A draw marathon was held in Sabadell,
on the site of the Champions League Women Final Four. Streamed live, the groups
for the men and women qualification tournaments for the 2024 European Water
Polo Championships were sorted, as well as for the age-group championships, all
four scheduled for this summer.
After the welcome speech of LEN
Vice-President Kyriakos Giannopoulos, LEN TWPC Chair Angel Moliner
“orchestrated” the draws and young players of the respective Spanish age-group
national teams pulled the balls out of the bowls.
The qualification tournaments for the
2024 European Water Polo Championships in Netanya drew special attention as the
men’s round will feature Olympic champion Serbia. In that respect, Slovakia and
Turkiye may be considered the unluckiest entrants as they have to face the top
team and, most probably, only one of them can make the cut for January 2024.
The age-group championships will be
played in a new format, teams were divided to Level 1 and Level 2, based on the
rankings obtained in the previous editions of the respective U15 and U17
events. The top eight sides will play in groups A and B, while the others in C
and D (plus E and F in the boy’s U15 edition). The best ranked teams from Level
2 can challenge the teams finishing 3rd and 4th in the Level 1 ‘division’ – the
winners of these crossover matches will qualify for the quarter-finals (while
the top two in Level 1 will advance directly to the QFs).
“Thanks to this new system, teams can
play great matches against rivals on a similar level during the whole
tournament” Vice-President Kyriakos Giannopoulos said after the draws. “Even
those who usually finish at the lower ranks can stay till the end of the
tournament and play exciting matches. This serves the young players much better
on the long run.”
“We have twenty-six nations entered
to the tournaments, so we can say that now half of Europe are involved to water
polo action, which is tremendous development for our sport” LEN Bureau Member
and WP Liaison Milos Mracevic added. “Just look at the draw of the U15
Europeans, 26 teams will play in Podgorica – these boys are the future of
European water polo.”
“Following the other team sports,
we’ve decided the expand the women’s tournament of the senior European
Championships to 16 teams, to have equal numbers with the men, this is a huge
step forward” said the other WP Bureau Liaison Fernando Carpena.
LEN shall communicate the daily
schedules of the respective championships and the qualification tournaments in
due time.
Photos from the draw:
https://seemoreagency.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/LEN-MEDIA/C0000OGyeBBznupY
Draws
2024 European Water Polo
Championships, Qualifications
Men (23-25 June 2023)
Group A (in Netherlands):
Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal
Group B (in Malta): Germany, Malta,
Ukraine, Bulgaria
Group C (in Turkiye): Serbia,
Slovakia, Turkiye, Great Britain
Group D (in Slovenia): Romania,
Slovenia, Switzerland, Finland
Group winners and the three best
ranked teams shall qualify.
Qualified teams for the Championships
in Netanya (3-16 January):
Croatia, Hungary, Spain, Italy,
Greece, France, Montenegro, Georgia, Israel (Organiser)
Women (23-25 June 2023)
Group A (in Bulgaria): Slovakia,
Malta, Bulgaria
Group B (in Romania): Romania,
Switzerland, Turkiye, Sweden
Group C (in Serbia): Serbia, Ukraine,
Czech Republic
Group D (in Portugal): Germany,
Portugal, Finland, Great Britain
The top two ranked teams from each
group shall qualify.
Qualified teams for the Championships
in Netanya (3-16 January):
Spain, Greece, Italy, Netherlands,
Hungary, Israel, France, Croatia
European U17 Water Polo Championships
Men (8-14 August, Manisa, TUR)
Group A: Hungary, Spain, Montenegro,
Croatia
Group B: Serbia, Greece, Italy,
Netherlands
Group C: France, Romania, Poland,
Turkiye
Group D: Malta, Georgia, Germany,
Ukraine
Women (29 July–5 August, Manisa, TUR)
Group A: Hungary, Italy, Spain,
Croatia
Group B: Greece, Netherlands, France,
Israel
Group C: Slovakia, Malta, Romania,
Switzerland
Group D: Serbia, Ukraine, Great
Britain, Ireland, Turkiye
European U15 Water Polo Championships
Men (8-16 July, Podgorica, MNE)
Group A: Spain, Hungary, Italy,
Montenegro
Group B: Croatia, Greece, Serbia,
Turkiye
Group C: Malta, Moldova, Bulgaria,
Lithuania
Group D: France, Bosnia and
Hercegovina, Israel, Ireland, Netherlands
Group E: Georgia, Switzerland,
Ukraine, Germany
Group F: Poland, Romania, Slovenia,
Czech Republic
Women (24-30 June, Zagreb, CRO)
Group A: Italy, Hungary, Croatia,
Serbia
Group B: Spain, Greece, Israel,
Netherlands
Group C: Czech Republic, Ireland,
Ukraine, Romania
Group D: Turkiye, Slovakia, Germany
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