2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Host country Croatia
Venues2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates4–16 January
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship
Tournament details
Host country Croatia
Venues2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates4–16 January
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions Spain (1st title)
Runners-up Croatia
Third place Italy
Fourth place Hungary
Tournament statistics
Matches played48
Goals scored1,067 (22.23 per match)
Top scorersCroatia Nikolay Bonev
(25 goals)
Awards
Best playerCroatia Nikolay Bonev
Best goalkeeperCroatia Marko Bijač
← Previous
Next →

The 2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship was the 36th edition of the tournament, held in Dubrovnik and Zagreb, Croatia from 4 to 16 January 2024.[1] Originally, Israel had been selected as host and the competition was slated to be held in Netanya, from 3 to 16 January 2024.[2][3][4][5] Due to security concerns after the breakout of the Gaza war, LEN announced the Championship would be hosted elsewhere.[6]

The championship was originally going to be held in Tel Aviv, Israel between 7 and 21 October 2023 (although it would still be called the 2024 European Championship).[5][7] But on 31 March 2023, it was moved to the Israeli city of Netanya and rescheduled for 3 to 16 January 2024 at the Wingate Institute Olympic swimming pool.[2][8][3] This decision was made to reduce the travel costs for the participating teams and make sure there was only one stoppage during the season instead of two (due to the 2024 World Aquatics Championships being held in February 2024).

However, after the Gaza war broke out, LEN said they would monitor the situation on 12 October.[9] But on 2 November, LEN announced that the tournament would not be hosted in Israel.[6][10]

After that announcement, Budapest, Belgrade, Berlin, Romania (city not known) and Zagreb had been reported as possibly interested in hosting the championships[11][12][13][14][15][16] Croatia was announced as the host on 17 November, with Dubrovnik and Zagreb as venues.[1] Croatia became the first country to host the men's championships twice in a row.

Format

This was the first edition with teams sorted into two Divisions, based on the last edition and the qualifiers. The top eight teams made Division 1 and the other eight teams Division 2. Both divisions were split into two groups of four teams. The top two teams from each group of Division 1 advanced directly to the quarterfinals, while the other two teams from each group played against one of the top two sides from each group in Division 2 in a play-off round. Starting with quarterfinals onward, the regular knock-out system was used.[17][18]

Qualification

Sixteen teams competed at the main event.

All sixteen teams from 2022 qualified again.

Event Date Location Quotas Nation(s)
Host 13 May 2022 – 1  Israel
2022 European Championship 29 August – 10 September Croatia Split 8  Croatia
 Hungary
 Spain
 Italy
 Greece
 France
 Montenegro
 Georgia
Qualifiers 23–25 June 2023 Various 7  Netherlands
 Germany
 Serbia
 Romania
 Slovenia
 Malta
 Slovakia

Venues

This tournament marked the first time that the championships was held in more than one venue, with Dubrovnik and Zagreb hosting games. The latter hosted the games from the quarter finals onwards.

DubrovnikZagreb
Bazen u Gružu
Capacity: 2,500		Bazen Mladost
Capacity: 2,000

Draw

The draw was held on 12 September 2023 in Netanya, Israel.[17][20]

Division 1

The pots for Division 1 were decided by the rankings of the 2022 European Championship

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

 Croatia
 Hungary

 Spain
 Italy

 Greece
 France

 Montenegro
 Georgia

Division 2

The seeding for Division 2 was decided by who finished first and second in the qualifiers (excluding Israel).

Pot 1 Pot 2

 Netherlands
 Germany
 Serbia
 Romania

 Israel
 Malta
 Slovakia
 Slovenia

Squads

Preliminary round

Knockout stage

Bracket

 
Play-offsQuarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
              
 
 
 
 
12 January
 
 
 Hungary (PSO)10 (5)
 
10 January
 
 Serbia10 (4)
 
 France10
 
14 January
 
 Serbia14
 
 Hungary8
 
 
 Croatia11
 
 
12 January
 
 
 Croatia13
 
11 January
 
 Greece8
 
 Greece15
 
16 January
 
 Netherlands10
 
 Croatia10
 
 
 Spain11
 
 
12 January
 
 
 Spain24
 
11 January
 
 Romania7
 
 Georgia11
 
14 January
 
 Romania18
 
 Spain7
 
 
 Italy4 Third place
 
 
12 January16 January
 
 
 Italy14 Hungary7
 
10 January
 
 Montenegro8  Italy12
 
 Montenegro10
 
 
 Germany5
 

Playoffs

10 January 2024
18:30		 Report France  10–14  Serbia Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Boris Margeta (SLO), Pau Segurana Ferré (ESP)
Score by quarters: 2–3, 4–3, 1–3, 3–5
Vernoux 3 Goals Drašović, Mandić 4
10 January 2024
20:15		 Report Montenegro  10–5  Germany Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Adrian-Tiberiu Alexandrescu (ROU), Julien Bourges (FRA)
Score by quarters: 3–1, 3–2, 4–1, 0–1
Ukropina 3 Goals Strelezkij 3
11 January 2024
17:00		 Report Greece  15–10  Netherlands Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Vojin Putniković (SRB), Tamás Kovács Csatlós (HUN)
Score by quarters: 5–3, 4–2, 3–3, 3–2
Genidounias 5 Goals Te Riele 4
11 January 2024
19:00		 Report Georgia  11–18  Romania Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
Score by quarters: 1–5, 3–5, 2–3, 5–5
Vasić 3 Goals Georgescu 5

13–16th place bracket

 
13–16th place semifinals13th place
 
      
 
11 January
 
 
 Slovakia15
 
13 January
 
 Israel9
 
 Slovakia14
 
11 January
 
 Slovenia10
 
 Slovenia10
 
 
 Malta8
 
15th place
 
 
13 January
 
 
 Israel12 (4)
 
 
 Malta (PSO)12 (5)

13–16th place semifinals

11 January 2024
17:45		 Report Slovakia  15–9  Israel Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik
Referees:
Levan Berishvili (GEO), Rik Evers (NED)
Score by quarters: 4–2, 1–3, 4–0, 6–4
Furman 6 Goals Goldschmidt 4
11 January 2024
20:15		 Report Slovenia  10–8  Malta Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik
Referees:
Hendrik Schopp (GER), Siniša Matijašević (MNE)
Score by quarters: 2–2, 4–3, 2–1, 2–2
Troppan 4 Goals Cutajar 4

15th place game

13 January 2024
11:15		 Report Israel  16–17 (PSO)  Malta Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik
Referees:
Eurico Silva (POR), Peter Radič (SVK)
Score by quarters: 4–4, 3–1, 2–2, 3–5  PSO: 4–5
Goldschmidt 3 Goals Muscat 6

13th place game

13 January 2024
13:30		 Report Slovakia  14–10  Slovenia Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik
Referees:
Tal Shildan (ISR), Massimo Angileri (MLT)
Score by quarters: 3–2, 4–2, 3–4, 4–2
Baláž 5 Goals Lah, Troppan 3

9–12th place bracket

 
9–12th place semifinalsNinth place
 
      
 
13 January
 
 
 France16
 
15 January
 
 Netherlands9
 
 France12
 
13 January
 
 Georgia6
 
 Georgia15
 
 
 Germany10
 
Eleventh place
 
 
15 January
 
 
 Netherlands16
 
 
 Germany10

9–12th place semifinals

13 January 2024
15:45		 Report France  16–9  Netherlands Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik
Referees:
Levan Berishvili (GEO), Hendrik Schopp (GER)
Score by quarters: 4–2, 4–3, 4–2, 4–2
Vernoux 5 Goals Muller 3
13 January 2024
18:00		 Report Georgia  15–10  Germany Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik
Referees:
Siniša Matijašević (MNE), Rik Evers (NED)
Score by quarters: 1–2, 5–4, 2–3, 7–1
Vasić 5 Goals Strelezkij 4

Eleventh place game

15 January 2024
17:45		 Report Netherlands  16–10  Germany Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik
Referees:
Siniša Matijašević (MNE), Levan Berishvili (GEO)
Score by quarters: 5–2, 6–5, 3–2, 2–1
Koopman, Van der Weijden 4 Goals Chiru 5

Ninth place game

15 January 2024
20:15		 Report France  12–6  Georgia Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik
Referees:
Rik Evers (NED), Hendrik Schopp (GER)
Score by quarters: 2–1, 3–1, 3–3, 4–1
Vernoux 5 Goals Akhvlediani, Dzikhtsiarenka 2

Quarterfinals

12 January 2024
15:00		 Report Hungary  15–14 (PSO)  Serbia Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Adrian-Tiberiu Alexandrescu (ROU), Pau Segurana Ferré (ESP)
Score by quarters: 3–3, 2–2, 4–3, 1–2  PSO: 5–4
Vi. Vigvári 4 Goals four players 2
12 January 2024
16:30		 Report Spain  24–7  Romania Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Julien Bourges (FRA), Tomislav Copić (CRO)
Score by quarters: 6–2, 4–2, 7–1, 7–2
Granados 6 Goals Belenyesi 2
12 January 2024
18:30		 Report Croatia  13–8  Greece Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Boris Margeta (SLO), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
Score by quarters: 3–3, 2–3, 4–0, 4–2
Marinić Kragić 4 Goals Argyropoulos, Papanastasiou 2
12 January 2024
20:15		 Report Italy  14–8  Montenegro Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Tamás Kovács Csatlós (HUN)
Score by quarters: 3–4, 5–0, 3–1, 3–3
Di Somma 4 Goals Đ. Radović 2

5–8th place bracket

 
5–8th place semifinalsFifth place
 
      
 
14 January
 
 
 Serbia10
 
16 January
 
 Greece12
 
 Greece15
 
14 January
 
 Montenegro10
 
 Romania11
 
 
 Montenegro18
 
Seventh place
 
 
16 January
 
 
 Serbia18
 
 
 Romania7

5–8th place semifinals

14 January 2024
15:00		 Report Serbia  10–12  Greece Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Tamás Kovács Csatlós (HUN), Julien Bourges (FRA)
Score by quarters: 5–3, 2–4, 1–1, 2–4
Mandić 3 Goals Fountoulis, Genidounias 3
14 January 2024
20:15		 Report Romania  11–18  Montenegro Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Ruben Garcia (SUI), Tomislav Copić (CRO)
Score by quarters: 3–4, 3–5, 2–4, 3–5
Georgescu 3 Goals Đ. Radović 4

Seventh place game

16 January 2024
15:00		 Report Serbia  18–7  Romania Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Raffaele Colombo (ITA), Julien Bourges (FRA)
Score by quarters: 5–1, 3–2, 4–1, 6–3
Lazić, Mandić 4 Goals Vranceanu 2

Fifth place game

16 January 2024
18:30		 Report Greece  15–10  Montenegro Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Tamás Kovács Csatlós (HUN), Pau Segurana Ferré (ESP)
Score by quarters: 6–2, 2–3, 1–2, 6–3
Genidounias 4 Goals three players 2

Semifinals

14 January 2024
16:30		 Report Spain  7–4  Italy Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Boris Margeta (SLO), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
Score by quarters: 2–1, 2–0, 1–0, 2–3
Granados, Perrone 2 Goals Condemi 2
14 January 2024
18:30		 Report Hungary  8–11  Croatia Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Adrian-Tiberiu Alexandrescu (ROU), Vojin Putniković (SRB)
Score by quarters: 2–2, 0–2, 4–3, 2–4
Nagy, Vi. Vigvári 3 Goals Marinić Kragić 3

Third place game

16 January 2024
16:30		 Report Hungary  7–12  Italy Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Adrian-Tiberiu Alexandrescu (ROU), Vojin Putniković (SRB)
Score by quarters: 1–4, 2–4, 1–2, 3–2
Vi. Vigvári 3 Goals Echenique, Fondelli 3

Final

16 January 2024
20:15		 Report Croatia  10–11  Spain Bazen Mladost, Zagreb
Referees:
Boris Margeta (SLO), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
Score by quarters: 5–3, 2–3, 3–2, 0–3
Bukić 4 Goals Granados, Sanahuja 3

Final standings

Spain qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics as the highest ranked team not yet qualified for the event. Croatia, Montenegro and Romania secured the three remaining European tickets to the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.

Awards and statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank[23] Name Goals Shots %
1 Croatia Nikolay Bonev 25 40 62
2 Spain Álvaro Granados 21 47 45
3 Serbia Dušan Mandić 19 34 56
4 Greece Konstantinos Genidounias 17 29 59
5 Netherlands Lars ten Broek 16 30 53
Serbia Marko Radulović 33 48
Germany Denis Strelezkij 47 34
8 Netherlands Mart van der Weijden 15 26 58
Hungary Vince Vigvári 38 39
Romania Vlad Georgescu 39 38
Malta Jake Muscat Melito 44 34

Awards

The awards were announced on 16 January 2024.[24]

PositionPlayer
Best goalkeeperCroatia Marko Bijač
Most Valuable PlayerCroatia Nikolay Bonev

Marketing

References

External links

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI