1. Hitting the halfway mark, it’s clear that title-holders FTC-Telekom, 11-time winners Pro Recco and a reshaped Olympiacos Piraeus made the most of the first three rounds, as they’re the only teams with a perfect record.

At the other end of the scale, Vasas, Primorac Kotor and Jadran Split are already heading toward the exit with three straight losses.

While the teams with three wins caused no surprises by reaching that mark, Jadran’s miseries are somewhat unexpected. The Croats at least made the quarter-final round in previous seasons, though they crashed spectacularly both in 2024 and 2025 as they were unable to win a single game in regular time (a shootout win in Piraeus was their lone success in 12 games).

Now they seem set to avoid all the usual spring embarrassments, but for the wrong reasons, as they might not even advance from the Group Stage. Too bad to see that from a team that recently had great aspirations, though never fulfilled their potential.

2. Another stunning takeaway from the first half of the Group Stage is the struggles of the Serbian teams. Obviously, there was a shift in power between the two greats, as Radnicki drew most of Novi Beograd’s star players to Kragujevac like a magnet.

Still, Radnicki have produced the same performance as NBG – just one win from three games and two losses. After a hard-fought victory against underdogs Vasas, they fell short in Zagreb, and on Day 3, Olympiacos upended them as well.

This is a team with a star-studded line-up, with Olympic gold medals shining in every square metre of the pool – yet they now face an uphill battle in the remaining three rounds, with two away matches and the ultimate goal of beating Mladost at home by at least three goals on Day 5.

In the other camp, in the capital, the NBG project has been toned down, as the young team are no longer expected to make the Final Four, where they had been a constant feature in the last four editions – in the last two years on their own merit (in 2022 and 2023 they were the hosts) – even reaching the final after a brilliant win against CNAB in the semis.

And they still have a chance to turnaround their fortunes, as they lost by only a single goal to Jadran Herceg Novi this week – it’s not going to be easy to take revenge in Montenegro, but they would need just a win to force a tie in the head-to-head and leave the decision to total goal difference.

3. As usual, there is a lot to talk about with Ferencvaros, as the title-holders never cease to offer new perspectives for evaluating their performances.

As of now, they are shaping into a kind of Budapest Globetrotters, with pure entertainment in focus. After producing a 38-goal game in Brescia, they topped it with a 41-goal festival at home against Primorac.

This is the best thing that can happen for fans in the stands and in front of screens worldwide – but it doesn’t make head coach Balazs Nyeki too happy, as his side conceded 17 on Day 2 and 15 on Wednesday.

At the same time, they hit 26, a Champions League record for them – and they achieved that with Dusan Mandic (F8 MVP in 2021) and Krisztian Manhercz (F4 MVP in 2025) sitting in the stands. That’s remarkable, to say the least, and a true demonstration of their enormous depth.

Still, their defence is underperforming, though coach Nyeki said in his post-game interview that attacking is in the blood of all Hungarian players, while defending is a kind of second-rated task – and in this new water polo in the 25m field, he has no intention of holding his players back. “Honestly, when you win by 11 goals in the Champions League, should I tell them to feel ashamed?”

Szilard Jansik offered another point – that by scoring a lot, they also give their rivals as many opportunities to restart the game 26 times from the half-line, with a full 28 seconds of possession and the chance to bring in players from the bench with fresh legs.

“Many of these attacks end in an exclusion, a fine scoring opportunity,” said Jansik. “Also, our rivals take a lot more risks when playing with us. They face the European champions, they will take shots at every opportunity or make moves which in a tight game they wouldn’t make against a defence which is organised around launching counters. I guess conceding another goal from the best team is not something they worry about.”

4. Sabadell threw Group D into turmoil by beating Marseille in France, the most stunning result of the third round. The Spanish have never lacked the edge to cause trouble even for the best sides, as seen on Day 1 against Barceloneta (and recall they were the last team to beat Ferencvaros in Budapest in a Champions League match, though that dates back to 2023). However, their failure in Hannover on Day 2 was a devastating blow to their campaign to claim the runners-up spot.

Two weeks on, they visited Marseille, a team fresh from bringing down CNAB in Barcelona, an absolutely amazing feat. On paper, the outcome seemed obvious – another win for the French, who are traditionally stronger at home, and a third straight defeat for Sabadell, which would have dropped them out of the race.

Instead, the Spaniards came up with a brilliant outing. Edu Lorrio posted another great performance in goal, while Kanstantin Averka and Rafael Saboya led the charge up front, and despite Marseille’s late surge, they held on to leave the pool with three points.

The other three groups all see the usual 9-6-3-0 points ranking pattern, where the top-ranked sides are almost through, while those at the bottom have little or no chance of a comeback. Here, Marseille and CNAB both have six points, while Waspo and Sabadell have three apiece – making Group D the most unpredictable quartet with three rounds remaining.

5. Gergo Zalanki is back. The Hungarian leftie enjoyed a stellar season in 2023, won the Champions League trophy with Recco, led Hungary’s world title-winning campaign, earned the MVP award in Fukuoka and became Player of the Year at both World and European Aquatics.

Highs are followed by lows – this usually happens in sport – though Zalanki hit lower points in 2024 than he had ever imagined.

It all started with his infamous four-minute ejection in the Champions League final, which derailed Recco’s comeback against Ferencváros.

The summer was disappointing too – no medal in Paris with the Magyars, and he had to leave his beloved Recco amidst financial uncertainties and join Olympiacos.

His first season in Piraeus was mediocre at best, and he asked for a break from the national team to spend the summer in Malta – keeping himself in shape in the summer league, but also clearing his mind.

This move seems to have borne fruit. Zalanki has returned simply unstoppable – he hit six against Mladost on the opening day, netted two against Vasas (though that was an easy match), then fired in five in Kragujevac to help Olympiacos win an outstanding battle.

What made Zalanki’s rockets even more valuable was that four of those came toward the end of each period – and all four blasts were action goals.

The first was hit at 1:07. The second at 0:01. The third at 0:09. Tremendous morale-boosters for the Greeks and momentum-killers for the Serbs just before the breaks.

And then came the very last one, the game-winner 50 seconds from time, in a possession that followed Angelos Vlachopoulos’ penalty miss at the other end.

At 12-12, the game could have gone either way, and Zalanki brought it home for Olympiacos, which probably seals their Quarter Final berth.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics