Challenger Cup Men: Three Turkish teams successfully reach Final Eight

Türkiye’s Heybeliada were the last to join the Final Eight in the Challenger Cup Men. It was anything but easy as a last-gasp goal saved them from defeat against Mouscronnois and then they won the shootout to go through. The other three groups saw tremendous battles for the respective top spots, as the Maltese sides, Sliema and San Giljan, managed to finish top at the expense of the respective hosts, while Enka Sport Club edged out fellow Turkish arch-rivals Galatasaray.

The draw for the Challenger Cup Men Final Eight will take place on Monday, February 16th, 2026, starting at 10:00CET, and can be watched live online on the link below (the draw process can be found at the end of this article):

2025/26 Challenger Cup Men
Qualifying Round II
Sunday 15 February


Group A (Elektrenai)

EVK Zaibas (LTU) 10-12 Sliema ASX Nexawin (MLT)

Final rankings: 1. Sliema 6pts, 2. Zaibas 3pts, 3. Espoo (FIN) 0pts

The battle for first place saw a tough contest where Sliema staged two 3-0 runs – while the hosts managed to come back after the first to 7-7, the second was decisive as it came towards the end of the third to put the Maltese 7-10 ahead once more, and the Lithuanian champions were unable to bridge that gap again.

Though they pulled one back early in the fourth, the Cachia brothers, Jake and Benjamin, netted the next two goals for 8-12, leaving no doubt they were the better side on Sunday.

The last couple of goals from Jan Bakulo came too late – though their berth in the Final Eight had already been secured.

Group B (Maribor)

AVK Branik Maribor (SLO) 19-21 San Giljan ASC (MLT)

Final rankings: 1. San Giljan 6pts, 2. Maribor 3pts, 3. Banja Luka (BIH) 0pts

Just like Sliema, the other Maltese participants, San Giljan, did the same – they came first at the expense of the host side after winning an extremely tough fight.

And it was a true fight with 40 goals and 46 exclusions (with the penalties, 51 major fouls were called), where the hosts jumped to a 3-1 lead early on and managed to maintain their advantage in the first half but not until the end as Ben Plumpton’s action shot put San Giljan ahead for the first time 58 seconds from time at 8-9.

The third period brought even more chaos, 15 goals in eight minutes. San Giljan never gave away the lead, but the hosts managed to stay close until 14-15.

Then, a couple of centre shots expanded the gap to three, but Aljaz Pevec buried a penalty 10 seconds before the last break for 15-17.

And the Slovenians needed 44 seconds to come back to even with two action goals. Both sides netted an extra, then Nikolai Zammit converted a penalty for 18-19 with 4:40 on the clock.

The next three minutes brought a series of misses, before Marko Vavic put the ball away in a dying six-on-five for 18-20, with 1:40 on the clock.

Branik blew their last chance as they couldn’t score from their next extra, while Plumpton hit their 21st goal from a man-up to decide the match.

It was his sixth goal in the game; together with Nikolai Zammit and Jeremy Abela, who netted five apiece, they rocketed San Giljan to first place.

Group C (Istanbul)

Galatasaray SK (TUR) 14-15 Enka Sport Club (TUR)

Final rankings: 1. Enka 6pts, 2. Galatasaray 3pts, 3. Carouge (SUI) 0pts

The in-house battle of the two top Turkish sides offered plenty of excitement as expected. The opening period already produced thrilling moments with 12 goals, with Enka hitting the last three to take a 5-7 lead.

Selcuk Caner replied with a hat-trick, which put Galatasaray ahead at 8-7, then Enka netted a pair of goals, but Galatasaray replied with a double too to lead 8-9 at half-time.

It was Enka all the way in the third, however, as midway through this period, they retook the lead again, and even though Engin Colak equalised from a man-up for 11-11, two late goals gave Enka an 11-13 advantage – Georgios Dervisis hit his fifth from action with 0:06 on the clock.

Though Galata managed to come back to 13-14 with 3:11 from time, they missed an extra a bit later and Enka’s other Greek ace, Christodoulos Kolomvos, netted a great one from the centre in a five-on-five (after a double exclusion).

With 41 seconds remaining, at 13-15, it was over, a late goal from an extra halved the gap, but Enka burnt the remaining 19 seconds to secure first place.

Group D (Maribor)

RD Mouscronnois (BEL) 16-16 (4-5P) Heybeliada ASC (TUR)

Final rankings: 1. Vitoria (POR) 6pts, 2. Heybeliada 2pts, 3. Mouscronnois 1pts

It was a winner-takes-it-all game and it came down to the very last penalty in the shootout which sent the third Turkish side through.

The lead was swinging constantly, the Belgians had the better start and built a two-goal advantage twice in the second period, but the Turks scored back-to-back goals before the middle break to make it 6-6.

The Turks took the lead three times in the first half of the third, but the Belgians managed to equalise from time to time.

Then, two fine man-up goals put Heybeliada ahead by two at 9-11 and with 1:51 to go they still held 10-12, still, their rivals caught a hot streak and hit three from as many possessions in 71 seconds to go 13-12 up before the last break.

It seemed to have given them the necessary edge as they managed to double their lead, and they kept that when only three minutes were remaining at 16-14.

Demir Gulsoy netted an extra to pull one back, but the Turks missed their next extra.

Time was running out, with 42 seconds to go, the Belgians called a time-out, but couldn’t do more damage, though they didn’t really need it.

The Turks had 18 seconds left after a time-out and Nadir Sonmez’s close-range shot saved their day with 0:01 on the clock.

It was as thrilling as it could be, the first five rounds saw two missed/saved attempts apiece, then, in the seventh round, already in sudden death, both goalies came up with a save.

Then Efe Koyoncu buried his second attempt (his first one was stopped by the goalie), while Deniz Kaleagasi made his fourth save to send their side to the Final Eight.

For places 13-18th (Ljubljana)

West London Penguin (GBR) 6-20 Hapoel Palram Zvulun (ISR)
Clube Naval Povoense (POR) 16-15 Welsh Wanderers (GBR)
VK Ljubljana Slovan (SLO) 16-11 Apoel Nicosia (CYO)

Final rankings: 13. Hapoel 15pts, 14. Slovan 12pts, 15. West London 6pts, 16. Povoense 6pts, 17. Apoel 4pts, 18. Welsh Wanderers 2pts

Hapoel kept their perfect record with a huge win on the last day and hosts Slovan also finished their campaign with a convincing victory to finish 14th.

Povoense upended the Welsh Wanderers in a 31-goal thriller; in fact, the Welsh finished last after winning one match in a shootout and losing two by a single goal.

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DRAW SYSTEM: CHALLENGER CUP MEN FINAL EIGHT

The Clubs for the Final Eight shall be drawn into two groups of four.

The classification from the previous round will be taken into consideration when seeding teams in batches.

• 1st Batch – 1st placed Clubs from QR2
• 2nd Batch – 2nd placed Clubs from QR2
• 3rd Batch – line 1-4 for Group A
• 4th Batch – line 1-4 for Group B
  
  RESTRICTION: The Clubs that qualified from the same group in the Qualification Round II cannot be drawn into the same group of the Final Eight.
  
  DRAW SYSTEM:
  
  First will be drawn Teams from the Batch 1. The first drawn Team will go into Group A, the second into
  Group B, the third again into Group A, and the fourth into Group B.
  
  For each drawn team, the line from Batch 3 or 4 will be drawn to define the line in the group.
  
  The Teams from Batch 2 will follow the same procedure, with one restriction – the teams that played in the same group in the Qualification Round II cannot play in the same group of the Final Eight.
  
  If that is the case, that team will fill the first possible place in the next group.
  
  The host and the location will be announced soon.

CHALLENGER CUP MEN FINAL CLASSIFICATION 9-12 (13-15 March 2026)

The four clubs that did not qualify for the Final Eight tournament will play the Final Classification 2 tournament for 9th to 12th place.

The competition will be played in one tournament, where two games per day are allowed to be played.

The TWPC has decided that no draw is needed for the four clubs that will participate, since they will play in one tournament over three days of competition.

The host and the location will be announced soon.

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For the full Challenger Cup Men results/schedule and table, click here

Watch all the Challenger Cup Men action live on European Aquatics TV

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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