Izmir Buyuksehir SK are celebrating in Istanbul after beating domestic rivals Galatasaray Zena in the final of the 2025 Challenger Cup Women on Sunday. The local side pushed the reigning champions all the way, but four goals from Danijela Jackovich and two penalty saves by goalkeeper Mary Askew proved decisive. Earlier, Croatia’s ZAVK Mladost took the bronze medal for the second year running after a powerful second-half performance helped sink Serbia’s Vaterpolo Klub Vojvodina.
2024/25 Challenger Cup Final Four Results
Sunday 23rd February 2025
Bronze Medal Game
ZAVK Mladost (CRO) 15-9 Vaterpolo Klub Vojvodina (SRB)
Gold Medal Game
Izmir Buyuksehir SK (TUR) 9-8 Galatasaray Zena (TUR)
Izmir Buyuksehir SK successfully retained their Challenger Cup trophy after a hard-fought 9-8 victory in the final against domestic rivals Galatasaray Zena.
It was the champions’ 14th straight triumph in this competition and they had four-goal hero Danijela Jackovich and goalkeeper Mary Askew – who saved two penalties – to thank for the heroic win.
‘We knew how strong Galatasaray are, so we expected a close game like this,’ said Izmir captain Kuebra Kus after securing the title. ‘We made a few mistakes at the beginning, but we fought back together as a team and I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved.
‘This triumph feels so amazing. We arrived here unbeaten and for us to continue that run has been so special.’
‘Even when we were down, I knew we could come back and win,’ added a jubilant Askew. ‘I’m so proud to have been able to support this team and play with them since September. Knowing they had a legacy to live up to and fulfilling that is really exciting.’
Galatasaray – bolstered by the arrival of Australian Olympic silver medallist goalkeeper Gabi Palm – got off to a dream start against Izmir, as they opened up an early 0-3 lead after goals from Ecehan Gokce Temel, Milana Molnar and Alkistis Benekou.
The reigning champions took a while to find a way past Palm, and it wasn’t until 38 seconds into the second quarter that Kyra Christmas eventually scored Izmir’s first goal of the final.
Galatasaray’s Benekou was causing plenty of problems in the centre and she overpowered her marker once again to put the local side 2-4 up midway through the second quarter.
At the other end, Izmir’s own Australian Olympian – Danijela Jackovich – was beginning to shine and her three quick goals edged the holders ahead 5-4 at the turnaround.
In the third, Eda Moroglu extended Izmir’s lead after a fine finish from a six on five, then their American goalkeeper Mary Askew came up with a spectacular penalty save to deny Lena Mihailovic.
Milhailovic made up for her miss a minute later to cut the gap to one, and Galatasaray captain Dilara Burali – who won this trophy with Izmir last season – had the opportunity to level the scores from a penalty, but Askew again produced a stunning block to keep the title-holders ahead 6-5 at the final break.
The majority of the crowd were on their feet 40 seconds into the fourth, as Elizaveta Ivanova equalised with a powerful shot that flew past Askew, but they couldn’t find a way to retake the lead.
Izmir captain Kuebra Kus showed her quality to put her team back in front and once Emma Wright fired in a penalty and Jackovich added her fourth goal of the game to make it 9-6 with 2:42 remaining, the gold was drifting away from the local side.
Temel and Benekou did grab late consolation strikes for Galatasaray, but the trophy was already on its way back to the west coast of Türkiye and Izmir.
Earlier on Sunday, ZAVK Mladost twice fought back from three goals down to beat Vaterpolo Klub Vojvodina 15-9 and win the bronze medal for the second year in a row.
After some wayward early shooting, the Croatians trailed 5-7 at half-time, but they stepped up a few gears and blew their opponents away in the last two quarters 10-2, including a 4-0 shut-out in the fourth.
‘We knew what this game meant and that we needed to give it our all throughout,’ said Mladost’s Nina Medic after the victory. ‘I thought we started strong as well, but the ball just wasn’t going in. Later, we eventually managed to find our way and it ended well for us.
‘We’re a young team and we are very proud of ourselves to win this medal, as we know how hard we’ve all been working.’
Both teams were pretty wasteful with their shots in the opening quarter, but it was Vojvodina who settled the quickest and built up a two goal lead thanks to a penalty from Anja Svec and a strike from Iulia Savchenko.
Isidora Damnjanovic had a great chance to make it 0-3, but she couldn’t take advantage as her penalty was expertly saved by Latica Medvesek.
Mladost captain Iva Rozic was walking a tightrope after collecting two early fouls, but it was her powerful swim that helped open the scoring for her side, as she earned a penalty and Lara Srhoj buried it with 1:33 remaining in the first.
Ria Glas then found herself in acres of space down the left to level the scores, before Nika Alamat was allowed to swim half the length of the pool unchallenged to put the Croatians 3-2 up.
Vojvodina’s Aleksandra Trmic had the final say of the quarter, though, with a stunning lob shot from around 8m out, which just evaded Medvesek’s grasp to level the scores.
The Serbians restored their two-goal lead early in the second through Jeniffer Pereira and Irina Amliaeva, but Shroj again cut the deficit.
After setting herself in the centre, Rozic fed her the ball and she produced a stunning back shot which fizzed into the corner of the goal for 4-5.
Goals from Jovana Radonjic and Trmcic – another superb lob from distance – helped keep Vojvodina on top as they headed into the turnaround 5-7 up.
When Damnjanovic extended their lead to three at the start of the third, no one could have predicted they would only score once more.
Six Mladost goals in the space of just over five minutes turned the game completely on its head, as Vojvodina started to run out of steam and ideas.
The Croatians finished the game with a powerful 8-0 blitz that ended the contest and any hopes their opponents had of taking home a medal.
