Italy wins Trebinje Cup, scoring last-second goal

January 5, 2026

Matteo Iocchi Gratta (ITA) Photo by Albert ten Hove/Orange Pictures)

Italy won 1st place at the 2026 Trebinje Cup, the last preparation tournament before the 36th European Championships in Belgrade.

The “Settebello” defeated Hungary 10:9 in the final. Italy trailed by three goals with five minutes remaining, but pulled a late comeback with a 4:0 run. Matteo Iocchi Gratta scored a winner in the very last second of the game.

Unlike the final, the remaining two matches for the final ranking were lopsided contests. Greece defeated Spain surprisingly convincingly, 17:10, in the 3rd-place game. Serbia beat France 17:9 to finish 5th.

After a balanced 3:3 quarter of the final between Italy and Hungary, the Hungarians built a 3-goal lead in the second period. A very short interval midway through the quarter made the difference. Hungary scored three goals in a row within 01:26 minutes (Vendel Vigvari from a penalty, Krisztian Manhercz and Vince Vigvari from a counterattack) and jumped to a 6:3 lead.

Italy was without a goal for more than eight minutes. Matteo Iocchi Gratta ended that goalless phase from a penalty shot (4:6). In the 18th minute, Italy cut its deficit to only one goal, after Tomasso Gianazza converted a man-up for 6:7. However, Italy’s new long scoreless phase started after that goal. Defenses dominated in the third period, but Hungary controlled the match. Benedek Batizi scored from a six-on-five in the 27th minute, and the Hungarians regained a 3-goal advantage (9:6). Italy didn’t give in. Just 40 seconds before the end, Lorenzo Bruni leveled at 9:9. Hungary lost the ball in its final possession, and Italy’s head coach Alessandro Campagna called a time-out with 16 seconds left on the clock. Matteo Iocchi Gratta took responsibility, scoring from a long-distance shot to conclude Italy’s 4:0 series and to set the final score, 10:9.

Iocchi Gratta was the winning team’s best scorer with three goals, and Lorenzo Bruni added two. Vince Vigvari scored three for Hungary.

Greece stunned Spain in the first half of the 3rd-place match. The Greeks played exceptionally well defensively and opened the game explosively, building a 6:0 lead by the 12th minute. Shortly after Greece’s sixth goal, Unai Biel scored for Spain, converting a man-up opportunity. However, the Greeks quickly reestablished their six-goal lead and went into halftime with a score of 9-3. In the second half, Spain continued to struggle offensively and couldn’t create many scoring opportunities. Greece extended its lead to eight goals twice (11:3 and 15:7). The world champions managed to narrow the gap slightly.

Greece’s top scorers in a 17:10 win were Konstantinos Genidounias (4), Alexandros Papanastasiou (3), and Dimitrios Skoumpakis (3). Fran Valera scored three and Bernat Sanahuja two goals for Spain.

After suffering three defeats in the preparations (to Greece in Athens and to Italy and Spain in Trebinje), Serbia achieved its first win this winter, convincingly beating France in the 5th-place game. The Olympic champions started slowly, and France took an early lead (3:1). Serbia responded with a 3:0 run. In the 10th minute, Nikola Jaksic made it 4:3 in the 10th minute. Drahe replied (4:4), but it was the last equalizer. Deep into the second quarter, the Serbs earned a 4-goal lead for the first time (9:5). France reduced the gap to three goals twice – 6:9 and 7:10. The French netted their seventh goal in the 17th minute. In the rest of the match, Serbia produced a 6:0 run.

Radomir Drasovic, Nikola Jaksic, and Vasilije Martinovic contributed three goals each to Serbia’s 16:7 win. Thomas Vernoux and Alexis Drahe scored three goals for France.