All favorites beat their rivals in the last round of the regular season of the French League. Therefore, there were no changes in the standings.
Marseille and Noisy-le-Sec secured 1st and 2nd place before the last round. Tourcoing collected three points on Day 18 and kept 3rd place; Strasbourg finished 4th.
The format of the playoffs has been changed compared to the previous seasons. Only the top four teams will compete in the playoffs for the title (and not the top 6 as it was until this season). The playoffs will be organized through three round-robin tournaments (the exact competition formula is at the end of the article).
Sete and Pays d’Aix will play matches for 5th place.
The remaining three teams –Montpellier, Reims and Nice will participate in the playoffs for the classification 7th – 9th place.
2023 French League, Day 18
Strasbourg – Montpellier 13:8 (4:1, 3:3, 3:1, 3:3)
Strasbourg: Vitrant 4, Buha 2, Misic 2, M.Petkovic 2, Bachelier 1, Denux 1, I,Zivkovic 1.
Montpellier: Ben Romdhane 3, Dory 2, Vilcot Lambert 1, Ivankovic 1, Vasin 1.
Reims – Tourcoing 12:17 (3:5, 1:3, 4:4, 4:5)
Stade Reims: Vix 3, Babic 2, Missy 2, Bulat 2, Dubar 1, Solje 1, Culina 1.
Tourcoing Lille Metropole: Lepoint 3, D.Zivkovic 3, Draskovic 3, Kujacic 3, Marzouki 2, Dasic 2, Durik 1.
Sete – Noisy-le-Sec 5:17 (0:3, 2:2, 2:7, 1:5)
Sete: Chandieu 2, Tomic 1, Furman 1, Bofill 1,
Noisy-le-Sec (Cercle 93): Gogov 4, A.Petkovic 3, Bowen 2, Do Carmo 2, Caumette 2, Guerin 2, Bjorch 1, Nardon 1.
Nice – Pays d’Aix 9:15 (3:5, 1:3, 4:3, 1:4)
Olympic Nice: Barsotelli 2, Carpentras 2, Mathieu 1, Sigwalt 1, Bouhaddi 1, Murisic 1, Irmes 1.
Pays d’Aix: Vrdoljak 4, Bakircilar 3, Peisson 2, Rocchietta 2, Dunstan 1, Strkalj 1, Khasz 1, Bibi 1.
Marseille bye
Before the last round, it was known which four teams would continue to battle for the title. The only question was which clubs would finish 3rd and 4th. Tourcoing kept 3rd place ahead of Strasbourg.
Strasbourg beat Montpellier 13:8 in the first game of the day. Strasbourg scored the first three goals in the game, and kept the distance until the end of the first quarter. Montpellier reduced the gap to two a few times (2:4, 4:6), but it couldn’t come closer. Strasbourg entered the final quarter with a five-goal advantage (10:5). Marko Petkovic opened the fourth period with an action goal for 11:5 and killed Montpellier’s last hope.
After Strasbourg’s victory, Tourcoing had to beat Reims to keep 3rd place. Tourcoing didn’t shine, but it recorded a comfortable 19:12 victory. Reims led 1:0 and 2:1 in the opening minutes. Tourcoing scored four goals in four minutes and turned around the slim deficit to a 5:2 lead. The hosts narrowed the distance twice (3:5, 4:6). Midway through the third quarter, Tourcoing built a 5-goal lead (10:5). The visitors maintained the difference until the end (17:12) and kept 3rd place,, which means that they will be the hosts of the first tournament of the 1st-4th place playoffs.
Since Montpellier lost to Strasbourg in the first game, it lost the last chance to climb to 6th place. Pays d’Aix secured 6th position even before the clash with the bottom-placed Nice. Still, Aix’s water polo players didn’t let themselves finish the season with a loss. Aix led for most of the match, but Nice kept with the visitors until 4:5. After that, Pays d’Aix scored six unanswered goals in 11 minutes, went to 11:4 and the contest was over.
Sete welcomed Noisy-le-Sec. This encounter had no importance for the standings since Sete couldn’t move from 5th and Noisy from 2nd place, regardless of the outcome. Sete didn’t surprise the Parisians. The first quarter belonged to Noisy (3:0). Midway through the second quarter, Sete came close (2:3). However, Noisy didn’t let them go further. The Parisians produced a 7:0 run and jumped to 9:2. Noisy, led by Drasko Gogov, increased the margin to 12 by the end of the game (17:5).
1.Marseille 16 games – 46 points
2.Noisy-le-Sec 16 – 37
3. Tourcoing 16 – 33
4. Strasbourg 16 – 32
5. Sete 16 – 23
6. Pays d’Aix 16 – 19
7.Montpellier 16 – 16
8.Reims 16 – 9
9. Nice 16 – 1
Playoffs
The top four teams (Marseille, Noisy-le-Sec, Tourcoing, Strasbourg) will play in the playoffs, which consist of three tournaments.
Tourcoing, the third-placed team, will organize the first tournament (April 17 – 19). Noisy will be the host of the second one (May 2 – 4). The playoffs will end with the tournament in Marseille (May 15 – 17).
The tournaments will be played in a round-robin format (three rounds at each tournament. Each team will play nine games in the playoffs). The points won in the regular season won’t be carried to the playoffs.
Sete and Pays d’Aix will play matches for 5th place.
Montpellier, Reims and Nice will participate in two tournaments of the playoffs for 7th place. Reims and Montpelier will be the hosts.
All articles about the French water polo
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