Conference Cup Men: De Akker, Honved, Panionios and Apollon earn vital wins on opening day of quarterfinals

Hosts Panionios and Apollon kicked off their respective campaigns with big wins on Day 1 in the quarterfinal stage of the Conference Cup Men. Meanwhile, Honved pulled off a crucial win against Posillipo, while De Akker edged out Tenerife – both were 27-goal thrillers.

2025/26 Conference Cup Men
Quarterfinals
Friday 20 March

Group A

CN Posillipo (ITA) 12-15 Endo Plus Service Honved (HUN)
Panionios GSS (GRE) 15-8 CN Tenerife Echeyde (ESP)

Group B

De Akker Team (ITA) 14-13 Solartradex CN Mataro (ESP)
GS Apollon Smyrnis (GRE) 17-9 VK Mornar Split (CRO)

Group A

CN Posillipo (ITA) 12-15 Endo Plus Service Honved (HUN) (2-4, 4-6, 4-3, 2-2)

Back in 2005, Posillipo and Honved clashed for the Champions League trophy – back then Honved’s coach Marton Szivos was in the pool, while Posillipo’s coach Pino Porzio was already coaching the Naples team, and they indeed ended up lifting the trophy after a thrilling final decided in extra time.

The two clubs have changed a lot ever since; the goals are different, but now they are back to chase European glory, and this opening game looked really important in this tough group.

The Italians took a flying start and led 2-0 after three minutes, only to be blown away by Honved’s response, as the Hungarians staged a 0-5 rush.

Though Posillipo managed to pull one back, after a quick exchange of goals, Honved’s double trouble, Serbian Lazar Vickovic and Montenegrin Nikola Moskov, hit two in a minute to make it 4-8, and they maintained that gap until half-time when they were 6-10 up.

The Italians had a better spell in the third, when they could halve the distance to climb back to 9-11, while limiting their rivals to a single goal.

As they were approaching the last minute of the period, the great pair struck again. Vickovic hit one from action and Mattia Rocchino also netted one, while Moskov fired one in two seconds before the last break for 10-13.

Honved killed a man-down right away in the fourth, and Peter Sugar added another action goal to restore the four-goal gap, and Honved managed the remaining time really well.

Vickovic also scored midway through the fourth; he and Moskov finished the game with nine goals combined, as their side sailed away with a convincing win.

Group B

De Akker Team (ITA) 14-13 Solartradex CN Mataro (ESP) (3-4, 4-4, 4-1, 3-4)

Mataro stormed to a 0-3 lead in four minutes and were still 1-4 up before De Akker’s Balazs Erdelyi scored twice to make it 3-4.

Matteo Bragantini levelled it early in the second from a six-on-four, but again, the Spaniards had another great spell and came up with a 0-3 run this time, including a fine double from Luc Bertran.

Still, the script didn’t change after 5-8, as this time Dashiell McFarland hit twice before the middle break to bring the Italians back to 7-8.

Erdelyi buried a penalty for 8-8; Bertran then put the ball away in an extra, but instead of another big charge from Mataro, it was De Akker’s turn to offer something special.

Francesco Lucci buried another six-on-four, then the Italians added two more in 41 seconds and held their 11-9 lead until the fourth period.

Gerard Gil ended Mataro’s drought 26 seconds into the fourth, but they could never score the equaliser.

De Akker always found a way to restore the two-goal cushion. When two minutes remained on the clock, Bragantini’s action shot gave them a 14-12 advantage, though Oier Aguirre sent the ball home from a six-on-five to make it 14-13 with 1:10 to go.

Still, they couldn’t force the shootout, as De Akker secured three crucial points on the opening day.

Group A

Panionios GSS (GRE) 15-8 CN Tenerife Echeyde (ESP) (4-1, 2-4, 6-1, 3-2)

Hosts Panionios did something similar to Honved at the beginning of this game – after Tenerife scored first, the Greeks hit four in a row, including a hat-trick from their Japanese player Toi Suzuki to go 4-1 up in eight minutes.

Suzuki added a fourth 40 seconds into the second, and their former national team player Alexandros Gounas also buried a penalty a bit later to make it 6-2.

Just when Panionios seemed to gain firm control, their composure started fading, while the Spaniards found their rhythm and came back to 6-5 by half-time, as their Dutch centre-forward Tom de Weerd netted his second 15 seconds from time.

Still, Panionios also had a great centre-forward, former Olympiacos and national team ace Konstantinos Mourikis, who broke his side’s silence after the restart, after 6:49 minutes, and a man-up goal 54 seconds later gave them some calm at 8-5.

Tenerife missed a man-up, while Andreas Bitsakos converted the next one to reset the four-goal gap, and the hosts netted their third in a row to reply to the Spaniards’ lone goal in this quarter.

Tenerife missed two more; after the second, Suzuki finished off a counter and Spytholeon Karatzas completed Panionios’ perfect run – they were 4/4 in man-ups, delivering a 6-1 rush in this quarter to build a massive 12-6 lead.

This proved decisive, as it turned out: the Spaniards ran out of steam, while Panionios could even extend the gap a bit to win by seven at the end.

Group B

GS Apollon Smyrnis (GRE) 17-9 VK Mornar Split (CRO) (4-3, 3-4, 4-0, 6-2)

Apollon and Mornar produced a balanced first half – Apollon led 4-3 at the end of an action-packed opening period, but Mornar kicked off the second with three consecutive goals as the Greeks were struggling in offence.

Then, after five and a half minutes, they managed to score, and even though the Croats converted a penalty soon after, Nikola Bogdanovic netted two late goals to bring the home side back level at 7-7 by half-time.

Bogdanovic added another one from an extra – it was his fourth already – to swing the lead back to Apollon, and after some battling and a killed man-down, Emmanouil Solanakis hit a great one from the centre for 9-7.

The Greeks did some great defending, while Mornar’s offence was completely frozen. Soon Nikolaos Gardikas also scored from action, and Charalampos Rompopoulos converted an extra 50 seconds from time for 11-7.

The Croats missed a third six-on-five in this period, which ended with a 4-0 rally by the hosts.

When Hannes Daube buried a penalty early in the fourth, Apollon were on a 7-0 run since 5-7 – and Mornar could score only after 11:45 minutes, but by then the game was over.

The Greeks were flying high, added six more goals, including a classic hat-trick from action by Michail Alevridis, as they staged a 10-2 rout in the second half.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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