The last shots of the most popular sports calendar were filmed in ACI Marina Dubrovnik

The pre-production of the most sought-after sports calendar on the market has officially ended with the shooting of footage in ACI Marina Dubrovnik! The Barracuda calendar for 2025 was filmed at three nautical destinations - in the ACI marinas of Opatija, Split and Dubrovnik, where the famous Croatian water polo players once again found themselves in the role of models.

The author of the photos is the talented fashion photographer Šime Eškinja, who participates year after year in the projects of the Croatian Water Polo Association. It is the Alliance with its impressive and now well-known brand, which the calendar of the national team has become in the meantime, that creates a large number of powerful messages of social and cultural importance.

Thus, over the years, the marketing of HVS, led by Ivana Janković, sent different messages of socio-cultural significance. Let's also recall this year's calendar, in which the main message was support for women, as one of the main topics that occupied the Croatian public in 2024. It is precisely for this reason that Croatian water polo players came out publicly through the calendar and pointed out that successful and strong men equally fulfill all their obligations, including household ones, side by side with their wives.

The year before last, however, the focus was on a tourist postcard of the city of Split, with which the women and men of the national team addressed tourists who were considering spending their annual vacation in the city at the foot of Marjan, where the European Water Polo Championship was held that year.

This year, on the other hand, the cooperation between HVS and ACI was expressed, where Barracudas stood in front of the photo lens in their natural, marine environment, and in the most nautically beautiful destinations and marinas along the Croatian coast. Our national team members are certainly the most adequate representatives of Croatian beauty, including the coast, which continuously attracts numerous sailors from the country and the world. Starting with the ACI marina Opatija, the shooting of the calendar continued in the ACI marina Split, after which it moved to the ACI marina Dubrovnik, where the last shooting of the most requested calendar for the coming year, that of the Croatian Water Polo Association, took place.

The photo lens of Šima Eškinja recorded the eminent names of the domestic water polo scene, i.e. this year's European vice-champions, world champions and silver medalists from the Olympic Games, at these three locations. It is the most trophy-winning water polo year since the founding of the Republic of Croatia. that's how the winners of those medals found themselves, i.e. Konstantin Kharkov, Luka Bukić, Franko Lazić, Matias Biljaka, Marko Bijač, Jerko Marinić Kragić, Loren Fatović, Mate Anić, Zvonimir Butić, Filip Kržić, Rino Burić, Toni Popadić and Marko Žuvela .

"I have to admit that posing is more difficult for us than playing in an important, stressful match (laughs). Although we have been playing the role of mannequins for the purposes of shooting calendars for many years now, this is still a completely unnatural environment for us, but we manage.", cheerfully commented the famous Croatian water polo goalkeeper i national team captain Marko Bijač.

"The most important thing for us is to do it as quickly as possible, but of course it looks good in the end", it was confirmed by another top Croatian national team member Loren Fatović.

And what will the Barracuda calendar look like for 2025? It is still a secret, but we know how it will see the light of day at the end of the year, that is, on November 26, at the festive, traditional "Night of Croatian Water Polo".

"The calendar is published in a limited edition, and since more copies are requested every year, I would advise all those interested to secure their copy in time. How? Via pre-order, which is a novelty from this year, introduced precisely for the reason that all real fans could secure your copy of the calendar. Even though the filming has just ended, the phones are constantly ringing with inquiries about reservations and pre-orders, which additionally confirms the growing interest of the audience, both for the popularity of water polo and for the purchase of our calendar.", she pointed out Ivana Janković, head of marketing and public relations of the Croatian Water Polo Association and added that this year sales will also be made via the HVS web shop.

The new edition of the calendar of celebrated Croatian water polo players was reviewed by photo author, Šime Eškinja.

"In cooperation with the Croatian Water Polo Association, we try to increase the production of the calendar every year. This year we are shooting in beautiful ACI marinas, and I can't tell you the rest for now. However, you will have to wait until the calendar comes out."

In addition to the famous photographer, the visual identity of the staff, especially our water polo players, is also due to the Italian school of fashion and design Callegari, whose excellent make-up artists Magdalena Poša, Anđa Šilović, Majda Šegetin and Marija Seifert participated in the shooting of the calendar. Celebrated domestic water polo players readily posed for the new pages of the recognizable sports calendar because they felt comfortable in the roles they assumed in three popular tourist and nautical destinations.

"We are extremely proud to have successfully completed the recording of this year's calendar of the Croatian Water Polo Association in the beautiful surroundings of the ACI marinas in Opatija, Split and Dubrovnik. This long-term cooperation between the largest chain of marinas in the Mediterranean and HVS, as the representative of our most trophy-winning team sport, is natural for us a partnership that is further developed and strengthened year by year. The fact that this recognizable sports calendar was filmed in our marinas confirms our unreserved support for Croatian water polo, while promoting the beauty and uniqueness of our nautical destinations, as well as the top sport. We are grateful for the successful cooperation and we look forward to further co-creating new creative projects that celebrate our successful athletes and nautical locations", she stated Adriana Miskovic, head of corporate communications of ACI.

During the recording of the new calendar, the water polo players recounted to the crowd their still fresh impressions from the Olympic Games in Paris, but also about climbing to the throne of the best in the world, i.e. the gold medal they won this year in Doha when they became world champions.

The Croatian water polo players have had a dream year, after they won medals in all three major competitions in which they participated. Let us remind you that in 2024 Croatia won the gold medal at the World Championship in Doha, while it won silver at the European Championship in Zagreb and the Olympic Games in Paris.

Photo authors: Sergej Drechsler/Novi list, Paun Paunović/CROPIX, DuList, ACI.