European Water Polo Royalty Set for Big Apple Appearance
The biggest water polo extravaganza in (recent) New York City history is on! Tomorrow night, Asphalt Green, New York City’s premier aquatic facility, will host matches between professional water polo clubs Pro Recco of Italy and Ferencvaros of Hungary and U.S. collegiate sides UCLA and Princeton.
To say there’s never been anything like this in The Big Apple is an understatement. Pro Recco—with 11 Champions League titles (the top-tier European professional water polo competition)—has been in NYC before … 23 years ago (and no one remembers that!). Ferencvaros won the last two Champions League titles, making it five straight top finishes between the two clubs (Pro Recco won titles from 2021 – 2023).
The Bruins of UCLA and Tigers of Princeton are no slouches, either. UCLA, coached by three-time Olympian Adam Wright, is the defending NCAA men’s champion and currently ranked No. 1 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Men’s varsity poll. All Princeton has done since Head Coach Dusty Litvak arrived in 2018 is win, including making five NCAA tournament appearances.
Want to get a ticket? Too late! Both Wednesday’s matches—where Pro Recco will play UCLA at 6pm while Princeton and Ferencvaros face off at 7:30pm—and Thursday’s marquee contest between European foes Pro Recco and Ferencvaros at 7:30pm are sold out.
Luckily, all NYC matches will be live streamed on Overnght (www.overnght.com) with Ben Hallock, three-time U.S. Olympian (and three-time Champions League winner with Pro Recco) providing color commentary.
Rather than accept this extravagance of polo play at face value, SW had to ask: Why these matches at this time in the greatest city in the world?!
Courtesy: Pro Recco
As one of their first big initiatives since purchasing Pro Recco a year ago, co-owners Philip Hammarskjold and Alex Behring bring their team (along with Ferencvaros) to New York for two weeks. It’s an enormous undertaking! What was the timeline for this decision and what are the expectations for this historic trip?
Philip Hammarskjold: The genesis of this trip began in the late Fall of 2024 when Alex, Mauricio (Felugo, Pro Recco president) and I were talking about our longer-term plans for the Club. Ironically, my first exposure to Pro Recco came 5 years earlier during Pro Recco’s last trip to the US, where they did a tour of Northern California and trained and had a friendly collegiate match at my son’s high school Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton CA.
The incredible caliber of the team made a real impression on me. That memory prompted us to discuss setting up another US tour for the club this summer on the East Coast, and we were then fortunate enough to have the opportunity to partner with the Princeton water polo team and Asphalt Green to bring this all together.
Our goal for this trip is to bring professional water polo excellence to the United States, to build the sport and showcase two of the top teams in the history of our game. Between Pro Recco and Ferencvaros, these teams have won the last 5 Champions League titles and include many of the very best players in the world. The respect between these two teams is high, but we have the same goals and have been perennial rivals. There is no bigger stage to promote our sport than a match between these two teams in the sporting capital of the world – New York City.
The other thing we wanted to promote globally is the emerging excellence of water polo on the East Coast of the United States. While the Big 4 California schools remain perennial powerhouses, Princeton and other East Coast schools like Fordham are competing at the highest levels of US collegiate water polo.
Asphalt Green is a terrific venue… by New York City standards. Currently, no NYC venue can host an NCAA tournament, let alone Champions League competition. How much did NYC’s relatively poor aquatic infrastructure factor in planning for this trip and how might Pro Recco’s arrival impact the city’s polo / swimming scene?
Asphalt Green have been terrific partners in pulling this event together, and we look forward to bringing world class water polo to New York City.
Philip Hammarskjold (class of 1987; parent of Luke Hammarskjold, class of 2025) has a relationship with Princeton, which explains why New Jersey is the base for this visit / Pro Recco’s training. But New York City is the marquee location; what sort of commitment might local polo fans expect from the club’s owners in connecting our coast with professional polo in Europe?
Princeton’s support has been the key enabler for this visit. The world class facilities on campus have served as the perfect venue for preseason training, and the Princeton coaches, trainers and team have been great hosts. This visit has also served as an opportunity for the Princeton team to watch and learn from the best players in the world to help prepare themselves for the upcoming season.
Our hope is that this visit will be the spark that promotes the growth of water polo in New York and encourages New Yorkers to get on the Pro Recco train. Asphalt Green has a terrific program they are building, and we hope this visit will encourage more young players to play water polo.
Michael Randazzo (the Man with a Hat) is a swimming & water polo enthusiast in New York City. He’s the executive director of Inclusive Community Wellness, a Brooklyn-based NPO that provides health and wellness opportunities to New Yorkers. When he’s not on a pool deck helping children and adults learn to swim, Randazzo occasionally writes about water polo, a sport he never played and barely understands.
