Euro Cup, final, 2nd leg – Summary
Ferenvaros triumphs after 19 years

A club with rich traditions returned to the top flight of European water polo and captured its first big trophy after 19 years. After winning the away match with a decisive 6-goal margin, a 7-7 draw was enough for Ferencvaros (HUN) to clinch the Euro Cup against Oradea (ROU). The Hungarians won the former Cupwinners Cup in 1998.

Ferencvaros is one of the oldest water polo clubs in the sport and was always famous for earning great results in European competitions. They won the inaugural edition of the Cupwinners Cup in 1974 then added three more titles in 1977, 1979 and 1998 and had two lost finals in the LEN Trophy in 1995 and 1997.

Now they won the Euro Cup after convincing wins in both legs of the final. DiGi Oradea, returning to an international cup final for the first time after 1982, tried to make history by becoming the first Romanian side to win a European trophy but they couldn’t crown their journey. The duel was virtually decided in the first match in Oradea where Ferencvaros produced its best game of the season and thrashed the hosts 6-12.

And the Hungarians began the match where they finished two weeks ago as they took a flying start and led 3-0 after the opening period and by 9 goals in aggregate. Oradea arrived to the match in the second and managed to climb back to 4-3 by halftime but that didn’t disappoint the home crowd which filled the stands completely.

Ferencvaros quickly rebuilt the gap in the third (6-3), courtesy of veteran two-time Olympic champion Norbert Madaras and Marko Avramovic, the only scorers for the hosts with three goals apiece. The visitors seemed to go for restoring some pride and fought themselves back to 6-5 before the last break. At the end they earned a draw as they managed to level the score twice, for the second occasion with 17 seconds from time. The final result (7-7) made both finalists happy, obviously Ferencvaros and its fans a lot happier as they celebrated triumphantly after the match.

Budapest saw the first trophy presentation in this season but a lot more are to come as the Hungarian capital will host the Final Four of the women’s LEN Trophy in Easter time and the Champions League Final Six on the last weekend of May, before the World Championships commence in July.

Euro Cup, Final, 2nd leg
Ferencvaros PQS (HUN) v CSM DiGi Oradea (ROU) 7-7
Aggregate: 19-13
5 April 2017