Spain is aiming for back-to-back crowns and a third title in eight years when it contests the World Aquatics U18 Women’s Water Polo Championships in Puerto de la Cruz, Spain, starting on Sunday and running through until the following Sunday.
Overview
Spanish women’s teams have been in the medal mix in the past month with the senior women taking home silver at the World Aquatics World Cup in Sydney, Australia and the U16 Spanish team losing its world crown to Greece in the final played last week in Zagreb, Croatia. Spain took out the silver in last year’s U20 championships.
There are 20 teams in six groups to contest the eight-day event, which has attracted 10 teams from Europe, two from Asia, four from the Americas and two each from Oceania and Africa.
The age group has been held since 2012 in Perth, Australia, although in 1998 the world junior championships were made into U18 once only.
Spain and USA are the only double youth champions with Greece and Russia the other victors. There was no competition in 2020 because of Covid.
This is the first time that 20 nations have qualified for the championship with the last five events having 16 teams and the inaugural year 15. Missing from 2024 are Thailand and Mexico.
How They Shape Up
Group A:
Inaugural winner and four-time medallist Greece (silver in 2024), four-time medallist Hungary (bronze), dual medallist Italy (sixth) and Netherlands (seventh) make up this enticing group.
Group B:
Reigning champion Spain — a triple medallist — will play alongside dual champion USA — 2014 and 2022 — in the other seeded grouping as well as Croatia and China who filled the ninth and 10th placings two years ago.
The benefits of being in the top two groups allow for an “easier” path to the quarterfinals while those in the lower-ranked teams have a tougher avenue to the medal rounds.
Group C:
This group features New Zealand (eighth in 2024), Turkiye (15th) and newcomer Colombia. New Zealand’s best finished was sixth in the first year in Perth, Australia. Turkiye first contested the event in 2022, ending 16th.
Group D:
Canada, Germany and Malta make up this group. Canada was 12th last time out; Germany last competed in 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand when it came 12th, after finishing 16th in 2014. Malta is another new face at this level.
Group E:
Israel, South Africa and Zimbabwe feature here. Israel was 11th in 2024 in its first outing. South Africa has played every iteration with a best finish of 11th in 2012. Zimbabwe has not featured since 2012 when it collected14th position.
Group F:
Australia, Brazil and Serbia fill this group. Australia has been a high performer in this league, taking out fifth position in 2024 and sixth in 2022. In 2018, it was fourth and has attended every event. Serbia last competed in 2018 for 13th position and Brazil has to go back to 2014 when it collected 14th classification. It was eighth in the inaugural year.
Leading Players
Looking at the Media All Star list of 2024, Kata Hajdu was the big success story, easing into the Hungarian senior team and last month in Sydney, Australia, she finished as one of the highest goal-scorers in the World Aquatics World Cup finals. Carlota Penalver was another in that team to burst into the Spanish women’s team and also play in Sydney, finishing with a silver medal.
The Competition
Each team has three matches during the first four days of competition to find the rankings. The group winners will sit out Thursday’s matches, gaining direct qualification to the quarterfinals. The second and third-ranked teams from each group will contest the crossovers against the top teams from the bottom four groups. Then there will be classification groups for 12-16 and the bottom team from each of the lower-rank groups will enter a three-day round-robin to decide classifications 17-20. The losers of the crossovers will contest semifinals for places nine to 12. The final day will have the top eight teams playing off for rankings one to eight and the next group classifications 9-16.
Spain As A Venue
Spain has been using Tenerife and the Canary Islands as a venue for women’s competitions in recent years. Tenerife was used in 2008 for the World League Super Finals and against in 2022 at Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Also, this event was staged in Madrid in 2014. Then, of course, there were the two World Championships in Barcelona on 2003 and 2013.
Day 1 Schedule
Match 1. 09:00. Group C New Zealand v Turkiye
Match 2. 10:30. Group D, Malta v Germany
Match 3. 12:00. Group E, South Africa v Zimbabwe
Match 4. 13:30. Group F, Australia v Brazil
Match 5: 15:00. Group A, Netherlands v Greece
Match 6: 16:30. Group A, Hungary v Italy
Match 7: 18:00. Group B, China v United States of America
Match 8: 19:30. Group B, Croatia v Spain