LEN Water Polo Europa Cup – Rijeka (CRO) to host the men’s Super Final

February 26, 2018

LEN EUROPA CUP SUPER FINAL 2018 - Rijeka

Rijeka (CRO) will host the men’s Europa Cup Super Final on 5-8 April. The last phase of LEN’s brand new premium water polo competition will feature the best male teams in the world.

LEN is happy to announce that the men’s water polo Europa Cup Super Final will take place in Rijeka, Croatia. President Paolo Barelli welcomed back the Croatian city to the circle of hosts of top-class LEN Events. “We are glad to return to Rijeka, this great city on the Adriatic coast. The LEN Family has plenty of fond memories from the venue, the organization, and the hospitality, as well as the sport-loving Croatian people.”

It’s also a historic occasion since this is going to be the first men’s Super Final in the Europa Cup. Once more, President Barelli highlighted the value of LEN’s new competition for national teams: “The preliminaries have already shown that the Europa Cup is a truly premium water polo event featuring the best teams of the world. In April we’ll see all medal-winning teams from the previous years’ Olympic Games, World and European Championships. LEN and its National Federations are committed to lifting water polo into a new dimension and the Europa Cup is a fine tool to reach this goal.”

On the 10^th anniversary of the inauguration of the wonderful Kantrida Pool, located right on the Adriatic coast, top-level aquatic action will return to the Croatian city which already hosted several high-profile LEN Events. A decade ago Rijeka staged the European Short-Course Swimming Championships, right in the next year the Champions League Final Four tournament visited the complex, then in 2011 the European Men’s Junior Water Polo Championships was held there.

The Super Final will produce hotly contested battles as Group A features the Mediterranean ‘super trio’, 2016 Olympic silver medallist Italy, 2015 World Championship bronze medallist Greece, former Olympic and World Champion Spain plus the 9-time Olympic champion, 2017 World silver medallist Hungarian team. Group B clashes might be even more exciting with the three neighbors coming together, host and reigning World Champion Croatia, Olympic and European title-holder Serbia, European silver medallist and Olympic 4^th Montenegro plus the surprise Rio qualifier, France.

The first three days of the round robin competition will rather bring the excitements of a knockout phase since there are no semi-finals. Thus, one loss might diminish any team’s chances to make the final as the top-ranked sides shall play for the title and the winners’ cheque of €20,000 on Day 4. LEN offers a total sum of almost €150,000 in prize money and travel contribution for the participants of the men’s and women’s competitions.

The women’s Super Final will be held in Pontevedra (ESP) on 22-24 March (one day earlier than originally planned, due to the request of the host broadcaster, see the timed schedule below) – it promises similar thrills as the men’s event.