2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
The 2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship will be the 21st running of the tournament. It was supposed to be held in Belgrade, Serbia.[1] But on 31 March 2025, it was announced that the host nation will be changed.[2]
Host selection
[edit]Belgrade was given the hosting rights on 13 May 2022.[1]
Hosting change
[edit]On 6 June 2024, at a press conference in Valletta, Malta, It was briefly mentioned that the bidding process had reopened for this competition. Although, no official statement has been released regarding this. On 31 March 2025, it was confirmed that the while the men's event will stay in Belgrade, the venue for the women's tournament has changed and the new host will be announced in the near future.[2]
Qualification
[edit]16 teams will be able to compete at the main event. They are broken up as follows:
- The host nation
- The top seven or eight teams from the 2024 European Championship not already qualified as host nation
- Final seven or eight from the qualifiers.
| Event | Date | Location | Quotas | Nation(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host | 13 May 2022 | – | 1 | TBD |
| 2024 European Championship | 29 August – 10 September |  Eindhoven
|
8 | Netherlands Spain Greece Italy Hungary France Great Britain Croatia
|
| Qualifiers | 6–8 June 2025 |  Setubal
|
2 | |
 Hannover
|
2 | |||
 Novi Sad
|
2 | |||
 Nováky
|
2 |
Summary of qualified teams
[edit]| Team | Qualification method | Date of qualification | App | First | Last | Streak | Best placement in tournament | Rank[3] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greece |
Top eight in 2024 | 6 January 2024 | 19th | 1989 | 2024 | 19 | Runners-up (2010, 2012, 2018, 2022) | TBD |
| Italy |
Champions (1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2012) | TBD | ||||||
| Netherlands |
21st | 1985 | 21 | Champions (1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, 2018, 2024) | TBD | |||
| Spain |
17th | 1993 | 17 | Champions (2014, 2020, 2022) | TBD | |||
| Croatia |
8 January 2024 | 7th | 2010 | 6 | Eighth place (2022, 2024) | TBD | ||
| France |
17th | 1985 | 7 | Third place (1987, 1989) | TBD | |||
| Great Britain |
10th | 2 | Sixth place (1985) | TBD | ||||
| Hungary |
21st | 21 | Champions (1991, 2001, 2016) | TBD |
Venue
[edit]Similar to 2016, the Štark Arena will be used for the entire competition.[4] However, in the near future, a new venue will be announced soon.[5]
| Belgrade | ||
|---|---|---|
| Štark Arena | ||
| Capacity: 18,386 | ||
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| ||
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Tel Aviv, Belgrade To Host Next Two European Water Polo Championships". swimswam.com. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
- ^ a b "Two host cities and new format for 2026 European Water Polo Championships - European Aquatics®". March 31, 2025.
- ^ "Women Country Ranking - European Aquatics®". February 20, 2023.
- ^ "Београд домаћин Европског првенства у ватерполу 2026. године". РТС.
- ^ "Opet Beograd! Srpska prestonica zvanično domaćin EP u vaterpolu!". INFORMER.