Three finals of the national Cups in the countries of the former Yugoslavia were played on Saturday evening (interestingly, November 29 was an important national holiday in SFR Yugoslavia: Republic Day).
Mladost was dominant in the Croatian final, Novi Beograd recorded a convincing win in Serbia, while the most exciting final was the one in Montenegro, played in Budva.
Jadran Herceg Novi defeated Primorac, the winner of the previous edition of the Montenegrin Cup. Jadran achieved a narrow 13:12 victory to add a new trophy to its treasury.
Jadran played almost ten quarters during a 2-day Final Four in Budva.
Semifinals
The semifinal between Jadran and Budva was played in two days! On Friday, Jadran recorded an 18:13, breaking Budva’s resistance in a 6:2 fourth quarter.
However, later that evening, the WPF of Montenegro decided to cancel the last 13:38 minutes of the game due to a material violation of the rules in the 18th minute, when the teams were tied at 8:8. Budva filed a complaint about the violation when a penalty was awarded to Jadran. WPF of Montenegro accepted the complaint and decided that the game would be resumed on Saturday morning, starting from the moment of the violation (05:38 minutes before the end of the third period).
This morning, Jadran achieved a more convincing win than on Friday – 16:10. Midway through the third quarter, Budva led 10:8. In the remaining time, Jadran scored eight unanswered goals. The best scorer was Vasilije Radovic with four goals, and Strahinja Gojkovic added three. Marko Milic netted four for Budva.
Primorac cruised to a 21:7 victory over Buducnost, with five players scoring three goals each: Inaba, Mrsic, Vico, Brkic and Perov.
Final
At the first break of the final, the teams were tied at 3:3. Jadran started excellently into the second period, scoring three goals in a minute and a half to earn a 6:3 advantage. However, it wasn’t the end of Jadran’s series. The Herceg Novi-based team went to 8:3 in the 16th minute, after Valera found the net from a distance. Just 15 seconds before the middle break, Inaba scored the only goal for Primorac in the second quarter.
Midway through the third period, Primorac halved its deficit to 6:8. But, Janovic and Gojkovic gave Jadran a 10:6 lead before the final quarter. After a quick exchange of goals at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Jadran was still four steps ahead of Primorac – 11:7. The Kotor-based side didn’t surrender. It reduced the gap to two goals at 9:11, 10:12. Before the final minute, Primorac trailed 11:13. With 33 seconds remaining, Stanojevic made it 12:13 from a penalty shot. Still, there was no time for a turn or an equalizer, as Jadran kept a slim lead and won the trophy.
Jadran’s Strahinja Gojjkovic and Primorac’s Marko mrsic and Djordjije Stanojevic were the top scorers in the final, with three goals each.
Montenegrin Cup 2025/26, Final Four, Budva
Semfinals
Primorac – Buducnost 21:7 (8:1, 6:3, 4:3, 3:0)
Jadran HN – Budva 16:10 (5:5, 3.1, 4:4, 4:0)
Final
Primorac – Jadran HN 12:13 (3:3, 1:5, 2:2, 6:3)
Jadran: Gojkovic 3, Kholod 2, Valera 2, Vujovic 2, Janovic 2, V. Radovic 1, Merkulov 1.
Primorac: Mrsic 3, Stanojevic 3, Brguljan 2, S. Cetkovic 1, Inaba, Brkic 1, P. Cetkovic 1.
Visit Total Waterpolo Arena for the results and the statistics of the Montenegrin Cup.
