SPORT

NIKOLA JAKŠIĆ SPEAKS OUT: Serbia captain sends a strong message after suspension and Delfini’s place in the Euro Championship final!

by Serbian Times24. January 2026.24. January 2026.

The captain of the Serbian national water polo team, Nikola Jakšić, spoke out after reaching the final of the European Championship and the suspension he received in the semifinal against Italy.

Jakšić was sent off at the end of the second quarter of the match at the Belgrade Arena, after the referees, with an extremely debatable decision, assessed that he had struck an opposing player. A red card automatically means a suspension for the next match, so his appearance in the final against Hungary, scheduled for Sunday at 20:30, is in question.

Head coach Uroš Stevanović announced an appeal against the decision, and the final ruling on the possible participation of the captain will be made by LEN, most likely on Saturday.

In the meantime, the captain spoke out and briefly and clearly stated:

“Proud of my team”

Serbia defeated Italy in the semifinal with a score of 17:13. The “Delfini” had control for most of the match and, despite the captain’s exclusion, maintained stability in their play, kept the advantage, and without major problems brought the match to an end to secure a place in the fight for gold.

ODLUKA SUDA RAZBESNELA ŠVAJCARCE: Vlasnik bara smrti u Kran-Montani pušten na slobodu jer je platio kauciju 215.000 evra!

Serbia’s path to the final

Our national team played the first phase in Group C, where their rivals were the national teams of the Netherlands, Spain, and Israel.

In the first round, they finished regular time against the Dutch with a draw (13:13), and recorded a victory after penalty shots (5:3). However, although they won, due to the way they did so they did not take all three points, but had one taken away by the Dutch. As points are carried over into the next phase, this was not good for our team, so a victory in the next match against Spain was imperative.

The Delfini outplayed the Spaniards in a thriller, and then easily defeated Israel as well.

In the next phase, Serbia crushed France in the first match, and then Hungary on Sunday, while on Tuesday the first defeat at the tournament followed, as Montenegro proved better than Uroš Stevanović’s team.

In the semifinal, Serbia defeated the Italian national team and will play Hungary in the final, who were better than Greece.