Looking more like a FIFA World Cup final, 36 nations will gather in Zagreb this week for the third iteration of the World Aquatics U16 Men’s Water Polo Championships, to be played at the Mladost complex’s indoor and outdoor pools.
Overview
Hot on the heels of the 24-nation women’s U16 championships e played over seven consecutive days, the men’s event will have 18 matches for seven consecutive days.
The men’s tournament will be played in the same nature as the women’s where all teams will contest four days of a league phase where points will be allocated according to strength of opponent and result.
The top eight teams will then contest the medal quarterfinals and play semifinals and classification matches thereafter.
The teams ranked nine to 16 will enter the same phases of the top eight, building to the classification matches.
Teams ranked 17-24 and 25-32 will do likewise.
The teams in the 33-36 bracket will play a round robin to determine their classifications.
The complexity of the draw allows all nations a chance to play a top side and the cream will undoubtedly swiftly rise to the top within a few days when competition will become more intense.
History
Looking back to 2024, in Gzira, Malta, where 32 nations were represented, Spain beat Italy for gold and Hungary downed Montenegro for bronze.
Mexico and Zimbabwe battled out the play-off for 31st, the same two nations who played for 23rd place here on Friday in the women’s event.
In 2022 in Volos, Greece, Hungary beat Greece and Serbia defeated Montenegro for the bronze in a 25-team competition.
This Year
The only team from 2024 not playing this year is Bulgaria while incoming for the first time are Malaysia, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia and Uruguay. Japan, Switzerland, Latvia and Azerbaijan played the first edition and were not represented in Malta, nor here.
This year’s mix means there are 18 teams from Europe, seven from the Americas, six from Asia, three from Africa and two from Oceania — the largest of the three editions.
Day 1, First Round League Phase Schedule
08:00: Kazakhstan v Egypt
08:35: Spain v South Africa
10:00: Germany v Uruguay
10:05: Singapore v Poland
11.30: Netherlands v Czechia
11:35 Turkiye v Mexico
13:00: Brazil v Israel
13:05: New Zealand v Portugal
14:30: Hungary v Ukraine
14:35: United States of America v Peru
16:00: Italy v Malaysia
16:05: Montenegro v Zimbabwe
17:30: Australia v Slovenia
17:35: Greece v Russia
19:00: Croatia v Georgia
19:05: Serbia v Puerto Rico
20:30: Canada v Romania
20:35: China v Malta