Courtesy: LEN
A stellar field is gathering in Piraeus for the Euro League Final Four tournament, to be held this weekend. Host Olympiacos looks for retaining its title while the Greeks’ fiercest rival Sabadell of Spain are going after its sixth victory. Hungary’s UVSE and Italy’s Padova are the underdogs, but both are ready to cause an upset in the semis.
Re-matches are scheduled for semi-final day – Olympiacos and UVSE faced each other one year ago in Budapest in the same phase and the Greeks managed to pull off a hard-fought 9-8 win. In the other duel, Sabadell meets Padova, just like in 2019 when the Italians reached this stage for the only time in their history – back then the Spaniards, host that time, left no chance for the Italians, and beat them 8-5.
Needless to say, that similar scorelines would be the expected outcome as Olympiacos and Sabadell are the outstanding favourites. Both sides went through transformation, a handful of quality foreigners joined them in the summer once more, so they represent a different class – and one my not forget that UVSE and Padova are part of the show because their Russian rivals, Kinef and Uralochka, who bettered them in the quarters, were disqualified as part of the sanctions the sporting world implemented on Russia.
Still, UVSE, which is getting ready for its 5th appearance in the Final Four, wishes to cause an upset, just like Padova against Sabadell. However, if the favourites land in the final, it’s going to be their third battle for the title after 2015 and 2019. Their head-to-head stands at 1-1, interestingly, previously they clashed when one of the sides was the host and the home team always prevailed, Olympiacos in 2015 (won 10-9) and Sabadell in 2019 (13-11, with a miraculous resurrection on Easter Saturday, coming back from 8-11 down in the last five minutes).
Olympiacos debuted in the finals in 1996, this is going to be their 8th participation, they reached the gold medal game four times (won two, lost two). Sabadell graced the scene in 2011 and clinched the trophy right on their F4 debut – ever since they missed the cut only twice, in 2012 and in last year, so it’s going to be their 9th Final Four, they reached the title bout on 7 occasions (so lost a semi-final only once, in 2017), won 5 and lost 2.
If Olympiacos manages to retain the trophy, it’s going to be the 7th title-defence in history. Netherlands’ Donk Gouda achieved that right in the first two editions (1988, 1989), followed by fellow Dutch side Nereus (1995-96), all-time ranks leader, 8-time champion Orizzonte did it twice (2001-02, then 2004-05-06, indeed a three-peat, the only one in history so far), then came Greece’s Vouliagmeni (2009-10), Sabadell (2013-14) and Russia’s Kirishi (2017-18).
The LEN Trophy already went to the other Piraeus based side Ethnikos two days ago – so there is a chance for a ‘national double’ which happened 8 times in the past, since the second-tier cup was launched in 2000. Italians doubled down the trophies six times (2002, 2004-05, 2007-08, 2012), the
Spaniards did it once (in 2016) and the Greeks also completed a double too – indeed in 2010 it was Ethnikos which claimed the LEN Trophy, and later Vouliagmeni added the Euro League title…
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Euro League, Final Four – Fixtures
(all times are local)
Semi-finals, Saturday
17.00 Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) v Plebiscito Padova (ITA)
19.00 Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v UVSE Hunguest Hotels Budapest (HUN)
Medal Round, Sunday
15.00 Bronze medal match
17.00 Euro League Final