Final Placings

1. Greece
2. Spain
3. Netherlands
4. Hungary
5. United States of America
6. Russia
7. Australia
8. New Zealand
9. Italy
10. Turkiye
11. China
12. Serbia
13. Canada
14. Czech
15. Ukraine
16. Israel
17. Croatia
18. Germany
19. South Africa
20. Peru
21. Romania
22. Brazil
23. Zimbabwe
24. Mexico

Awards

Most Valuable Player
Afroditi Bitsakou (GRE)

Best Goalkeeper
Julia Teodoro (ESP)

Highest Goal-Scorer
Zhu Yinqi (CHN) — 33

Media All Star Team

Goalkeeper
Julia Teodoro (ESP)
Field Players
Kate Bambury (USA)
Afroditi Bitsakou (GRE)
Mandula Mihok (HUN)
Laura Renkers (NED)
Ivet Sulla (ESP)
Zhu Yinqi (CHN)

Overview

It was no wonder that Greece’s Afroditi Bitsakou was named the most valuable player of the tournament. Two years ago, in Manisa, Turkiye, she was a standout in Greece’s march to fifth place, scoring four goals in the last match and 19 for the tournament. In Zagreb, two years later, she has evolved, more mature, made captain and had a team of scoring machines around her. She finished with 16 goals but, I bet, the gold medal will take precedence any day.

Greece smashed the reigning champion Spain 8-3 in the first half and sauntered to the gold medal as Spain tried desperately to make up for earlier mistakes.

In the bronze-medal encounter, it was much tighter with Netherlands having to claw back from two down three times in the final quarter against Hungary to force a shootout and emerge in the shootout. Hungary led for much of the match but Netherlands was not to be denied.

United States of America defeated Russia 11-7 and Australia pipped neighbour New Zealand 8-7 in the play-off for seventh.

There were two other shootouts on the day — in the China-Serbia 11-12 clash and the South Africa-Peru 19-20 encounter.

Match Reports

Classification 1-2

Match 84. SPAIN 7 GREECE 11 (2-4, 1-4, 2-2, 2-1)

Greece beat Spain 8-5 on day four and that was a pointer to the rest of the tournament. Greece came in with a 62-goal differential compared to Spain’s 32. Greece did not encounter a tight match. Spain beat Turkiye by one, lost to Greece and beat Australia by only three. It was vulnerable. Greece knew where to hit hard and put Spain to the sword for the second time in a week, showing that it was a deserved victor. The Greek senior women are world champions; the U20 women are No 3; the U18s No 2 and the U16s world champions. What does that say about Greek women’s water polo? Let’s not talk about Greece men winning the World Cup in Sydney last Sunday!

Bitsakou started proceedings on extra and she added a penalty goal for 3-1 at 3:37. Spain had a penalty attempt saved but Paula Pineda made it 3-2. Bitsakou had her penalty attempts blocked but Eleni Elmisian made sure of her attempt at 0:53 for 4-2. Ivet Sulla, who missed that earlier penalty shot, was successful on her second for 4-3. Ifigeneia Manousaki replied immediately and three minutes later she converted extra. Eirini Tsigka netted from centre forward with Sofia Lampropoulou scoring off extra for a commanding 8-3 advantage, 27 seconds from halftime.

It was not until 3:08 before any goal could get through, Georgia Lampatou with a penalty strike for 9-3. Coaner Llorenc and Sulla bridged the gap to 9-5 before Lampropoulou scored on extra to close the third period. Maria Abarca, so much in the scoring this week, gained her first of the match on extra at 5:28. Tsigka replied on extra for 11-6 at 3:16. The last throw of the dice was Llorenc on extra at 0:22 for 11-7 in the 84^th match of the tournament.

Match Heroes
Tsigka, Manousaki, Bitsakou and Lampropoulou scored twice each for Greece. Llorenc and Sulla scored a pair each for Spain.

Stats Don’t Lie
Greece converted five from nine on extras and Spain three from six. Greece missed two of its five penalty attempts and Spain one of three. Greece was successful from the outside once and Spain could not convert any of its eight attempts. Spain stole the ball three to two and shot 25 to 24 but the percentage favoured Greece 46-28 per cent.

Classification 3-4

Match 83. NETHERLANDS 15 HUNGARY 14 in penalty shootout. FT: 11-11. Pens: 4-3 (3-2, 1-3, 2-2, 5-4)

Netherlands was eighth the last two outings and now goes home with a bronze medal. Hungary was the beaten finalist in 2024 and the champion in 2022 so, three times in the top four is no mean achievement. It was not Hungary’s day today, failing at the penalty line after leading the final quarter three times by two points. The Dutch were two up early and 3-1 before closing the quarter at 3-2. Doniz Domsodi scored twice to reverse the lead early in the second quarter. Zsofia Kokany converted a penalty for 5-4 and Lydia Greenwood pulled one back from the top for 5-4 down at the long break. Goals were traded around the two-minute mark and then again in the final minute for 7-6 favouring Hungary. Mandula Mihok, so strong all week, scored at centre forward. Laura Renkers and Ghitte van Evert pulled it even. Kokany, twice on action, made it 10-8. Emma van Leusden on extra and Mihok at centre took it to 11-9. Renkers on extra and van Leusden from the top levelled at 11-11 by 0:35. Domsodi had her final shot blocked after a timeout, sending the match to penalties. The Dutch shot first and the first four went in. Hungary’s fourth was saved. Netherlands’ fifth was saved, as was Hungary’s fifth, giving Netherlands a 15-14 victory.

Match Heroes
Renkers scored three from four to lead the Dutch scoring and give her 14 for the week. Mihok netted four and Kokany three for Hungary.

Stats Don’t Lie
Netherlands was near perfect on extra with six from seven and stopping three from five. Hungary scored the only two penalty shots and won the steals seven-five. Hungary shot 24-16 but Netherlands strike rate was 69 per cent compared to 46.

Classification 5-6

Match 82. RUSSIA 7 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 11 (3-4, 3-3, 1-2, 0-2)

USA improved on its 2024 result of seventh while Russia was contesting this event for the first time. Both teams arrived with excellent credentials but USA seemed to hold sway at the start, making the plays for Russia to level at one, two, three and four. Varvara Mikisheva scored from centre forward at 3:02 of the second period to give Russia the advantage. McKenna Mack replied on penalty 17 seconds later, so the lead was short-lived. Abigail Billish and Taisia Apokina traded goals. Natalie Arata scored from outside for a USA 7-6 lead before halftime. Goals were traded, then Kate Bambury scored from two metres for 9-7. She started the fourth quarter and book-ended the period with a goal off extra at 0:56. Both teams took timeouts for no effect.

Match Heroes
Bambury scored four from four for USA and the goalies combined for eight saves. For Russia, Mikisheva scored a hat-trick.

Stats Don’t Lie
USA converted four from five on extra and Russia one from two. USA scored three penalty goals and won the shooting percentage — 50 to 33.

Classification 7-8

Match 81. AUSTRALIA 8 NEW ZEALAND 7 (0-3, 3-2, 3-0, 2-2)

The trans-Tasman clash is always a strong rivalry and was to be the battle of the top Commonwealth nations. After a powerful start by the Kiwis, the Aussies won the middle half of the match by just enough to fend off the women in black in the final period. It was a hugely defensive match. Charlotte McCarthy scored the first from outside and the third goal from centre forward while Emily Rope chipped in the second on extra. Sophie Zampech entered the fray with an Aussie goal only for McCarthy to respond for 4-1. Rope made it 5-1 on penalty and Zampech scored on extra and penalty inside the final minute of the half. A three-goal surge in the middle two minutes of the third period gave Australia a 6-5 advantage. Rope levelled for six on penalty; Australia scored twice more for 8-6 and Rope narrowed the score from two metres in the last second for 8-7 down.

Match Heroes
Zampech has been to the fore all week and netted half the Aussie goals. Rope was equally omnipresent and scored four today with the other three to McCarthy.

Stats Don’t Lie
Australia had the edge on extra, converting three from nine to New Zealand’s two from four. It was a low-shooting match with Australia having the advantage at 18-13. Both teams scored two penalty goals and the steals were tied at four.

Classification 9-10

Match 80. TURKIYE 7 ITALY 8 (2-2, 1-1, 1-2, 3-3)

Italy collected its fifth victory from seven matches over a defiant Turkiye that has performed strongly all week but finishes with four victories and some narrow defeats. The match was squared at one, two, three and four before Gaia Gattuso gave Italy a 5-4 advantage at halftime. Turkish captain Eda Moroglu scored her 20^th goal on penalty for 5-5 and a goal trade had it at 6-6. Benedetta Gulizia and Defne Keremoglu swapped for 7-7 by 0:40, but Gulizia was the hero, scoring on extra at 0:17 for the victory.

Match Heroes
Gulizia finished with four goals for Italy and Bozkurt three for Turkiye, lifting her to 17 for the week.

Stats Don’t Lie
Italy took 10 steals to four; converted one from three to Turkiye’s two from three on extra; had 26 to 23 shots; and score three from nine attempts from the top.

Classification 11-12

Match 79. CHINA 11 SERBIA 9 in penalty shootout. FT: 8-8. Pens: 3-1. (1-2, 0-1, 3-4, 4-1)

Zhu Yinqi dominated once again, scoring five of her team’s eight goals and lifting her Zagreb tally to a leading 33 goals. However, it was not enough to secure the win within time and it went to penalties, where Zhu was not required. Masa Cuk scored twice for Serbia as it led 2-1 at the quarter break. She netted a third with the only goal of the second period. Her fourth came on extra at 3:14 in the third quarter before Zhang Yutong responded from close to goal. Scores were traded twice with Zhu gaining her second on extra for 6-4 down. However, Nina Pekovic went on counter for a promising 7-4 advantage, two seconds from the last break. Zhu scored from outside, on penalty and then on extra to level the match at 7-7. Cuk put away a penalty goal at 2:58 and in the dying seconds, China shot and had it saved while Guo Rongrong snapped up the rebound to score on the buzzer to force penalties. Serbia shot first with Cuk scoring; China had its first attempt saved and three Serbian shots were saved as China made sure of its three. Zhang Yutong nailed the winner for 11-9.

Match Heroes
Zhu with her five goals for China and goalkeeper Li Siyao with seven saves were the team’s best. Serbia’s Cuk also scored five goals.

Stats Don’t Lie
Serbia converted three from four on extra and defended six from 10; won the steals five to two; shot more at 23-19 and scored two penalty goals to one, yet lost the match. China shot at 42 per cent to Serbia’s 35.

Classification 13-14

Match 78. CZECHIA 2 CANADA 19 (1-4, 1-3, 0-7, 0-5)

Canada romped home against Czechia in an unexpected one-sided match for this play-off. Czechia had just beaten Ukraine 11-10 to make the play-off and Canada had downed Israel and the day before losing a penalty shootout to Serbia. Canada was 3-0 up before captain Lucie Koubova replied for Czechia. The second goal came at 6-2, 3:37 into the second period. By then. Clara Milleker Shyiak had five goals for Canada. Canada turned at 7-2 and shut out Czechia for the remainder of the encounter, blasting home another 12 goals.

Match Heroes
Milleker Shyiak with six goals from eight attempts was the best and goalkeeper Alexis Rotheisler made a magical nine saves. Jing Jing Xia added three more Canadian goals.

Stats Don’t Lie
Canada crushed Czechia on extra, denying all nine attempts and scoring its only chance. Czechia scored the only penalty attempt. Canada stole six times to two and shot 30 times to 20 for a 63 per cent conversion rate as opposed to 10.

Classification 15-16

Match 77. UKRAINE 12 ISRAEL 11 (2-5, 4-0, 2-3, 4-3)

They arrived with two wins each and Ukraine went home with three in the tightest of matches. Israel was the aggressor with a 5-2 opening quarter that had Yaheli Rokach netting twice. Two Ukrainian goals in less than a half-minute had the score narrowed to one with Viktoriia Rudnyk gaining her second. The turning tide continued inside the last two minutes as goals came from extra and outside, the rocket from Mariia Tsyhankova. Rudnyk pressed home the advantage with a six-metre, free-throw shot for 7-5. However, Israel had other ideas and slammed in three straight in 80 seconds, including a Rokach centre-forward strike. Tsyhankova equalised from the top at 0:56 to head into the final quarter at 8-8. Rokach and Tsyhankova traded. Ori Grodman on extra and Tsyhankova from outside made it 10-10. Rokach tore back the lead for Israel. Two minutes later, Tsyhankova scored off a free throw from outside. An Israeli timeout at 0:45 led to a steal and Rudnyk scored from in front at 0:14 for the 12-11 victory. Ukraine was 16^th last time out, so this was an improvement. Israel did not contest in 2024 but was 10^th in 2022.

Match Heroes
Tsyhankova top-scored with five and Rudnyk hammered home four more for Ukraine. Rokach grabbed five from six attempts for Israel.

Stats Don’t Lie
Ukraine converted three from four on extra and defended six from eight. Ukraine scored eight goals from the top to one, lost the steals seven-four and shot at 57 to 50 per cent.

Classification 17-18

Match 76. GERMANY 8 CROATIA 16 (3-4, 1-5, 1-5, 3-2)

Croatia finished fourth and seventh at the previous two editions so this was a comedown. Germany was 10^th two years ago. Mare Jankovic and Petra Galic set Croatia up for the win followed by a trade and a Karla Popovic extra-player strike giving Croatia the 4-1 nudge. Emmi Kussner grabbed a pair for 4-3 down at the first break. Jankovic and Kussner traded early in the second period with Popovic and Galic both scoring on counter; Jankovic with a missile from the top and Galic repeating the effort, 15 seconds from halftime, giving Croatia a 9-4 boost. Two Popovic goals, a penalty strike from Gabriela Gukov and a centre-forward score form Iva Garic had the match at 13-4 by 1:31.A trade, including a Garic six-metre shot on the last second, took the score to 14-5. Two swaps midway through the period moved the score along to 16-7 and with the clock ticking, Lina Bruns converted extra for Germany at 16-8.

Match Heroes
Popovic netted five and Jankovic four with Galic chipping in a hat-trick for Croatia. Kussner was Germany’s best with three.

Stats Don’t Lie
Croatia went three from three on extra and Germany a powerful five from six. Croatia scored both penalty attempts and Germany missed one of three. Croatia won the steals 13-eight and shot 24 to 17.

Classification 19-20

Match 75. SOUTH AFRICA 10 PERU 8 in penalty shootout. FT: 6-6. Pens: 4-2. (3-2, 2-2, 1-0, 0-2)

South Africa needed to pull out all the stops against a dogged Peru looking for a third victory in Zagreb. South Africa had two wins against Mexico and this became a third scalp. Peru beat Germany in a shootout and toppled Zimbabwe, so came very close to a third win. South Africa held sway for the first three quarters but allowed Ximena Chia to score from the field at 2:55 and on extra at 2:12. South Africa had three shots to none in the dying minutes to no avail, taking the match to penalties. Peru’s first shot hit the post and the fourth was saved by goalkeeper Caylin MacKenzie to give the Africans a third success and 19^th position, four down on two years ago.

Match Heroes
Mia Gibson scored three goals for South Africa and Chia netted three from three for Peru.

Stats Don’t Lie
The statistics were close in every sphere except on penalty where Peru scored two from three. South Africa shot eight times from outside for only one success.

Classification 21-22

Match 74. BRAZIL 8 ROMANIA 9 (3-1, 1-3, 2-2, 2-3)

Romania stole the match from Brazil in the last 11 seconds in what was an intriguing match. Leonna de Castro started all scoring with a response from Sara Pascu on extra a minute later. Romania converted two penalty fouls for the 3-1 lead. Goals were traded early in the second quarter with Pascu and Vivien Ridzyk then coming to the party for 4-4 well ahead of the halftime break. Alessia Ciocan sent in another penalty goal for Romania with Maya Moura doing the same for Brazil. Ciocan and de Castro traded goals and Ridzyk hit the post on penalty just before the final break. Nicole Georgescu was in a trade as was Ridzyk for 8-8 at 2:02. Moura fouled on penalty at 0:11 and Georgescu converted to win 9-8. Both teams suffered one-goal losses on Wednesday and both won their first matches on Thursday.

Match Heroes
Ridzyk, Georgescu, Ciocan and captain Pascu scored twice each and goalkeeper Teodora Grigore pulled in a valuable nine saves to be best in water. De Castro finished with three goals for Brazil and goalkeeper/captain Melissa Moras made seven saves.

Stats Don’t Lie
Romania struggled on extra and steals but scored four from five on penalty to Brazil’s three from three. Romania had the slightest margin on shooting percentages and nailed one from four from outside while Brazil missed all seven attempts. In a close match, it came down to the smallest statistics.

Classification 23-24

Match 73. MEXICO 3 ZIMBABWE 7 (1-2, 0-3, 0-1, 2-1)

Both teams arrived with ambition and the desire to collect their first win in Zagreb. There were close matches in the lead-up but the determination could be seen on the players’ faces. Lola Accorsi scored twice to set the ball rolling for Zimbabwe with Leslie Alvarez replying on penalty inside the last minute of the period. A shut-out period and three goals to Zimbabwe was where the match was won. Accorsi was fouled out in the third period and Kristin Jones shot from outside for 6-1. She speared in her second from outside to start the final quarter and take it to 7-1. Ana Castillo and Sabrina Rendon pulled it back to 7-3 at 1:45, which proved to be the end of their campaigns. It was Mexico’s first outing at this level and in 2024, Zimbabwe finished winless in 22^nd place.

Match Heroes
Jones topped the scoring with three and the Zimbabwean goalkeepers made six saves. The hero for Mexico and possibly best player in pool was Mexican goalkeeper Galia Morales with a magnificent 14 saves — one of the best statistics of the entire tournament.

Stats Don’t Lie
Zimbabwe made 10 steals to seven; scored twice from outside; scored the only extra-player goal and shot 31-20 for a 22 per cent strike rate to 17.

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