted at the nightmare of the Hungarian-French World Championship in Doha (a defeat after an 8-4 halftime lead), Novi Beograd's march increasingly resembled the highly unlikely Olympic victory of the Serbian national team. The team, which has attracted a multitude of stars to Belgrade in recent years, pursued the Champions League trophy for three years, but following two domestic silver medals (Recco proved too strong for them both times) and last year's fourth place, the cream of the team bid farewell to the new Belgrade team. Stars like Alvaro Granados or Nikola Jaksic excelling in Paris, plus the two-time Olympic champion veteran center giant Dusan Pijetlovic – plus at least three other veteran stars.

In the group stage, luck was on their side (Hannover, Steaua, Oradea), and they easily advanced, dedicating the fall to rebuilding the team. Zivko Gocic's rebuilding turned out so well that in the quarterfinals, to everyone's surprise, they defeated the favored Olympiacos, comfortably defeated Jadran Split, and although they lost in Marseille, they eventually finished at the top of their group. Thus, they avoided Ferencváros in the semifinals. Against Barceloneta, just as unexpectedly, in typical Serbian fashion, they managed to come out better in every critical situation, and eventually defeated Vince Vigvári's team. Not without reason did Balázs Nyéki say before the final that Novi had never played as much of a team as this year – having lost a truly outstanding star, their game was no longer about someone solving the situation with their genius.

The Fradi experienced this struggle firsthand. Belgrade knew that the only chance they had was to grind down the green's key players at the back, while trying to play with the least possible risk up front to avoid counterattacks, and to capitalize on opportunities to score at the highest percentage.

In the first half, it followed Belgrade's game plan. Moreover, it quickly became clear that Nikola Lukic, not considered a superstar, was having a good day as he constantly found gaps in Ferencváros' defense. He scored the first three goals for NBG, and then the fifth, while Fradi visibly struggled. Although through Manhercz Krisztián they managed to take the lead nearly five minutes later, responses followed, so by the end of the quarter, first Gergő Fekete, then Dusan Mandic's scoring tied the game.

And in the second, Ferencváros still couldn't quite get going. Although, once again through Manhercz, the defending champion led, Lukic was still unstoppable, and after Di Somma's double goal from a man-up situation, Skoumpakis replied, leaving the teams level at 5-5 in the middle of the quarter. The remaining four and a half minutes until the halftime hardly stirred the neutrals: it remained a tough physical battle, the Italian-Greek referee pair's Mediterranean counterwaves often left no chance for shots, but plenty of swimming. Notably, the fearsome long-range bombs were rarely seen, there were attempts, but Mandic, who had previously shot down the Serbs - somewhat as a personal vendetta - was not as successful this time, although he was constantly harassed and sawed by his compatriots.

This kind of struggle continued into the third quarter, Lukic scored a man-up goal from the post, and although Argyropoulos, who had popped three balls in the first half, finally found the right target, a somewhat controversial free-throw allowed Lukic to score his sixth goal, putting Novi in the lead 7-6.

However, it turned out that there are drawbacks to the rival's fighting style: you can grind down a physically stronger opponent, but you yourself get tired after a while. Plus, a dose of Hungarian water polo was added to this because Manhercz scored a fantastic goal from an impossible angle: zero degrees, apologetically - Milan Glusac, the young Serbian goalkeeper who had performed excellently this spring, was visibly stunned by this incredible goal.

After another two-minute back-and-forth, Fradi received another man-up chance, and Manhercz erased a tremendous shot that hit the post. The next Serbian advantage did not help the ball move as smoothly as before, Vlachopoulos shot hopelessly, and the champion team managed to lift their spirits for the first time, and Gergő Fekete slammed in a fierce counterattack.

It was palpable that the match had shifted into Ferencváros' realm, where speed dominates - Gocic quickly called a timeout, but it didn't help. Although there was another man-up situation, Mandic intercepted the cross pass, then after some untidy defense, Szilárd Jansik scored a great goal from behind. FTC surged with 4 consecutive goals in 3 minutes and 10 seconds over the Serbs, which led Gocic to angrily slam the water bottle to the ground - he felt it would be very difficult for them to climb back from there. As a faint glimmer of hope, in the remaining 24 seconds, Miroslav Perkovic scored a center goal in a scuffle - this was actually the only defensive lapse, and it served as a faint glimmer of hope for Novi, but considering Fradi's strength, it was not easy to imagine that the tired Serbs could be two goals better than the Nyéki's team in the remaining eight minutes.

Especially since what Lukic was there, Manhercz Krisztián was here: after 47 seconds, he restored the three-goal difference with another fantastic shot. Although Martinovic neatly scored a man-up goal, and then they could have come even closer after a counterattack, Vogel covered Lukic's attempt, and across the pool, Márton Vámos brilliantly placed the ball into the net at the end of a genius move, scoring the fourth consecutive action goal for Fradi (9-12).

There was still plenty of time, which could have closed the game soon, but after the timeout, Vendel Vigvári flicked in a bounce shot, while on the other side, Vlachopoulos narrowed the gap with a precise shot to the bottom corner.

But Manhercz Krisztián had such an inspired day that even his missed shots turned into goals - indeed, he hit the post, but the rebound from Glusac's body bounced into the net; this was the moment when it became clear that there was no turning back from there.

With Manó's 6th goal, it was 10-13, four minutes before the final whistle - and although it turned out to be the last goal for the greens, they didn't need more. They didn't have to force anything, as the defense was solid: FTC wiped out three disadvantages, Vogel was there for everything, time passed smoothly, the three-goal lead remained unchanged. When Martinovic scored from the fourth man-up, there were 0:37 remaining on the clock, so the outcome was no longer in doubt - the staff could calmly take out their valuables in anticipation of the upcoming plunge into the water.

Soon, it was time to jump and celebrate in happiness: FTC-Telekom won the Champions League for the third time after 2019 and 2024. This achievement holds a special value because what previously failed eight times for OSC (1972, 1978), Vasas (1979, 1984), Újpest (1994), Honvéd (2004), Szolnok (2017), and for them after 2019, finally succeeded: as the first Hungarian team, they managed to defend the most prestigious title.

All this at the end of a season where in 49 matches, no one managed to defeat Ferencváros in eight minutes. After the draw against Barceloneta, they lost with a five-meter shootout, so officially the season's win-loss ratio is 48-1. Adding to this the previous year's matches (40-1), a combined ratio of 88-2 in 90 matches, an astonishing streak under the leadership of Balázs Nyéki - it's no wonder that with such a performance, the Ferencváros players always posed for photos with the current trophy at the end of seven finals (two domestic league titles, two Hungarian Cups, two Champions Leagues, plus the European Super Cup). Of course, the foreign aces played a significant role, but in contrast to last year's dominance when their game truly stood out, this time at the Final Four against Marseille, 10 players shared the goals, while in the final, the Hungarian national team's talents scored 11 out of 13 goals.

One way or another, it is crystal clear: FTC-Telekom is currently not only the best water polo team in Europe but in the entire universe.

Champions League, Final Four, Malta

Final

Novi Beograd (SRB) - FTC-Telekom 11-13

Bronze match

Zodiac Barceloneta (ESP) - CN Marseille (FRA) 19-9