Spain out to confirm World Cup favourite status

Overview

Reigning champion Spain is obviously the team to beat after its incredible 15-9 victory over Hungary in the Division One series in Bucharest, Romania last January.

Greece had an equally huge result against Montenegro, winning 17-10 in the play-off for third. They can justifiably be the teams to watch the most and can be expected to go through to the semifinal round as Spain will play the No. 2 team — Germany — from the Division Two series contested in Istanbul, Turkiye last December. Greece has the mercurial Japanese speedsters as a first-day conundrum.

However, because of the current level of teams with little or no international exposure since, results can be turned on their heads.

The cut-throat nature of this event brings together a mix of teams. Missing from the line-ups is Olympic champion Serbia, who finished a disappointing ninth at the Division One series.

Japan is the only non-European team to get through with United States of America finishing eighth and out of qualification in Bucharest. Australia and Canada did not enter the competition.

At the Paris Olympics, Croatia won silver, Hungary was fourth, Greece fifth and Spain sixth. Montenegro claimed ninth and Japan 11^th. That was last year and a long way from the changed rosters of 2025.

Setting The Scene

It’s a brave new world out there in the first year of the Olympiad where teams have reshaped and had little time to mould combinations. However, as the precursor to the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore this July, the event will be seen as an important launching platform for most teams.

Podgorica has been the scene of World Aquatics events in the past as well as European competitions. It staged the 2009 FINA World League Super Finals and the 2016 18&U men’s world championships.

Looking at relevant matches from Bucharest, Hungary beat Spain 12-11 on day one; Greece was eight goals better than Montenegro on day two; Greece beat Japan 20-16 and Spain headed off Croatia 15-14 on day five; Hungary downed Greece 20-10 and Spain defeated Montenegro 15-8 in the semifinals.

History

This is the 17^th edition of the World Cup, which is now an annual event. It started in 1979 as a biennial event, which became quadrennial after 2002. It took over from the World League in 2023 and missed last year because of the tight international calendar of European, World Championships and Olympic Games within six months.

In Los Angeles two years ago, Spain beat Italy for gold; USA defeated Hungary for bronze with Greece, Romania, Serbia and Germany collecting minor honours.

The Competition

With just three days to do the business, the first day is quarterfinals, the second day semifinals and the third day classification matches. There is no time to waste and teams who start badly could find themselves on the scrapheap very quickly.

The first day starts with Spain against 1985 champion Germany, followed by nine-times winner Hungary and Division Two winner Netherlands. Greece, the beaten finalist in 1997, takes on Japan in the third encounter with Montenegro facing Croatia in the last of the quarters. Montenegro won in 2006 as Serbia & Montenegro while Croatia lost its only final in 2010.

Players To Watch

Croatia: Konstantinos Kharkov, Jerko Marinic-Kragic, Vlaho Pavlic.
Germany: Zoran Bozic, Denis Strelezkij, Till Hofmann.
Greece: Stylianos Argyropoulos, Aristeidis Chalyvopoulos, Konstantinos Kakaris.
Hungary: Krisztian Manhercz, Vendel Vigvari, Daniel Angyal.
Japan: Taiyo Watanabe, captain Yusuke Inaba, Seiya Adachi.
Montenegro: Dusan Matkovic, Duro Radovic, Nikola Moskov.
Netherlands: Lars Ten Broek, Mart van der Weijden, Sebastian Hessels.
Spain: Alvaro Granados, Bernat Sanahuja, Roger Tahull.

First-Day Schedule

14:00    Spain v Germany
16:10    Hungary v Netherlands
18:20    Greece v Japan
20:30    Montenegro v Croatia