As has become something of a tradition, the European water polo Super Cup finals kick off the top-level club action in the autumn. Next week brings the men’s final first, with Zodiac CNAB facing Marseille on Wednesday in Barcelona, while Olympiacos take on Catalunya in the women’s clash on Saturday in Piraeus.
2026 European Super Cup Fixtures
Men’s final
Wednesday 30 September, Barcelona, 19:30 (CET)
Zodiac CNAB (ESP) v CN Marseille (FRA)
Women’s final
Saturday 3 October, Piraeus, 16:30 (CET)
Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v EPlus CN Catalunya (ESP)
Not surprisingly, the Champions League winners have been absolutely dominant in Super Cup finals. In the men’s event, CL winners are now 22-1 up since the event resumed in 2002. The lone exception came in 2018, when FTC-Telekom upset Olympiacos. That was a shootout win – and since the Super Cup final is a one-game showdown, the Euro Cup winners are yet to beat the European champions in regular time.
When the finals were played over two legs, Pescara were the last team to defeat the top tier winners and lift the trophy, back then as winners of the Cup winners’ Cup, after a regular-time win over Jadran Split in the return leg following a draw in the first. That feat dates all the way back to 1993, though.
There have been a few more upsets among the women, where the all-time total stands at 14-5. The last two Euro Cup winners’ heroics – back then, the LEN Trophy – came in 2018 and 2019, when the best team from the second-tier competition managed to down the CL winners.
Dunaujvaros beat Kirishi in 2018, while Orizzonte outclassed Sabadell in 2019, with both sides achieving their victories in their respective rivals’ home pools.
The last five encounters have gone to the CL winners and, since the format changed to feature more top teams from the leading nations in the Champions League Group Stage, the Euro Cup winners are no longer really in the same weight category.
While the recent men’s finals have featured clubs with plenty of Super Cup history, this upcoming clash between CNAB and Marseille will see both clubs make only their second appearance in the final.
On their debut, Barceloneta did the business in 2014, adding the trophy to their CL triumph by downing Spartak Volgograd 12-7. Marseille came close to upsetting FTC in 2019 – playing at home, the French side led by four goals in the first half (8-4), but the Hungarians raised their game and eventually won 14-11.
CNAB may be the favourites, but many will remember the start of last season’s Champions League Group Stage, when Marseille came up big in Barceloneta and won 12-11 on Day 2 – only to melt down in the following rounds and drop into the Euro Cup, where they went all the way.
Olympiacos have a rich history in the women’s Super Cup finals, having played four and won three. Indeed, they lost their first appearance in 2014, back then as winners of the LEN Trophy, before winning the following three in 2015, 2021 and 2022.
They are overwhelming favourites against Catalunya, whose name may ring some bells from the men’s history – they won the CL twice, in 1992 and 1995, and added the Super Cup on both occasions – but the women’s side are making a big splash on the European stage for the very first time.
Consequently, this is their first-ever journey to a Super Cup final and, playing in Piraeus, they are definitely the underdogs.
Still, they may take heart from one small fact: Olympiacos’ lone Super Cup loss came against a Spanish team in 2014, when Sabadell edged them out 9-8.
Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics