With the year coming to an end, there is no rest for some nations as the first phase of 2025 gets underway with the Division II series for the World Aquatics World Cup.

This event was missing from the calendar this year because of the European Championships, the Doha World Aquatics Championships and the Paris Olympics — a complex seven months.

With the Covid pandemic disrupting proceedings for some years, we are back to normal in 2025 with just the two major world events scheduled — the World Aquatics World Cup and World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

Image Source: Great Britain's Katherine Rogers defends at the Doha World Aquatics Championships/Aniko Kovacs/World Aquatics

Istanbul Matches

Taking part in the Division II four-day event in Istanbul, starting on Saturday, 14 December, are 12 women’s teams with Portugal, Czechia, Great Britain, Croatia, Bulgaria and Turkiye fronting at this level for the first time. They join China, South Africa, France, Japan, Singapore and Germany who have all competed in a World Cup at some point.

All 12 teams are competing for a top-two finish with those teams joining six from the Division I tournament in Alexandroupolis, Greece on 14-19 January to compete in the April finals at a venue yet to be decided.

There are four groups of three with two group matches on the first day and one on the second, followed by the third team in each group having a crossover encounter — virtual semifinals for the bottom four. Day three will start with the bottom four having classification matches 9-12, followed by quarterfinals. Day four will start with semifinals and in the late afternoon-evening, classification matches 1-8.

Image Source: Singapore's Xinjuan Yap at the Doha World Aquatics Championships/Aniko Kovacs/World Aquatics

Groupings

Group A: Bulgaria, Great Britain, Turkiye
Group B: Germany, Czechia, Singapore
Group C: South Africa, China, Japan
Group D: Portugal, Croatia, France

History

China has competed four times — 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 for a best placing of third in 2010.
South Africa competed in 2014 and 2018 for seventh and eighth respectively.
France  played in 1989 and 1997 for seventh and eighth.
Japan made appearances in 1991 (sixth) and 1993 (seventh).
Singapore competed in 2014 for eighth place.
Germany competed as the Federal Republic of Germany in in 1989 for sixth position.

Image Source: China at the Doha World Aquatics Championships/Aniko Kovacs/World Aquatics

Day 1 Programme

09:00. Match 1. Great Britain v Bulgaria
10:30. Match 2. Czechia v Germany
12:00. Match 3. China v South Africa
13:30. Match 4. France v Portugal
16:00. Match 5. Bulgaria v Turkiye
17:30. Match 6. Germany v Singapore
19.00. Match 7. South Africa v Japan
20:30. Match 8. Portugal v Croatia