2026 Men's European Water Polo Championship

• Belgrade

Belgrade was given the hosting rights on 13 May 2022.^[2] This will be Serbia's third time hosting after 2006 and 2016. Serbia had originally been given the women's event as well, but decided not to host it in order to focus on the men's championship.^[5]

• A dedicated website was created on 25 August 2025.^[6]
• During the 14th Great Sports Fair of Serbia from 26 to 28 September 2025, at Ada Ciganlija, the slogan for the tournament was unveiled, being the phrase "Power that unites".^[7]
• On 11 December 2025, Uniqa was announced as a sponsor for the tournament.^[8]

Tickets went on sale on 2 October 2025.^[9][10]

• 5 Stepeni^[11]
• Asee
• AdmiralBet
• Alta Banka
• Delfina
• Epam
• Fluidra
• Kap Seven
• Malmsten
• Metalfer Group
• Nike
• Uniqa

A new system will be used for this tournament. The new format was unveiled in March 2025. This is the third different format in three editions.^[12] Despite some slight changes, the format is very adjacent to the format previously used for the European Handball Championship when the tournament still had 16 teams (the format has been discontinued due to the European Handball Championship expanding to 24 teams). Head coach of Croatia, Ivica Tucak, supports the format change, saying it gives teams a second chance to come back if they stumble earlier in the tournament.^[13]

• Group stage

In each group there will be two teams from the last tournament and two teams from the qualifiers. They will play a round-robin in their groups. The top three teams of each group will advance to the main round (Group A & Group C in Group E and Group B & Group D in Group F) with all results are carried over. The four-bottom ranked-teams will play in placement games.

• Main round

The advancing teams will play the opponents from the other group in the main round. From the main round, the top-two ranked teams of each group advance to the semifinals, all other teams will play in placement games.

• Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, the four remaining teams progress to the knockout stage. Two semifinals and a final will determine who wins the championship.

For the sixth time, sixteen teams will take part after the expansion in 2016. Overall, 18 teams took part in qualification. Qualification took place in 8–11 June 2025. Qualification is broken up as follows:

• The host nation
• The top seven teams from the 2024 European Championship not already qualified as host nation
• Final eight from the qualifiers.

Regarding the teams, there is one change to the line-up, with Turkey returning after a six year drought. The Turks replaced two-time champions, Germany, who missed out for the first time since 1962 and failed to qualify for the first time ever.^[14] Slovenia qualified for the third consecutive time for the first time.

The lowest ranked team to qualify was Israel, ranked 17th, while Germany is the highest ranked team to not qualify, placed 10th.

Event	Date	Location	Quotas	Nation(s)
Host	13 May 2022		1	Serbia
2024 European Championship	4–16 January	Croatia	7	Spain  Croatia  Italy  Hungary  Greece  Montenegro  Romania
Qualifiers	8–11 June 2025	Kranj	2	Netherlands  Slovenia
		Istanbul	2	Slovakia  Turkey
		Tbilisi	2	Georgia  Israel
		Gzira	2	France  Malta

Team	Qualification method	Date of qualification	Appearance(s)				Previous best performance[A]	Rank[15]
			Total	First	Last	Streak
Serbia	Host nation	13 May 2022	31th	1927a	2024	16	Champions (Eight times)[B]	7
Croatia	Top eight in 2024	8 January 2024	17th	1993		17	Champions (2010, 2022)	2
Hungary			36th	1926		30	Champions (Thirteen times)[C]	3
Italy			35th	1927		34	Champions (1947, 1993, 1995)	4
Spain			31st			27	Champions (2024)	1
Montenegro		10 January 2024	10th	2008		10	Champions (2008)	5
Greece		11 January 2024	21st	1970		19	Fourth place (1999, 2016)	6
Romania			27th	1954		14	Fourth place (1993, 2006)	9
Slovakia	Top two in Group B	9 June 2025	12th	1993		6	Seventh place (2003)	15
Georgia	Top two in Group C	10 June 2025	6th	2016		6	Eighth place (2022)	12
Israel			3rd	2022		3	Twelfth place (2022)	17
Netherlands	Top two in Group A		31st	1927		6	Champions (1950)	11
Slovenia			6th	1999		3	Eleventh place (1999)	16
France	Top two in Group D		20th	1927		7	Runners-up (1927)	8
Malta			6th	2016		6	Fourteenth place (2022)	13
Turkey	Top two in Group B	11 June 2025	8th	2016	2020	1	Twelfth place (2020)	14

^a Competed as SFR Yugoslavia from 1956 to 1970 and as Serbia and Montenegro from 1998 to 2006, 11 appearances as Serbia since 2006.

Similar to 2016, the Belgrade Arena will be used for the entire competition.^{[16][17][18][19]} Built in 2004, it is the biggest indoor arena in Serbia with a capacity of 18,386. Due to the pool having to be raised, the capacity was reduced to 12,500.^[20]

Belgrade		Belgrade
		Belgrade Arena
		Capacity: 12,500

The draw was held at 19:00 CET on 13 September 2025 at the Beli dvor in Belgrade, Serbia.^[21][22] Serbian journalist, Marija Kilibarda, was the host for the draw. Before the draw began, speeches were done by Serbian water polo federation president and local organising committee chair, Viktor Jelenić, and European Aquatics president, Antonio Silva. The guests were Serbian Olympic water polo players, Filip Filipović and Milan Aleksić, who assisted with the draw. The draw started with, in order, pots 1, 2, 3 and 4 being drawn, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically. The position for the team within the group would then be drawn (for the purpose of the schedule).

The pots were decided by the rankings of the 2024 European Championship and also of the 2026 Qualifiers.

• Pot 1 consisted of the teams positioned 1–4 in the 2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship
• Pot 2 consisted of the teams positioned 5–8 in the 2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship
• Pot 3 consisted of the group winners of the 2026 Men's European Water Polo Championship Qualifiers
• Pot 4 consisted of the group runners-up of the 2026 Men's European Water Polo Championship Qualifiers

Pot 1

Team	Rank
Spain	1
Croatia	2
Italy	3
Hungary	4

Pot 2

Team	Rank
Greece	5
Montenegro	6
Serbia (H)	7
Romania	8

Pot 3

Team	Group
Netherlands	A
Slovakia	B
Georgia	C
France	D

Pot 4

Team	Group
Slovenia	A
Turkey	B
Israel	C
Malta	D

2026 Men's European Water Polo Championship – Draw

Draw Live Streaming

Group A

Pos	Team
A1	Malta
A2	France
A3	Montenegro
A4	Hungary

Group B

Pos	Team
B1	Slovenia
B2	Greece
B3	Croatia
B4	Georgia

Group C

Pos	Team
C1	Netherlands
C2	Israel
C3	Serbia (H)
C4	Spain

Group D

Pos	Team
D1	Turkey
D2	Romania
D3	Italy
D4	Slovakia

On 24 November, the following 18 referees were selected for the tournament.^[24][25] The referees represent 18 countries, including the 16 participating teams alongside match officials from Germany and Portugal.

Each nation has to submit a list of 15 players.

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 2 points for a penalty shootout win, 1 point for a penalty shootout loss, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. Goal difference in all group matches;
5. Goals scored in all group matches.

If the ranking of one of these teams is determined, the above criteria are consecutively followed until the ranking of all teams is determined. If no ranking can be determined, a drawing of lots will decide the outcome.

All times are local (UTC+1).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hungary	3	3	0	0	0	49	23	+26	9	Main round
2	Montenegro	3	2	0	0	1	44	37	+7	6
3	France	3	1	0	0	2	41	41	0	3
4	Malta	3	0	0	0	3	31	64	−33	0	Classification round

10 January 2026 15:15	Report	France	7–15	Hungary	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Andrej Franulović (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 4–6, 0–2, 2–3
		Vernoux 5	Goals	Manhercz 4

10 January 2026 18:00	Report	Malta	12–21	Montenegro	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Eurico Silva (POR)
		Score by quarters: 5–6, 0–5, 4–5, 3–5
		Camilleri 4	Goals	Gojković 4

12 January 2026 12:45	Report	Malta	13–22	France	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Frank Ohme (GER), Erkan Turkkan (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 4–6, 2–5, 3–6, 4–5
		Camilleri 3	Goals	Vernoux 5

12 January 2026 15:15	Report	Hungary	13–10	Montenegro	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Raffaele Colombo (ITA), Matan Schwartz (ISR)
		Score by quarters: 4–3, 4–1, 3–1, 2–5
		Angyal 3	Goals	Matković 3

14 January 2026 12:30	Report	Malta	6–21	Hungary	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Erkan Turkkan (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 2–4, 2–7, 2–5, 0–5
		Galea 2	Goals	four players 3

14 January 2026 18:00	Report	France	12–13	Montenegro	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Mihai Balanescu (ROU)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 3–7, 2–2, 4–1
		Canovas 5	Goals	Vučković 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Greece	3	3	0	0	0	54	24	+30	9	Main round
2	Croatia	3	2	0	0	1	48	22	+26	6
3	Georgia	3	1	0	0	2	35	49	−14	3
4	Slovenia	3	0	0	0	3	23	65	−42	0	Classification round

11 January 2026 18:00	Report	Slovenia	4–20	Croatia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: David Gómez (ESP), Alex De Raffaele (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 1–5, 1–7, 1–5
		four players 1	Goals	Butić 4

11 January 2026 20:30	Report	Greece	20–6	Georgia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Matan Schwartz (ISR), Veselin Mišković (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 3–0, 9–2, 3–2, 5–2
		Kakaris 4	Goals	Vasić 2

13 January 2026 12:45	Report	Georgia	7–18	Croatia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Julien Bourges (FRA), Peter de Jong (NED)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 0–4, 2–5, 3–6
		Bitadze, Shushiashvili 2	Goals	Kharkov 4

13 January 2026 15:15	Report	Slovenia	8–23	Greece	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Veselin Mišković (MNE), Alex De Raffaele (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 2–7, 1–5, 2–7, 3–4
		Potočnik 2	Goals	Argyropoulos, Nikolaidis 4

15 January 2026 18:00	Report	Slovenia	11–22	Georgia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: David Gómez (ESP), Eurico Silva (POR)
		Score by quarters: 3–4, 5–4, 2–6, 1–8
		Troppan 5	Goals	three players 3

15 January 2026 20:30	Report	Greece	11–10	Croatia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Tamás Kovács-Csatlós (HUN), Matan Schwartz (ISR)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 2–1, 3–4, 3–3
		Argyropoulos 4	Goals	Fatović 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Serbia (H)	3	2	1	0	0	44	33	+11	8	Main round
2	Spain	3	2	0	0	1	53	22	+31	6
3	Netherlands	3	1	0	1	1	39	38	+1	4
4	Israel	3	0	0	0	3	23	66	−43	0	Classification round

10 January 2026 12:45	Report	Israel	3–28	Spain	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Raffaele Colombo (ITA), Mihai Balanescu (ROU)
		Score by quarters: 0–9, 3–6, 0–6, 0–7
		three players 1	Goals	Granados 6

10 January 2026 20:30	Report	Netherlands	13–13 PSO: 3–5	Serbia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Frank Ohme (GER), Levan Berishvili (GEO)
		Score by quarters: 5–4, 3–2, 2–3, 3–4
		Te Riele 5	Goals	Mandić 6

12 January 2026 18:00	Report	Netherlands	19–11	Israel	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Andrej Franulović (CRO), Peter Radič (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 4–3, 5–0, 5–5, 5–3
		Van der Weijden 4	Goals	Goldschmidt, Schlein 3

12 January 2026 20:30	Report	Spain	11–12	Serbia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 2–3, 2–3, 4–3
		Munarriz 4	Goals	Rašović 4

14 January 2026 15:15	Report	Netherlands	7–14	Spain	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Frank Ohme (GER), Andrej Franulović (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 2–4, 2–5, 1–2
		Te Riele 4	Goals	Munarriz 4

14 January 2026 20:30	Report	Israel	9–19	Serbia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Raffaele Colombo (ITA), Peter Radič (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 3–4, 3–5, 1–3, 2–7
		three players 2	Goals	Rašović 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PSW	PSL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	3	3	0	0	0	56	26	+30	9	Main round
2	Romania	3	2	0	0	1	42	47	−5	6
3	Turkey	3	1	0	0	2	44	55	−11	3
4	Slovakia	3	0	0	0	3	36	50	−14	0	Classification round

11 January 2026 12:45	Report	Turkey	8–19	Italy	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Julien Bourges (FRA), Peter de Jong (NED)
		Score by quarters: 1–7, 2–4, 3–4, 2–4
		Kuloğlu 2	Goals	Condemi 4

11 January 2026 15:15	Report	Romania	16–8	Slovakia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Tamás Kovács-Csatlós (HUN), Ivan Raković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 5–3, 4–2, 2–0, 5–3
		Georgescu, Belényesi 3	Goals	Seman, Tkáč 2

13 January 2026 18:00	Report	Slovakia	12–17	Italy	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Ivan Raković (SRB), Eurico Silva (POR)
		Score by quarters: 2–5, 3–3, 4–5, 3–4
		Baláž 3	Goals	Di Somma 4

13 January 2026 20:30	Report	Romania	20–19	Turkey	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: David Gómez (ESP), Tamás Kovács-Csatlós (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 4–5, 7–5, 7–5, 2–4
		Georgescu 5	Goals	Düzenli 5

15 January 2026 12:45	Report	Turkey	17–16	Slovakia	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Julien Bourges (FRA), Veselin Mišković (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 4–2, 1–4, 7–3, 5–7
		Naipoğlu 4	Goals	Baláž, Ďurík 6

15 January 2026 15:15	Report	Romania	6–20	Italy	Belgrade Arena, Belgrade Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Peter de Jong (NED)
		Score by quarters: 1–5, 3–4, 0–4, 2–7
		Georgescu, Vancsik 2	Goals	Del Basso 4

Top goalscorers Rank Name Goals[29] Shots % 1 Stylianos Argyropoulos 26 38 68 Thomas Vernoux 53 49 3 Vlad-Luca Georgescu 24 43 56 4 Steven Camilleri 22 45 49 5 Dušan Mandić 20 35 57 Balsa Vučković 35 57 Kas te Riele 37 54 8 Dušan Matković 19 32 59 Strahinja Rašović 37 51 Andrei-Radu-Ionuț Neamțu 38 50 Yuşa Han Düzenli 42 45

Top scoring teams Rank Name Goals[30] Shots % 1  Greece 131 273 48 2  Italy 116 286 40.6 3  Serbia 113 270 41.9 4  Hungary 112 274 45.3 5  Spain 109 240 45.4 6  Croatia 106 241 44 7  Montenegro 101 241 41.9 8  Netherlands 96 248 38.7 9  Romania 90 203 44.3 10  France 89 208 42.8 11  Georgia 86 228 37.7 12  Malta 80 194 41.2 13  Turkey 208 38.5 14  Slovakia 68 176 38.6 15  Slovenia 57 183 31.1 16  Israel 56 186 30.1

Top assisting teams Rank Team Assists[31] 1  Serbia 60 2  Hungary 58 3  Spain 57 4  Greece 54  Italy 6  Croatia 42 7  France 35 8  Turkey 33 9  Slovakia 32 10  Romania 29 11  Montenegro 28 12  Netherlands 24 13  Georgia 20 14  Malta 19 15  Israel 16 16  Slovenia 8

Top sprinting teams Rank Name Sprints[31] % 1  Croatia 23/28 82.1 2  Netherlands 22/28 78.5  Hungary 22/32 68.7  Italy 5  Greece 18/32 56.2 6  Serbia 16/32 50 7  Montenegro 15/28 53.5 8  Georgia 12/28 42.8 9  France 11/28 39.2  Spain 11  Slovenia 10/24 41.6  Romania 10/28 35.7  Turkey 14  Slovakia 9/24 37.5 15  Malta 8/24 33.3 16  Israel 5/24 20.8

The following suspensions were served during the tournament:

Player	Offence(s)	Suspension(s)	Ref
Dušan Mandić	in Group C vs Spain (matchday 2; 12 January)	Group C vs Israel (matchday 3; 14 January), Group E vs France (matchday 4; 16 January)	[32]
Álvaro Granados	in Group C vs Serbia (matchday 2; 12 January)	Group C vs Netherlands (matchday 3; 14 January)	[32]
Dinos Genidounias	in Group B vs Croatia (matchday 3; 15 January)	Group F vs Turkey (matchday 4; 17 January), Group F vs Italy (matchday 5; 19 January)	[33]

For the first time, player of the match awards will be given during the knockout stage.^[34] A player of the match award is given to the player deemed as playing the best in each match.

Round	Team	Match	Team	Player	Ref
Semifinals	Serbia	17–13	Italy	Milan Glušac	[35]
	Greece	12–15	Hungary	Krisztián Manhercz	[35]
Third place game	Italy	5–12	Greece	Konstantinos Kakaris	[4]
Final	Serbia	10–7	Hungary	Dušan Mandić	[4]

• Most goals in a game: 39 (Romania 20–19 Turkey, 13 January)
• Least goals in a game: 17 (Italy 5–12 Greece, 25 January; Serbia 10–7 Hungary, 25 January)
• Most goals by a team in a game: 28 (Spain 28–3 Israel, 10 January)
• Least goals by a team in a game: 3 (Israel 3–28 Spain, 10 January)
• Biggest goal difference in a game: 25 (Israel 3–28 Spain, 10 January)
• Biggest half time deficit in a game: 12 (Israel 3–15 Spain, 10 January)
• Most goals scored by a player in a game: 7 ( Lars ten Broek vs Turkey, 22 January)

The championship was originally slated for the summer of 2026. However, European Aquatics announced in March 2025 that this edition would actually take place in January 2026, in a timeslot that clashes significantly with the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship.^[36] Reportedly, sources close to the European Handball Federation stated that they were surprised with this decision as the European Men's Handball Championship has always been in January without any competition from other sports and now they might have fight for prime-time slots with water polo.

French handball legend, Nikola Karabatić also said this about the situation:

“We’ve built the Handball EURO as a January tradition for decades. And now water polo suddenly appeared in the same window… it changes everything.”

On 16 January 2026, players from Malta were accused of placing bets on their own games.^[37][38] Around four players are being suspected, with the match against Montenegro being investigated particularly. Speaking about the situation, Karl Izzo, president of the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta, said the following:

“God forbid they are true, because that would tarnish the hard work that the association has done to push the sport forward over the past years. The ASA firmly upholds the principles of integrity, transparency, and fair play, which are fundamental to sport at all levels. While we take any allegation of this nature seriously, it is imperative to emphasise that allegations remain allegations unless and until established through due process by the competent authorities. The ASA reiterates its full commitment to cooperate openly and fully with all relevant national and international authorities should any investigation be formally initiated or any request for assistance be made.

On 1 April 2026, European Aquatics announced a full investigation regarding the incident.^[39]

The television channels broadcasting the event is as follows:^[40]

Territory	Rights holder
Bulgaria	BNT
Croatia	HRT[41]
Cyprus	CyBC
Georgia	GPB
Greece	ERT
Hungary	MTVA
Israel	The Sports Channel
Italy	RAI
Lithuania	LRT
Malta	PBS
Montenegro	RTCG
Netherlands	NOS
Poland	TVP
Romania	TVR
Serbia	RTS
Spain	RTVE
Rest of World	Eurovision Sports