2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship facts for kids

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2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Croatia
Dates	4–16 January
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Spain (1st title)
Runner-up	Croatia
Third place	Italy
Fourth place	Hungary
Tournament statistics
Matches	48
Goals scored	1067 (22.23 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Alvaro Granados (21 goals)
Best player	Alvaro Granados
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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. Originally, Israel had been selected as host and the competition was slated to be held in Netanya, from 3 to 16 January 2024. Due to security concerns after the breakout of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, LEN announced the Championship would be hosted elsewhere.

Host selection

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). 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. 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 2023 Israel–Hamas war broke out, LEN said they would monitor the situation on 12 October. But on 2 November, LEN announced that the tournament would not be hosted in Israel.

After that announcement, Budapest, Belgrade, Berlin, Romania (city not known) and Zagreb had been reported as possibly interested in hosting the championships Croatia was announced as the host on 17 November, with Dubrovnik and Zagreb as venues. 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.

Qualification

Sixteen teams competed at the main event.

• The host nation
• The top eight teams from the 2022 European Championship not already qualified as host nation
• Final seven from the qualifiers.

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	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.

Dubrovnik	Zagreb
Bazen u Gružu Capacity: 2,500	Bazen Mladost Capacity: 2,000

Draw

The draw was held on 12 September 2023 in Netanya, Israel.

Division 1

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

Division 2

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

Squads

Preliminary round

The schedule was announced on 24 November 2023.

All times are local (UTC+1).

Division 1

Group A

4 January 2024 17:00	Montenegro	20–19	France	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
	Score by quarters: 2–4, 2–1, 3–2, 3–3  PSO: 10–9
	Matković 3	Goals	Vernoux 4

4 January 2024 20:15	Spain	12–14	Croatia	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Vojin Putniković (SRB), Tamás Kovács Csatlós (HUN)
	Score by quarters: 1–2, 5–2, 2–2, 1–3  PSO: 3–5
	four players 2	Goals	Bukić, Fatović 2

6 January 2024 17:45	Montenegro	12–14	Spain	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Tamás Kovács Csatlós (HUN), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
	Score by quarters: 2–4, 4–4, 3–2, 3–4
	three players 3	Goals	Granados 5

6 January 2024 20:15	Croatia	12–7	France	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Vojin Putniković (SRB)
	Score by quarters: 3–1, 3–1, 4–3, 2–2
	Burić 3	Goals	Vernoux 3

8 January 2024 17:45	Spain	9–6	France	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Raffaele Colombo (ITA), Vojin Putniković (SRB)
	Score by quarters: 1–1, 3–2, 3–1, 2–2
	Granados, Perrone 3	Goals	Crousillat 2

8 January 2024 20:15	Montenegro	15–13	Croatia	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Tamás Kovács Csatlós (HUN)
	Score by quarters: 2–4, 3–1, 3–4, 3–2  PSO: 4–2
	Đ. Radović 3	Goals	Marinić Kragić, Žuvela 3

Group B

4 January 2024 17:00	Georgia	5–22	Italy	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Tomislav Copić (CRO), Peter Radič (SVK)
	Score by quarters: 0–5, 2–6, 0–6, 3–5
	Pjesivac 2	Goals	Di Fulvio, Fondelli 5

4 January 2024 19:00	Hungary	8–10	Greece	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Adrian-Tiberiu Alexandrescu (ROU), Julien Bourges (FRA)
	Score by quarters: 1–2, 2–3, 3–2, 2–3
	Fekete 3	Goals	four players 2

6 January 2024 17:00	Georgia	11–15	Hungary	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Siniša Matijašević (MNE), Tomislav Copić (CRO)
	Score by quarters: 2–5, 3–4, 6–4, 0–2
	Akhvlediani 3	Goals	Nagy 4

6 January 2024 19:00	Greece	8–15	Italy	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Adrian-Tiberiu Alexandrescu (ROU), Pau Segurana Ferré (ESP)
	Score by quarters: 2–4, 2–3, 2–5, 2–3
	Vlachopoulos 3	Goals	Di Somma 5

8 January 2024 17:00	Georgia	9–18	Greece	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Siniša Matijašević (MNE), Ruben Garcia (SUI)
	Score by quarters: 2–5, 3–6, 3–3, 1–4
	Jelaca 6	Goals	three players 3

8 January 2024 19:00	Hungary	10–5	Italy	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Pau Segurana Ferré (ESP)
	Score by quarters: 0–1, 3–0, 4–3, 3–1
	Fekete 3	Goals	five players 1

Division 2

Group C

5 January 2024 17:00	Serbia	22–1	Israel	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Pau Segurana Ferré (ESP), Ruben Garcia (SUI)
	Score by quarters: 6–0, 5–0, 5–1, 6–0
	Radulović 4	Goals	Gros 1

5 January 2024 19:00	Germany	18–13	Malta	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Siniša Matijašević (MNE), Rik Evers (NED)
	Score by quarters: 6–5, 3–4, 6–2, 3–2
	Chiru 5	Goals	Galea, Muscat Melito 4

7 January 2024 17:00	Malta	13–11	Israel	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Rik Evers (NED)
	Score by quarters: 2–5, 3–3, 3–2, 5–1
	Gialanze 4	Goals	Gros 4

7 January 2024 19:00	Serbia	14–6	Germany	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Julien Bourges (FRA), Peter Radič (SVK)
	Score by quarters: 3–2, 5–2, 2–2, 4–0
	Radulović 4	Goals	three players 2

9 January 2024 17:00	Germany	14–8	Israel	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Julien Bourges (FRA), Ruben Garcia (SUI)
	Score by quarters: 6–3, 3–2, 3–1, 2–2
	three players 3	Goals	Goldschmidt 3

9 January 2024 19:00	Serbia	21–4	Malta	Bazen Mladost, Zagreb Referees: Rik Evers (NED), Tomislav Copić (CRO)
	Score by quarters: 5–0, 6–1, 5–1, 5–2
	Milojević 4	Goals	four players 1

Group D

5 January 2024 17:45	Slovakia	11–7	Slovenia	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Massimo Angileri (MLT), Eurico Silva (POR)
	Score by quarters: 5–2, 0–1, 2–2, 4–2
	Marek Tkáč 4	Goals	Kadivec 3

5 January 2024 20:15	Netherlands	8–12	Romania	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Hendrik Schopp (GER)
	Score by quarters: 1–3, 3–3, 3–4, 1–2
	De Weerd, Ten Broek 2	Goals	Fulea 4

7 January 2024 17:45	Romania	13–5	Slovenia	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Tal Shildan (ISR)
	Score by quarters: 6–1, 2–2, 2–1, 3–1
	Georgescu 3	Goals	five players 1

7 January 2024 20:15	Slovakia	6–17	Netherlands	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Hendrik Schopp (GER), Eurico Silva (POR)
	Score by quarters: 1–5, 3–4, 2–3, 0–5
	Baláž 3	Goals	Ten Broek 4

9 January 2024 17:45	Slovakia	7–8	Romania	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Hendrik Schopp (GER), Tal Shildan (ISR)
	Score by quarters: 1–1, 3–3, 3–2, 0–2
	Baláž, Marek Tkáč 2	Goals	Fulea 4

9 January 2024 20:15	Netherlands	23–7	Slovenia	Bazen u Gružu, Dubrovnik Referees: Massimo Angileri (MLT), Eurico Silva (POR)
	Score by quarters: 7–2, 4–1, 8–3, 4–1
	Ten Broek, Van der Weijden 5	Goals	Stefanović 3

Knockout stage

Bracket

Play-offs

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

12 January

Hungary (PSO)

10 (5)

10 January

Serbia

10 (4)

France

10

14 January

Serbia

14

Hungary

8

Croatia

11

12 January

Croatia

13

11 January

Greece

8

Greece

15

16 January

Netherlands

10

Croatia

10

Spain

11

12 January

Spain

24

11 January

Romania

7

Georgia

11

14 January

Romania

18

Spain

7

Italy

4

Third place

12 January

16 January

Italy

14

Hungary

7

10 January

Montenegro

8

Italy

12

Montenegro

10

Germany

5

Playoffs

10 January 2024 18:30	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	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	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	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 semifinals				13th place
	11 January
	Slovakia	15
					13 January
	Israel	9
					Slovakia	14
	11 January
					Slovenia	10
	Slovenia	10
	Malta	8
					15th place
					13 January
					Israel	12 (4)
					Malta (PSO)	12 (5)

13–16th place semifinals

11 January 2024 17:45	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	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	Israel	16–17	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	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 semifinals				Ninth place
	13 January
	France	16
					15 January
	Netherlands	9
					France	12
	13 January
					Georgia	6
	Georgia	15
	Germany	10
					Eleventh place
					15 January
					Netherlands	16
					Germany	10

9–12th place semifinals

13 January 2024 15:45	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	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	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	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	Hungary	15–14	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	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	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	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 semifinals				Fifth place
	14 January
	Serbia	10
					16 January
	Greece	12
					Greece	15
	14 January
					Montenegro	10
	Romania	11
	Montenegro	18
					Seventh place
					16 January
					Serbia	18
					Romania	7

5–8th place semifinals

14 January 2024 15:00	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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.

Rank Team 1  Spain 2  Croatia 3  Italy 4  Hungary 5  Greece 6  Montenegro 7  Serbia 8  Romania 9  France 10  Georgia 11  Netherlands 12  Germany 13  Slovakia 14  Slovenia 15  Malta 16  Israel Qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics Qualified for the 2024 World Aquatics Championships

2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship Spain First title

Awards and statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Goals	Shots	%
1	Álvaro Granados	21	47	45
2	Thomas Vernoux	20	37	54
3	Dušan Mandić	19	34	56
4	Konstantinos Genidounias	17	29	59
5	Lars ten Broek	16	30	53
	Marko Radulović		33	48
	Denis Strelezkij		47	34
8	Mart van der Weijden	15	26	58
	Vince Vigvári		38	39
	Vlad Georgescu		39	38
	Jake Muscat Melito		44	34

Awards

The awards were announced on 16 January 2024.

Position	Player
Best goalkeeper	Marko Bijač
Most Valuable Player	Álvaro Granados

Marketing

On 7 December 2023, the Croatian Water Polo Federation announced the logo for the event. Logo was inspired by Croatian interlace and slogan of the championship was: "Waves of Unity".