Split (CRO) – Budapest hosted the previous edition of the event, the last one amidst the usual circumstances, virtually “minutes” before the outbreak of the Covid Pandemic, which put the sporting world to a halt and then erased the spectators from all events in the following season.
Back in 2020, the Duna Arena stands were filled with fans – and now the Spaladium Arena in Split also welcomes the water polo enthusiasts without restrictions. Should we only consider these two editions, things would seem normal, the championships are held on the usual dates with thousands cheering for the continent’s elite – but we all know that during those two and a half years things were anything but normal.
As a reflection on that, the sport calendar is yet to return to its usual timeframes – as it’s never happened before that a FINA World Championships and the LEN European Championships (the Aquatics and the Water Polo editions) were held in a span of less than three months.
What hasn’t changed though is the global landscape. Europe is still ruling water polo, especially the men’s field. Last year in Tokyo seven out of the top 10 sides represented the Old Continent at the Olympics, seven weeks ago, the World Championships in Budapest saw 8/10, with seven of the eight quarter-finalists coming from Europe, and not a single non-European sides were able to reach the semi-finals at the Worlds and Olympics since Shanghai 2011. While the women’s events have been dominated by the USA (three Olympic crowns in a row and four straight world titles), the top six European sides are a constant presence in the top eight and usually one of ‘our’ teams try to challenge the mighty Americans in the respective finals.
So it’s definitely not an overstatement that as the Championships kick off on 27 August in Split, the matches will feature the crème de crème of water polo. 28 teams (16 male, 12 female) from 16 national federations will battle for the best positions – and for the remaining FINA World Championships berths.
Men’s event: The Magnificent Seven is to rule again but the winds of change blow up the club
The traditional powerhouses have a stronghold on the top positions for long-long years. Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Italy, Spain and Greece barely let anyone get close to the podium – at the majors (Olympics, Worlds, Europeans) the USA was the last team outside the “elite club’ making the semis (Beijing 2008, Rome 2009), at the Europeans Romania came 4th back in 2006, ever since the medal rounds are the exclusive playing ground of the ‘Magnificent Seven’.
Still, winds of change reshuffled the club – the first days of July saw history in the making at the World Championships where a never-seen scenario unfolded during the last days. For the first time ever, the three Mediterranean sides posed with the medals on the podium, Spain beat Italy in the final, Greece grabbed the bronze – so it was Go South, while the Eastern giants, the Balkan Boys and the host Hungarians had to settle for the lower ranks. That never happened before, at least one of these latter superpowers have always paraded at the victory ceremonies and most of the time one of them finished atop.
Not now, and this can mark the start of a new era at the Europeans too. Before Hungary managed to take back the title at home in 2020 to push its record number of wins to 13, the teams of the former Yugoslavia came first 9 times in a row. Seven of those triumphs were courtesy of the Serbs (2001-03-06, then 2012-14-16-18), and between their two streaks, Montenegro (2008) and Croatia (2010) were the victors. The Hungarians won back-to-back titles in 1997-1999, so we have to go back to 1995 to see a winner from the South, Italy.
Indeed, Spain and Greece have never been European champions – though the Spaniards were really close, only to lose the last two finals in penalty-shootouts (to Serbia and to Hungary). Spain, finally winning a shootout in Budapest to become world champion, arrives to Split without losing a single game in the regular time at the last two European Championships.
The other ‘club members’ are riding rollercoasters. Serbia retained its Olympic title in Tokyo, however, booking its Olympic spot early on (in the 2019 World League Super Final), they fielded younger teams at the 2019 Worlds, then still tested some new faces in Budapest 2020 and that was enough to halt their incredible run of consecutive semi-finals at majors between 2000 and 2019.
Then, since Tokyo, many key players said goodbye to the national team, so they missed the cut again in Budapest (finished 5th), and comes with an even younger team (partly because of injuries) to Split.
At the same time, Croatia was missing from the Olympic top-flight, but in Budapest had an 8th straight semi-final appearance, a World Championship record (though after seven podiums they had to settle for the 4th place this time). Now playing at home, they have all the chances in the world to grab a medal once more (the last time they hosted the meet in 2010, they snatched the title in Zagreb). Hungary and Montenegro are in a transition period – both sides need to fare without several seasoned veterans who were protagonists in the past, perhaps it was not just an accident that these two had to play for 7th place in Budapest. Now they are the only two sides among the top guns for whom making the quarters is a must as they are yet to book their respective spots at the 2023 World Championships. (The two highest ranked teams will qualify, besides Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia and Serbia, which already secured their participation in Fukuoka, where Olympic berths will already be at stake.)
With Russia being away, perhaps France has the strongest chance to join the top eight and they may cause some stir if they face the ‘transition’ teams at any stage of the competition.
Women's Tournament: Spain come in looking to retain their Budapest 2020 title
With Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Spain, Greece, France and Germany on board, all but one nation having ever claimed at least one medal since the first edition are participating in Split.
Only Russia, runner-up in Budapest 2020 is missing. The women’s water polo tournament was launched in the Norwegian capital Oslo in 1985 when the ladies – for the only time – played a separate tournament.
Since then, the Netherlands as well as Italy and Russia celebrated three consecutive titles respectively (Netherlands: 1985-1987-1989, Russia 2006-2008-2010, Italy 1995-1997-1999). Italy and the Netherlands hope to make it half a dozen golds, while Hungary might achieve its 15th medal at Europeans. Spain, however, should not be forgotten as they won both editions in Budapest (in 2014 and 2020) and finished runner-up at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
While in the men’s tournament there were some trends in the last 10-12 years (winning streaks for the Serbs, Croatia’s big run at the Worlds, Spain’s consecutive finals recently), there was no sure bet in any women’s tournament. As the saying went, any given game could have had the opposite outcome had it been played the next day again – and consequently the medal winners were constantly shuffling at the major events. While the US were unbeatable (at least in the knock-out phase), the challengers were always changing, Italy came runner-up in Rio, Spain had a good run (2017 Worlds, 2019 Worlds, Tokyo 2021), while Hungary played the closest final this July since the Netherlands lost by a single goal to the Americans in 2015.
At the Europeans, the trends were the same. The last seven editions saw six different champions, only Spain could win twice (2014, 2020).
News provided by the LEN Media Team.