Pro Recco is set to claim another trophy at European stage when they clash with Sabadell in Spain in the men’s Super Cup final on Saturday from 13.00 (CET). The 10-time Champions League winner Italians are the overwhelming favourites of the game, Euro Cup title-holder Sabadell would need a miracle to upset them.
Numbers are on the Champions League victors’ side: ever since the LEN Super Cup returned – it was not held between 1997 and 2001 – the best teams of the continent bettered the second-tier cup’s winners 18 times in 19 finals. Before the break, this contest was more even, the ‘European champions’ held a 11-9 lead over the teams clinching the Cupwinners’ Cup (between 1976 and 1997 the Super Cup featured those two winning teams).
Recco hold all kind of records: the Italian giant tops the all-time list in the Champions League with 10 trophies and last year they also lifted their 7th Super Cup while smashing Hungary’s Szolnok 15-4. (Ferencvaros is second with 4 SC titles – they were the only team, back in 2018, which managed to break the Champions League winners’ run in the Super Cup finals.)
Sabadell showed some strength in the opening round of the Champions League this Wednesday, played an even game with Ferencvaros but lost 7-10 at the end. Recco suffered a rare defeat in Piraeus – indeed that was only the fourth time in five years that they lost a match in the Champions League main round. If anything, this may offer some hope for Sabadell, that they may copy Olympiacos’ feat of beating Recco – that would also add another chapter to the clubs’ history books as last spring saw the men’s team winning its very first European trophy.
Sabadell women already claimed three Super Cup wins (2013, 2014, 2016) – if the men join them, the club will become only the fourth in history whose men’s and women’s teams both snatched this title. In fact, Recco is one member of this elite circle, their women’s team won in 2011, while the men went all the way in 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2021. The other two are Honved Budapest (M: 2004, W: 2006) and Olympiacos (M: 2002, W: 2015, 2021).
The final starts at 13.00 in Sabadell on Saturday, LEN offers free live streaming, courtesy of the host club. Visit our website for more: www.len.eu
