Pro Recco clinched its 7th LEN Super Cup. The match for a prestigious trophy was played in Szolnok this evening.
European champion Pro Recco convincingly defeated LEN Euro Cup winner Szolnok 15:4.
2021 LEN Super Cup
Szolnok – Pro Recco 4:15 (1:3, 2:5, 0:2, 1:5)
Szolnok: Angyal 1, Jansik 1, Milakovic 1, Zovic 1.
Pro Recco: Di Fulvio 3, Zalanki 2, Figlioli 2, Ivovic 2, Canella 2, Younger 1, Bertoli 1, N.Presciutti 1, Hallock 1.
Pro Recco’s captain Aleksandar Ivovic lifts the trophy All photos by Laszlo Balogh/Total Waterpolo
Pro Recco’s victory was more or less expected. There were a lot of changes on the roster of the European champion last summer, but Recco shaped an excellent team for the season 2021/22. On the other side, Szolnok is weaker than in the previous season. But, few could predict so big Recco’s victory. An 11-goals difference is the biggest ever winning margin in the matches for the LEN Super Cup. Until today, the record was Recco’s 13:4 win over Cattaro in the 2010 Super Cup.
Recco proved that it had come to Szolnok to win the trophy in the opening minutes. In the first three minutes, the Italians converted two 6 on 5s (Ivovic and Zalanki) and earned an early 2:0 lead. In the fifth minute, Zovic halved the distance, but Benjamin Hallock responded immediately for 1:3.
The second quarter began with a quick exchange of goals. In the 10th minute, two goals separated the rivals (2:4). But then Recco produced a 4:0 run (two goals with a power-play advantage and two from penalty shots) and jumped to an 8:2 lead. Recco’s defense, commanded by Marco Del Lungo, worked very well throughout the game. But it couldn’t stop Jansik who found the net for 3:8 two seconds before the middle break.
Szolnok wasted five man-ups in the third period. Pro Recco missed a lot of nice opportunities, too (including a penalty shot when Banyai saved a shot from Di Fulvio). Still, the visitors controlled the game. They stretched the margin to seven before the last break. Di Fulvio made it 9:3 in the 18th minute. Nicholas Presciutti scored from a 6 on 5 in Recco’s last possession in this period and killed Szolnok’s last hope. The Hungarians couldn’t come back from seven goals down (3:10).
Recco didn’t slow until the end. The last goal in the match came just 17 seconds before the buzzer when Di Fulvio converted a man-up for the final score.
The Italian team had a very good conversion of man-up attacks (8/15), scored two goals from penalty shots (2/3) and five action goals. Pro Recco’s players committed 16 personal fouls, but Szolnok scored just two goals with a power-play advantage.
Sandro Sukno won his first trophy as Pro Recco coach. After the game, he said:
“This was an excellent game for us. We played very well from the beginning until the end, and I congratulated my players on the first trophy in the season. Our good conversion of extra-man situations was the factor that made a difference in this match.”
Zivko Gocic, Szolnok coach, commented:
“Congratulations to Pro Recco. They were better than us in every segment of the game. We missed a lot of opportunities to score. We are exhausted because we had a lot of hard matches in the past two weeks. Pro Recco deserved the win and the trophy, but I think that the final score doesn’t mirror a real difference in quality between the two teams.”
All winners
1976 Mladost (Yugoslavia)
1977 CSKA Moscow (USSR)
1978 Ferencvaros (Hungary)
1979 Orvosegyetem (Hungary)
1980 Ferencvaros (Hungary)
1981 CSKA Moscow (USSR)
1982 Barcelona (Spain)
1983 CSKA Moscow (USSR)
1984 POSK (Yugoslavia)
1985 Vasas (Hungary)
1986 Spandau 04 (West Germany)
1987 Spandau 04 (West Germany)
1988 Pescara (Italy)
1989 Not held
1990 Mladost (Yugoslavia)
1991 Partizan (Yugoslavia)
1992 Catalunya (Spain)
1993 Pescara (Italy)
1994 Ujpest (Hungary)
1995 Catalunya (Spain)
1996 Mladost (Croatia)
1997-2001 Not held
2002 Olympiacos (Greece)
2003 Pro Recco (Italy)
2004 Honved (Hungary)
2005 Posillipo (Italy)
2006 Jug (Croatia)
2007 Pro Recco (Italy)
2008 Pro Recco (Italy)
2009 Primorac Kotor (Montenegro)
2010 Pro Recco (Italy)
2011 Partizan (Serbia)
2012 Pro Recco (Italy)
2013 Crvena zvezda (Serbia)
2014 Barceloneta (Spain)
2015 Pro Recco (Italy)
2016 Jug (Croatia)
2017 Szolnok (Hungary)
2018 Ferencvaros (Hungary)
2019 Ferencvaros (Hungary)
2020 season canceled
2021 Pro Recco (Italy)
From 1976 to 2002, the LEN Super Cup was an encounter between the winners of the Champions Cup /Champions League and a winner of the Cup Winners’ Cup. Since the discontinuation of the Cup Winners’ Cup, a European Champion and a winner of the Euro Cup (earlier the LEN Trophy) have been playing in the Super Cup.
Ferencvaros is the only LEN Euro Cup winner that won the Super Cup. That happened in 2018.
