Regional Water Polo League

Regional Water Polo League

Official logo
Sport	Water polo
Founded	2008;17 years ago (2008)
No. of teams	12
Country	Croatia   Montenegro   Serbia   Slovenia   Italy (former)
Continent	LEN (Europe)
Most recent champion(s)	Radnički (2nd title) (2024–25)
Most titles	Jug (5 titles)
Broadcaster(s)	Arena Sport
Level on pyramid	1
Domestic cup(s)	No
Official website	rwp-league.com

The Regional Water Polo League (abbr. RWP), commonly known as the Regional League or Adriatic League, is a regional water polo league in Southeast Europe. Originally, the league featured clubs from Croatia, Montenegro, and Slovenia. In later years, clubs from Serbia joined the league and in one season club from Italy participated in the league.

History

The league was established in 2008 as the "Adriatic Water Polo League" and the inaugural 2008–09 season consisted of clubs from Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia. Members of the inaugural season were Jug, Mladost, Primorje, POŠK, Jadran Split, Medveščak Zagreb, Šibenik, Mornar, Jadran, Primorac, Budva, and Koper. The first league champions were VK Jug.

In the 2009–10 season, Cattaro joined the league and the Final Four was introduced into the league. In the 2011–12 season, the Italian water polo club Pro Recco request to join the Adriatic League was granted and immediately in their first season they became champions, but left the league after the season. The Serbian clubs (Partizan, Crvena zvezda, Radnički and Vojvodina) joined the league in the 2014–15 season. ^[1]

Starting from the 2015–16 season, second-tier Regional League A2 was introduced. ^[2]

In February 2019, three team members of Serbian club Crvena zvezda were attacked in Split by Croatian ultra-nationalists, before regional league game against Mornar. ^[3] The incident was condemned by Croatian and Serbian public, and by many organizations and officials as well. ^[4] Following the incident, the Water Polo Federation of Serbia and Serbian clubs in competition sought to not play any further games in Split, and competition's Board of Directors made a decision to postpone any further games in Split in which Serbian clubs are included. ^[5]

Starting with the 2020–21 season, the league is played in different format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, having two groups (2020–21 season with host cities being Belgrade and Dubrovnik, and 2021–22 season with host cities Belgrade and Split) and final tournament (2020–21 host being Zagreb, and 2021–22 host being Belgrade); ^[6] In 2020–21 season, the Serbian club Radnički eventually won their first championship, thus ending 8-year dominance of the Croatian clubs. In 2021–22 season, the newcomer to the competition, Novi Beograd, lifted its maiden trophy. ^[7]

Current clubs

Jadran

Jug

Solaris

Mladost

Primorje

Jadran

Primorac

Belgrade

Radnički

Šabac

Valis

Belgrade clubs:

Novi Beograd
Crvena zvezda

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Location of clubs in the 2024–25 season.
Red: Regional Water Polo League Clubs

Clubs that participate in the 2024–25 season:

Regional Water Polo League

Club	City
Jug	Dubrovnik
Mladost	Zagreb
Jadran	Herceg Novi
Šabac	Šabac
Novi Beograd	Belgrade
Valis	Valjevo
Radnički	Kragujevac
Jadran	Split
Crvena zvezda	Belgrade
Solaris	Šibenik
Primorje	Rijeka
Primorac	Kotor

All-time participants

The following is a list of clubs who have played in the Regional Water Polo League at any time since its formation in 2008 to the current season. A total of 22 clubs from five countries have played in the top-tier of the Regional League.

–	Played in second-tier division (established 2015–16)
1st	Champions
2nd	Runners-up
3rd	Third place
SF	Semi-finalists
R	Regular season champions

Club	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	Total seasons	Highest finish
Branik Maribor	—	—	—	—	—	12th	15th	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	12th
Budva	5th	5th	5th	7th	4th	6th	11th	—	7th	9th	—	8th	12th	13th	—	—	—	12	4th
Cattaro	—	6th	12th	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	6th
Crvena zvezda	—	—	—	—	—	—	8th	10th	—	—	7th	5th	5th	6th	6th	5th	10th	9	5th
Jadran Split	9th	10th	10th	12th	7th	9th	12th	—	8th	SF	SF	SF	3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	2nd	16	2nd
Jadran Herceg Novi	2nd	1st	1st	5th	8th	SF	5th	SF	2nd	SF	SF	SF	6th	5th	8th	4th	SFR	17	1st
Jug	1st	2ndR	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	1stR	1stR	1stR	2nd	2nd	2ndR	3rd	1st	3rd	8th	17	1st
Koper	10th	13th	8th	11th	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4	8th
Medveščak	11th	11th	9th	9th	10th	10th	14th	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7	9th
Mladost	4th	4th	4th	4th	3rd	3rd	SF	SF	SF	2nd	1stR	1stR	4th	9th	5th	9th	5th	17	1st
Mornar	8th	8th	7th	6th	5th	5th	7th	6th	6th	5th	6th	10th	—	12th	10th	11th	—	15	5th
Novi Beograd	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1stR	SFR	1stR	SF	4	1st
Partizan	—	—	—	—	—	—	6th	5th	SF	6th	9th	9th	10th	7th	9th	12th	—	10	SF
POŠK	12th	12th	13th	8th	6th	8th	10th	9th	—	7th	10th	—	—	—	—	—	—	10	6th
Primorac	3rd	3rd	6th	10th	9th	7th	13th	—	—	8th	8th	6th	9th	8th	12th	—	7th	14	3rd
Primorje	7th	7th	3rd	2nd	1st	1st	1stR	2nd	5th	10th	—	—	11th	—	—	7th	9th	13	1st
Pro Recco	—	—	—	1st	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1st
Radnički	—	—	—	—	—	—	SF	7th	—	—	—	—	1st	4th	SF	6th	1st	7	1st
Solaris	6th	9th	11th	13th	12th	11th	—	—	—	—	—	—	8th	10th	11th	8th	11th	11	6th
Šabac	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5th	7th	7th	11th	7th	10th	6th	7	5th
Triglav Kranj	—	—	—	—	11th	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	11th
Valis	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	12th	1	12th
Vojvodina	—	—	—	—	—	—	9th	8th	9th	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	8th

Finals

Season [8]	Champions	Runners-up	Result	1st of Regular Season
2008–09	Jug	Jadran Herceg Novi	– note	Jug
2009–10	Jadran Herceg Novi	Jug	11–8	Jug (2)
2010–11	Jadran Herceg Novi (2)	Jug	9–7	Jadran
2011–12	Pro Recco	Primorje	15–4	Pro Recco
2012–13	Primorje	Jug	9–8	Primorje
2013–14	Primorje (2)	Jug	8–7	Primorje (2)
2014–15	Primorje (3)	Jug	15–9	Primorje (3)
2015–16	Jug (2)	Primorje	9–5	Jug (3)
2016–17	Jug (3)	Jadran	15–3	Jug (4)
2017–18	Jug (4)	Mladost	15–8	Jug (5)
2018–19	Mladost	Jug	13–12	Mladost
2019–20	Mladost (2)	Jug	15–11	Jug (6)
2020–21	Radnički	Jug	14–12	Jug (7)
2021–22	Novi Beograd	Jadran Split	14–11	Novi Beograd
2022–23	Jug (5)	Jadran Split	14–12	Novi Beograd (2)
2023–24	Novi Beograd (2)	Jadran Split	16–14	Novi Beograd (3)
2024–25	Radnički (2)	Jadran Split	13–10	Jadran Herceg Novi (2)

^note The league was played in a round-robin tournament format.

Awards

Season [9]	MVP	Top Scorer
2008–09	Aleksandar Ivović (Jadran Herceg Novi)
2009–10	Aleksandar Ivović (Jadran Herceg Novi)
2010–11	Denes Varga (Primorje)	Denes Varga (Primorje) Sandro Sukno (Primorje)
2011–12	Filip Filipović (Pro Recco)	Darko Brguljan (Budva)
2012–13	Sandro Sukno (Primorje)	Aleksandar Ivović (Jug)
2013–14	Paulo Obradović (Primorje)	Denes Varga (Primorje Rijeka)
2014–15	Sandro Sukno (Primorje)
2015–16	Felipe Perrone (Jug)
2016–17	Luka Loncar (Jug)	Paulo Obradović (Jug)
2017–18	Marko Macan (Jug)	Luka Bukić (Jug)
2018–19	Cosmin Radu (Mladost)	Daniil Merkulov (Jug)
2019–20	Luka Bukić (Mladost)
2020–21	Lazar Dobožanov (Radnički)	Daniil Merkulov (Jug)
2021–22	Duško Pijetlović (Novi Beograd)	Nikola Lukić (Radnički)
2022–23	Toni Popadić (Jug)	Loren Fatovic (Jug)
2023–24	Álvaro Granados (Novi Beograd)
2024–25	Valiko Dadvani (Radnički)

Records and statistics

Performance by clubs

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runners-up
Jug	5	8	2008–09, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2022–23	2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21
Primorje	3	2	2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15	2011–12, 2015–16
Jadran Herceg Novi	2	2	2009–10, 2010–11	2008–09, 2016–17
Mladost	2	1	2018–19, 2019–20	2017–18
Novi Beograd	2	0	2021–22, 2023–24
Radnički	2	0	2020–21, 2024–25
Pro Recco	1	0	2011–12
Jadran Split	0	4		2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25

By country

Club / Nation	Won	Runners-up
Croatia	10	15
Serbia	4	0
Montenegro	2	2
Italy	1	0

References

1. "Predstavljena nova regionalna vaterpolo liga". dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). 5 September 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
2. "Regionalna liga od 25.septembra". waterpoloserbia.org (in Serbian). 26 August 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
3. "Serbian water polo team attacked in Croatia". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 9 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
4. "Srbi sazvali izvanrednu konferenciju zbog napada u Splitu, HVS i HOO najoštrije osudili izgred". dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). 9 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
5. "ODRŽANA SEDNICA UO REGIONALNE LIGE: Mornar ne snosi odgovornost za napad, utakmice sa splitskim klubovima se odlažu do daljnjeg". novosti.rs (in Serbian). Tanjug. 18 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
6. "Regionalna vaterpolo liga počinje u januaru: Beograd i Dubrovnik domaćini polufinalnih turnira". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). 21 December 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
7. "Novi Beograd šampion Regionalne lige, prvi trofej u klupskoj istoriji!". regionalnavaterpololiga.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 5 April 2022.
8. "Regionalna vaterpolo liga". www.rwp-league.com. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
9. "Regionalna vaterpolo liga". www.rwp-league.com. Retrieved 8 March 2022.

External links

• Official website