Serbia stuns Hungary for European crown

Final Classifications

1. Serbia
   2. Hungary
   3. Greece
   4. Italy
   5. Spain
   6. Croatia
   7. Montenegro
   8. Romania
   9. France
   10. Georgia
   11. Netherlands
   12. Turkiye
   13. Malta
   14. Slovakia
   15. Slovenia
   16. Israel

Awards

MVP Gold-Medal Match
Dusan Mandic (SRB)

MVP Bronze-Medal Match
Konstantinos Kakaris (GRE)

MVP Team
Goalkeeper
Milan Glusac (SRB)
Field Players
Stylianos Argyropoulos (GRE)
Krisztian Manhercz (HUN)
Konstantinos Kakaris (GRE)
Akos Nagy (HUN)
Dusan Mandic (SRB)
Strahinja Rasovic (SRB)

Leading Goal-Scorers
Stylianos Argyropoulos (GRE)
Thomas Vernoux (FRA) — 26 Goals

Overview

The evolution of the men’s competition has brought more spectators to the game and created a hype almost unrivalled in world water polo.

With the focus totally on men (with the women about to compete in Portugal for its festival), and water polo-mad Serbia hosting the event in the massive Belgrade Arena, it was always going to be a rumble, showcasing the best European water polo has to offer.

Medal Finals

Triple Olympic champion Serbia motored to its sixth European crown (nine if you count as Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro) with the first since 2018 by downing 13-time champion Hungary 10-7 in the gold-medal final.

Strong Serbian defence, a huge, patriotic crowd, a Dusan Mandic quartet and restricting Hungary to two goals in the second half, proved the difference.

On 18 January, the teams locked horns in Group E play and Serbia was the winner 15-14 after going into the final quarter 13-8 ahead.

Greece romped home with its first European medal, defeating 12-time medallist and triple champion Italy 12-5 in the bronze-medal final.

The success was built on 4-1 and 3-1 opening quarters with Italy never equalising or winning the quarters. Greece’s scoring machine Stylianos Argyropoulos was again in fine fettle with four goals.

Greece and Serbia were the only teams to lose one match in Belgrade — Serbia to Montenegro in the rounds and Greece to Hungary in the semifinals.

Medal Semifinals

The blockbuster semifinals provided plenty of action but there were only two teams who could make the final and they did it with precision and dominance.

Unbeaten Greece fell to Hungary 15-12 after being ahead 3-1 and then locked at 8-8 by halftime. Hungarian captain Krisztian Manhercz shot four goals as his team gave a masterclass on extra-man attack with eight goals from nine attempts. Greek head coach Theo Vlachos was red-carded in the final minute.

Serbia lifted the roof of the Belgrade Arena, rising to the occasion to defeat Italy 17-13 with a 9-7 halftime advantage, which blew out to 15-10 at the final break. Mandic and Strahinja Rasovic both scored four goals in the onslaught while Serbian captain Nikola Jaksic was red-carded late in the second quarter.

Group Stage 1

Hungary, Greece, Serbia and Italy topped their respective groups with Montenegro, Croatia, Spain and Romania finishing second respectively.

In Group C, Serbia had the better of Spain 12-11 while Netherlands, who finished third, took Serbia to an 18-16 result but was unsettled by superstar Mandic who scored six goals for the victor.

Hungary was strong in all three Group A matches; Greece nudged out Croatia 11-10 in the Group B decider and Italy was untroubled with three wins, the closest a five-goal differential over Slovakia.

Group Stage 2

This was where the top 12 teams were placed and competed in three rounds.

Group E

Spain, Montenegro and Serbia collected wins in the first round with Serbia holding off a fast-finishing Hungary 15-14 after starting the final period 13-8 ahead. Hungary sniffed a draw with a score 14 seconds from time, but it was not to be and the Magyars had their first defeat.

Day three created a reality check for Serbia, going down to 15-13 to Montenegro and Spain was defeated in a penalty shootout with Hungary 15-14. Sergi Cabanas equalised on the full-time buzzer to force the shootout but a two-one miss rate midway through the rotation sealed Spain’s fate.

Serbia and Hungary finished on 11 points each with Spain on 10 and Montenegro nine, such was the closeness of the group. Unhappily for Spain, its title retention was over.

Group F

Italy, Greece and Croatia won the first day with the Italians fending off Georgia 16-14.

On the second day, Romania downed Georgia by five goals; Greece had the better of previously unbeaten Italy 15-13 despite a five-goal haul to Matteo Iocchi Gratta and Croatia steamrolled Turkiye 22-9.

In the crucial third day, Italy and Greece made sure of semifinal berths with the Settebello toppling Croatia 13-10 and Greece thundering past Romania 18-9. Georgia bettered Turkiye 14-11.

Greece finished top with 15 points and Italy claimed second spot on 12 with Croatia on nine and Romania six.

Of the four semifinalists, only Greece emerged without a loss.

Minor Classifications

Spain had to be happy with fifth place, crushing Croatia 17-9 with Bernat Sanahuja scoring five goals.

Montenegro snapped up seventh classification with a high-scoring 21-15 victory over Romania with Balsa Vuckovic claiming six goals. Vlad Georgescu, Romania’s star, shot five goals.

France collected ninth place, beating Georgia 16-13 with Alexandre Bouet and Vernoux scoring four each.

Netherlands defeated Turkiye 25-8 for 11^th position with Lars ten Broek shooting a tournament-high seven goals.

Classification 13-16

The bottom four teams — Malta, Slovenia, Israel and Slovakia — went to the round 13-16 play-offs.

On day one, Malta headed off Israel 15-14 and Slovenia bettered Slovakia in a penalty shootout 14-13 after the match was tied at 10-10.

On day two, Israel needed a penalty shootout success over Slovakia 15-14 after being tied at 11-11 and Malta pummelled Slovakia 20-11.

On day three, Malta pipped Slovenia 14-13 and Slovakia defeated Israel 11-8.

This meant Malta gained 13^th classification thanks to its nine points, followed by Slovakia on four (14^th), Slovenia (15^th) on three and Israel (16^th) on two.