Hungary men's national water polo team

The Hungary men's national water polo team represents Hungary in international men's water polo competitions and is controlled by the Hungarian Water Polo Association. It is considered the world's top power in the history of water polo, having won 16 Olympic, 12 World Championship,^[1] 10 FINA World Cup, eight FINA World League, 26 European Championship and 17 Summer Universiade medals for a total of 91.

FINA codeHUN

AssociationHungarian Water Polo Federation

ConfederationLEN (Europe)

Head coachZsolt Varga

Quick facts FINA code, Association ...

Hungary

FINA code

HUN

Association

Hungarian Water Polo Federation

Confederation

LEN (Europe)

Head coach

Zsolt Varga

Asst coach

András Gárdonyi
Gergely Lukács

Captain

Krisztián Manhercz

Most caps

Tibor Benedek (384)

FINA ranking (since 2008)

Current

2 (as of 31 July 2023)

Highest

1 (2008, 2013)

Lowest

7 (2011)

Olympic Games (team statistics)

Appearances

24 (first in 1912)

Best result

(1932, 1936, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1976, 2000, 2004, 2008)

5-time Olympian(s)

Dezső Gyarmati (1948–1964)
Tibor Benedek (1992–2008)
Tamás Kásás (1996–2012)

Most medals

Dezső Gyarmati (5 medals, 3 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze)

Top scorer(s)

Tibor Benedek (65 goals, 1992–2008)

Flag bearer(s)

István Szívós Sr. (1980)
Péter Biros (2012)

World Championship

Appearances

22 (first in 1973)

Best result

(1973, 2003, 2013, 2023)

Most titles

Norbert Madaras (2003, 2013)

World Cup

Appearances

16 (first in 1979)

Best result

(1979, 1995, 1999, 2018)

Most medals

Rajmund Fodor (6 medals, 2 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze)

World League

Appearances

10 (first in 2002)

Best result

(2003, 2004)

European Championship

Appearances

36 (first in 1926)

Best result

(1926, 1927, 1931, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1974, 1977, 1997, 1999, 2020)

Europa Cup

Appearances

2 (first in 2018)

Best result

(2019)

Media

Website

waterpolo.hu (in Hungarian)

Medal record

Olympic Games

	1932 Los Angeles	Team
	1936 Berlin	Team
	1952 Helsinki	Team
	1956 Melbourne	Team
	1964 Tokyo	Team
	1976 Montréal	Team
	2000 Sydney	Team
	2004 Athens	Team
	2008 Beijing	Team
	1928 Amsterdam	Team
	1948 London	Team
	1972 Munich	Team
	1960 Rome	Team
	1968 Mexico City	Team
	1980 Moscow	Team
	2020 Tokyo	Team
World Championships
	1973 Belgrade	Team
	2003 Barcelona	Team
	2013 Barcelona	Team
	2023 Fukuoka	Team
	1975 Cali	Team
	1978 Berlin	Team
	1982 Guayaquil	Team
	1998 Perth	Team
	2005 Montréal	Team
	2007 Melbourne	Team
	2017 Budapest	Team
	2025 Singapore	Team
	1991 Perth	Team
World Cup
	1979 Belgrade
	1995 Atlanta
	1999 Sydney
	2018 Berlin
	1993 Athens
	2002 Belgrade
	2006 Budapest
	2014 Almaty
	2026 Sydney
	1989 Berlin
	1997 Athens
	2025 Podgorica
World League
	2003 New York
	2004 Long Beach
	2005 Belgrade
	2007 Berlin
	2013 Chelyabinsk
	2014 Dubai
	2018 Budapest
	2002 Patras
European Championship
	1926 Budapest
	1927 Bologna
	1931 Paris
	1934 Magdeburg
	1938 London
	1954 Turin
	1958 Budapest
	1962 Leipzig
	1974 Vienna
	1977 Jönköping
	1997 Seville
	1999 Florence
	2020 Budapest
	1970 Barcelona
	1983 Rome
	1993 Sheffield
	1995 Vienna
	2006 Belgrade
	2014 Budapest
	2022 Split
	2026 Belgrade
	1981 Split
	2001 Budapest
	2003 Kranj
	2008 Málaga
	2012 Eindhoven
	2016 Belgrade
Europa Cup
	2019 Zagreb

Last updated: 25 January 2026

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Competitive record

Medals

Updated after 2023 World Championships

More information Competition, Total ...

Competition				Total
Olympic Games	9	3	4	16
Friendship Games	0	1	0	1
World Championship	4	7	1	12
World Cup	4	5	2	11
World League	2	5	1	8
European Championship	13	7	6	26
Europa Cup	1	0	0	1
Mediterranean Games	0	0	0	0
Summer Universiade	5	6	6	17
Total	38	34	20	92

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Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place

Olympic Games

Hungary missed five Olympics, but they have won the title nine times, which is a record. As of today, there are only seven tournaments in which Hungary participated but did not receive a medal.^[2]

More information Games, Round ...

Games	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1900 Paris	did not participate
1904 St. Louis
1908 London
1912 Stockholm	First round	5th of 6	2	0	0	2	9	11	−2
1920 Antwerp	did not participate
1924 Paris	Quarter-finals	5th of 13	4	2	0	2	17	17	0
1928 Amsterdam	Runners-up	2nd of 14	4	3	0	1	26	8	+18
1932 Los Angeles	Champions	1st of 5	3	3	0	0	31	2	+29
1936 Berlin	Champions	1st of 16	7	6	1	0	44	4	+40
1948 London	Runners-up	2nd of 18	7	5	1	1	34	17	+17
1952 Helsinki	Champions	1st of 21	8	6	2	0	53	16	+37
1956 Melbourne	Champions	1st of 10	6	6	0	0	26	4	+22
1960 Rome	Third place	3rd of 16	7	4	2	1	37	18	+19
1964 Tokyo	Champions	1st of 13	6	5	1	0	34	13	+21
1968 Mexico City	Third place	3rd of 15	8	7	0	1	54	26	+28
1972 Munich	Runners-up	2nd of 16	8	6	2	0	42	21	+21
1976 Montreal	Champions	1st of 12	8	7	1	0	45	32	+13
1980 Moscow	Third place	3rd of 12	8	5	1	2	51	44	+7
1984 Los Angeles	did not participate
1988 Seoul	5th–8th placement	5th of 12	7	3	2	2	72	57	+15
1992 Barcelona	5th–8th placement	6th of 12	7	3	2	2	65	62	+3
1996 Atlanta	Fourth place	4th of 12	8	6	0	2	83	73	+10
2000 Sydney	Champions	1st of 12	8	6	0	2	78	57	+21
2004 Athens	Champions	1st of 12	7	7	0	0	59	39	+20
2008 Beijing	Champions	1st of 12	7	6	1	0	85	55	+30
2012 London	Match for 5th place	5th of 12	8	5	0	3	98	80	+18
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Match for 5th place	5th of 12	8	4	4	0	91	66	+25
2020 Tokyo	Third place	3rd of 12	8	5	1	2	94	60	+34
2024 Paris	Fourth place	4th of 12	8	3	2	3	87	80	+7
Total	24/29	9 Titles	162	113	23	26	1,315	862	+453

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World Championships

Hungary has taken part in every World Championships. They have won this championship four times: in 1973, 2003, 2013 and 2023.^[2]

More information Year, Position ...

Year	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1973		8	7	1	0	58	24	+34
1975		8	7	0	1	62	42	+20
1978		8	5	3	0	49	33	+16
1982		7	5	2	0	70	49	+21
1986	9th	6	4	0	2	58	43	+15
1991		7	5	1	1	83	62	+21
1994	5th	7	4	1	2	79	54	+25
1998		8	6	0	2	85	48	+37
2001	5th	8	6	0	2	67	51	+16
2003		6	5	1	0	62	37	+25
2005		6	5	0	1	57	29	+28
2007		6	5	0	1	84	43	+41
2009	5th	6	4	1	1	68	42	+26
2011	4th	6	4	0	2	73	60	+13
2013		7	5	1	1	76	54	+22
2015	6th	6	4	0	2	81	40	+41
2017		6	4	1	1	62	37	+25
2019	4th	6	4	0	2	87	51	+36
2022	7th	6	4	1	1	79	56	+23
2023		6	5	1	0	84	64	+20
2024	7th	6	2	2	2	86	54	+32
2025		7	5	0	2	115	90	+25
Total	22/22	147	105	16	26	1625	1063	+562

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World Cup

The Hungarian national team missed three editions of the World Cup, but they won it four times: in 1979, 1995, 1999 and 2018.^[2]

More information Year, Position ...

Year	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1979		7	5	1	1	37	28	+9
1981	6th	7	3	0	4	64	56	+8
1983	7th	7	0	4	3	57	64	−7
1985	did not participate
1987	did not participate
1989		5	3	0	2	40	36	+4
1991	4th	5	2	1	2	48	42	+6
1993		5	4	0	1	39	30	+9
1995		5	4	1	0	51	34	+17
1997		5	3	1	1	38	29	+9
1999		5	4	0	1	44	24	+20
2002		6	3	0	3	48	43	+5
2006		5	4	0	1	57	35	+22
2010	did not participate
2014		6	4	2	0	61	35	+26
2018		6	5	0	1	70	57	+13
2023	4th	3	1	0	2	27	28	−1
2025		5	4	0	1	77	56	+21
2026		3	2	0	1	43	38	+5
Total	16/19	85	51	10	24	801	635	+166

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World League

Hungary has taken part in the first edition of the FINA Water Polo World League in 2002. They have won the gold medal one and two years later. In 2006 and from 2008 to 2012, Hungary did not participate in the World League.^[2]

More information Year, Position ...

Year	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2002		16	13	0	3	188	119	+69
2003		5	5	0	0	56	35	+21
2004		14	11	0	3	150	114	+36
2005		14	11	0	3	178	113	+65
2006	did not participate
2007		14	13	0	1	187	100	+87
2008	did not participate
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013		6	4	0	2	66	59	+7
2014		10	8	0	2	103	73	+30
2015	6th	12	9	0	3	156	105	+51
2016	did not qualify
2017	did not participate
2018		10	6	2	2	106	73	+33
2019	5th	6	3	2	1	78	67	+11
2020	did not qualify
2022	did not qualify
Total	10/20	107	83	4	20	1,268	858	+410

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European Championships

Hungary missed only one European Championship, in 1950, and they have won the tournament 13 times, which is (as in the World Championships) a record. No team has a better result than Hungary in history of the European Championship.

More information Year, Position ...

Year	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1926		3	3	0	0	16	3	+13
1927		3	3	0	0	14	6	+8
1931		6	5	1	0	52	7	+45
1934		6	6	0	0	35	5	+30
1938		6	6	0	0	35	3	+32
1947	4th	4	2	1	1	16	12	+4
1950	did not participate
1954
1958
1962
1966	5th
1970
1974
1977
1981
1983
1985	5th
1987	5th
1989	9th
1991	5th
1993
1995		7	6	0	1	95	53	+42
1997
1999
2001
2003
2006
2008
2010	4th
2012
2014
2016		7	5	1	1	80	45	+35
2018	8th	7	2	1	4	52	54	−2
2020		6	4	2	0	89	43	+46
2022		6	5	0	1	92	44	+48
2024	4th	6	2	1	3	58	59	−1
2026		8	5	1	2	112	82	+30
Total	36/37

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Friendship Games

More information Year, Position ...

Year	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1984		5	3	1	1	68	43	+25
Total	2/6	5	3	1	1	68	43	+25

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Europa Cup

2018 – 6th place
2019 – Gold medal

Team

Current squad

Roster for the 2026 Men's European Water Polo Championship.^[3]^[4]

Head coach: Zsolt Varga

More information Name, Date of birth ...

Name	Date of birth	Pos.	Club
Csoma Kristóf	(1992-01-26) 26 January 1992 (age 34)	GK	Budapesti Honvéd SE
Dániel Angyal	(1992-03-29) 29 March 1992 (age 34)	DF	Olympiacos Piraeus
Krisztián Manhercz (C)	(1997-02-06) 6 February 1997 (age 29)	W	FTC-Telekom
Nagy Ákos	(2004-04-15) 15 April 2004 (age 22)	W	FTC-Telekom
Vince Vigvári	(2003-06-23) 23 June 2003 (age 23)	W	CN Barcelona
Ádám Nagy	(1998-05-19) 19 May 1998 (age 28)	DF	CN Marseille
Gergő Fekete	(2000-06-24) 24 June 2000 (age 26)	W	FTC-Telekom
Tátrai Dávid	(2003-08-15) 15 August 2003 (age 23)	W	BVSC Manna ABC
Péter Kovács	(1991-05-16) 16 May 1991 (age 35)	CF	BVSC Manna ABC
Vigvári Vendel	(2001-09-10) 10 September 2001 (age 25)	W	FTC-Telekom
Szilárd Jansik	(1994-04-06) 6 April 1994 (age 32)	W	FTC-Telekom
Benedek Batizi	(2001-08-21) 21 August 2001 (age 25)	CF	BVSC Manna ABC
Soma Vogel	(1997-07-07) 7 July 1997 (age 29)	GK	FTC-Telekom
Vismeg Zsombor	(2003-03-14) 14 March 2003 (age 23)	DF	FTC-Telekom
Vince Varga	(2005-08-16) 16 August 2005 (age 21)	W	FTC-Telekom

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Former squads

Olympic Games

Roster for the 2025 World Championships.^[5]^[6]

Head coach: Zsolt Varga

1 Kristóf Csoma GK
2 Dániel Angyal FP
3 Krisztián Manhercz FP
4 Erik Molnár FP
5 Márton Vámos FP
6 Ádám Nagy FP
7 Gergő Fekete FP
8 Gergely Burián FP
9 Péter Kovács FP
10 Vendel Vigvári FP
11 Szilárd Jansik FP
12 Vince Vigvári FP
13 Márton Mizsei GK
14 Ákos Nagy FP
15 Zsombor Vismeg FP

Individual all-time records

Still active players are highlighted.

Most appearances and goals

Total number of matches played in official competitions only.

More information #, Player ...

#	Player	Years	Matches
1	Tibor Benedek	1990–2008	384
2	ifj. István Szívós	1966–1980	308
3	Dániel Varga	2005–2016	278
4	Norbert Hosnyánszky	2005–2021	258
4	Tamás Faragó	1970–1985	258
6	Dénes Varga	2004–2024	246
7	György Gerendás	1975–1986	230
8	Zoltán Kósz	1986–2001, 2006	228
9	Endre Molnár	1966–1980	189
10	László Sárosi	1966–1978	634

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Statistics accurate as of matches played 18 January 2016

Olympic statistics

Five-time Olympians

Dezső Gyarmati: 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964;
Tibor Benedek: 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008;
Tamás Kásás: 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012.

Olympians with four or more medals

Dezső Gyarmati: 5 medals, 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze (1948 , 1952 , 1956 , 1960 , 1964 );
György Kárpáti: 4 medals, 3 gold and 1 bronze (1952 , 1956 , 1960 , 1964 ).
András Bodnár: 4 medals, 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze (1960 , 1964 , 1968 , 1972 ).
ifj. István Szívós: 4 medals, 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze (1968 , 1972 , 1976 , 1980 ).

Olympians with three gold medals

Dezső Gyarmati: 1952 , 1956 , 1964 ;
György Kárpáti: 1952 , 1956 , 1964 ;
Tibor Benedek: 2000 , 2004 , 2008 ;
Péter Biros: 2000 , 2004 , 2008 ;
Tamás Kásás: 2000 , 2004 , 2008 ;
Gergely Kiss: 2000 , 2004 , 2008 ;
Tamás Molnár: 2000 , 2004 , 2008 ;
Zoltán Szécsi: 2000 , 2004 , 2008 .

World Championship statistics

Players with four or more medals

Norbert Madaras: 4 medals, 2 gold and 2 silver (2003 , 2005 , 2007 , 2013 );
Rajmund Fodor: 4 medals, 1 gold and 3 silver (1998 , 2003 , 2005 , 2007 );
Tamás Kásás: 4 medals, 1 gold and 3 silver (1998 , 2003 , 2005 , 2007 );
Gergely Kiss: 4 medals, 1 gold and 3 silver (1998 , 2003 , 2005 , 2007 );
Tamás Molnár: 4 medals, 1 gold and 3 silver (1998 , 2003 , 2005 , 2007 );
Tibor Benedek: 4 medals, 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze (1991 , 1998 , 2003 , 2007 ).

Players with two gold medals

Norbert Madaras: 2003 , 2013 .
Dénes Varga: 2013 , 2023
Márton Vámos: 2013 , 2023

World Cup statistics

Players with four or more medals

Rajmund Fodor: 6 medals, 2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze (1993 , 1995 , 1997 , 1999 , 2002 , 2006 );
Tamás Kásás: 5 medals, 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze (1995 , 1997 , 1999 , 2002 , 2006 );
Tibor Benedek: 4 medals, 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze (1993 , 1995 , 1997 , 2002 );
Gergely Kiss: 4 medals, 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze (1997 , 1999 , 2002 , 2006 );
Tamás Molnár: 4 medals, 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze (1997 , 1999 , 2002 , 2006 ).

Players with two gold medals

Rajmund Fodor: 1995 , 1999 ;
Tamás Kásás: 1995 , 1999 ;
Zoltán Kósz: 1995 , 1999 ;
Frank Tóth: 1995 , 1999 ;
Balázs Vincze: 1995 , 1999 .

Awards

Hungarian Sport Team of the Year: 1958, 1961, 1962, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2013

Hungary men's national water polo team

Competitive record

Medals

Olympic Games

World Championships

World Cup

World League

European Championships

Friendship Games

Europa Cup

Team

Current squad

Former squads

Olympic Games

Individual all-time records

Most appearances and goals

Olympic statistics

Five-time Olympians

Olympians with four or more medals

Olympians with three gold medals

World Championship statistics

Players with four or more medals

Players with two gold medals

World Cup statistics

Players with four or more medals

Players with two gold medals

Awards

See also

References

External links

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