Premiere of “Boka Bay Derby” in Premier League

November 14, 2025

Photo by Vuk Ilic

One of the oldest rivalries in world water polo is the “Boka Bay Derby,” a clash between Jadran Herceg Novi and Primorac Kotor. The two clubs first met 95 years ago. Tomorrow they will compete against each other in the Premier VRL League for the first time.

Jadran will host Primorac at the Skver pool in the 6th round of the league. After five rounds, there is only one point separating the teams from Herceg Novi and Kotor. Jadran enters the match in a much better mood. The Montenegrin champions dropped from 1st to 3rd place after a defeat to Sabac in the fifth round. Still, on Tuesday, they achieved a very valuable victory over Novi Beograd in the Champions League. In contrast, Primorac has suffered three convincing defeats: against Oradea and Ferencvaros in the Champions League and Radnicki in the Premier League. Based on the performances of both clubs this season and the advantage of playing at home, Jadran is favored to win. However, in the “Boka Bay Derby,” anything can happen.

An interesting duel is also expected at the “11. april” pool, where the leader Novi Beograd will host the second-placed Sabac. The difference between these two clubs, as between the Montenegrin rivals, is only one point. Novi Beograd aims to recover from its defeat to Jadran with a victory, but Sabac has often proven to be a tough opponent for the Belgrade-based team. Sabac has gained good momentum. After the triumph over Jadran, it also defeated Spandau 04, making another step towards the round of 16 of the European Cup.

The champion of Serbia, Radnicki, like Novi Beograd, suffered a narrow defeat at home in the Champions League derby. Despite a quality game, Radnicki water players failed to get any points against Olympiacos. The team from Kragujevac will welcome Crvena Zvezda on Saturday. Problems still plague the “Red and Whites”. Coach Aleksandar Filipovic will not count on even the six players who were on the roster at the beginning of the season. Vasic and Sulc left the club a month ago. Stefan Pjesivac departed from Crvena Zvezda a few days ago, joining Vasic and Sulc in Novi Beograd, Tthe second center-forward, Nikola Nikolov, left, too. Gajic and Dankovic are injured. Crvena Zvezda faces a complex task in Kragujevac, and this challenge will persist in the upcoming games as well.

The sixth round ends with a duel between two teams that are still without a win. The future will await Partizan. The Podgorica team has suffered mostly convincing defeats in all five rounds, and they have the same performance in the European Cup. The young Partizan team has been making gradual progress. It was close to winning at least one point in the match against Red Star, and it has also achieved success on the European stage. Last weekend, the “Black and Whites” secured a place in the second round of the new European competition, the Conference Cup. The victory over the quality team of De Aker was a special encouragement. Both teams will certainly be very motivated.