Former European champions Crvena zvezda will not compete in senior water polo during the 2026/27 season after failing to obtain the licence required to participate in Serbian competition.
According to Sport Klub, the Water Polo Federation of Serbia (SVS) made the decision after Crvena zvezda failed to submit a licensing application within the required deadline and still had outstanding financial obligations from the previous season.
The licensing process covers sporting, infrastructure, organisational and financial requirements, including qualified coaching staff, access to training and match pools, registered players across multiple age groups and the settlement of debts owed to the federation.
For Crvena zvezda, the decision appears to bring an end to a decline that accelerated during the second half of last season.
The club reportedly struggled financially from the end of 2025, with promises of additional support failing to materialise. Despite managing to complete the campaign and finish fourth, the situation deteriorated further during the summer.
Head coach Aleksandar Filipovic has since joined Bulgarian side Cherno More, while the senior playing squad has dispersed.
There had been discussions about entering a predominantly junior team for 2026/27, while attempts were also made to find new sponsors or investors. Neither solution proved viable.
It is an extraordinary position for one of the most recognisable names in Serbian sport.
Crvena zvezda’s modern water polo story was itself built from financial difficulty. The club had struggled badly during the early 2000s and at one stage effectively stopped functioning before Viktor Jelenic and Igor Milojevic began rebuilding the programme around 2009 and 2010.
Within only a few years, that revival produced one of the great seasons in the club’s history.
Under Dejan Savic, a team featuring Andrija Prlainovic, Dusko Pijetlovic, Nikola Radjen, Denis Sefik and the Rasovic brothers won the Serbian Cup and Serbian championship before defeating Jug Dubrovnik 8-7 in Belgrade to become European champions in 2013. The European Super Cup followed later that year, before Crvena zvezda retained both domestic trophies in 2013/14.
The 2013 triumph remains particularly significant in Serbian water polo history. Crvena zvezda are still the most recent Serbian club to have lifted Europe’s biggest club trophy.
They subsequently added further Serbian Cup victories in 2021 and 2023, but were unable to establish the financial stability needed to remain among the country’s leading clubs.
Just 13 years after standing on top of Europe, Crvena zvezda will now be absent from senior competition altogether.
Vojvodina are expected to take their place in the Serbian Premier League, although Sport Klub also reports concerns surrounding the financial situation of the Novi Sad club.
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