Belgrade 2026: European Water Polo Championships Day 7 match previews
Men’s European Water Polo Championships, Belgrade 2026
Match previews, Day 7 – Friday 16 January
(local times shown)
Group Stage II
Group E
15:30 Montenegro v Spain
• It’s the big match of the day between the two sides standing with 3 points respectively in the group. With three points already dropped in the Group Stage (MNE lost to HUN, ESP lost to SRB), another defeat may push the losing side to the brink of elimination from the race for the semi-finals.
• In their head-to-head record across the last 15 years, there was a sharp turning point at the Tokyo Olympics. Between 2010 and 2020, Montenegro remained unbeaten in 13 matches. They won eight and five other matches ended in a draw (once three straight matches were tied). Then Spain won 8-6 in Tokyo and since then, Spain have won each of their games, leading 11-0. They also met at each of the last four World Championships, three times in the quarters and the gap just grew: 2022: 7-6, 2024: 15-12, 2025: 14-5. This was their last clash, just a month after the Spaniards also beat the young Montenegrins 18-10 in Budapest, at a prep tournament.
• At the European Championships, they have faced each other on far less occasions. Two years ago, in the group, Spain won 14-12, while in Barcelona 2018, it was one of the ties, 7-7 – and 10 years ago, in the Belgrade Arena, they also finished level, 8-8.
• Fun fact: Montenegro’s head coach Dejan Savic maintains close and friendly relationships with many fellow coaches, but one of the strongest bonds ties him to Spain’s boss David Martin. This comes from those years when they were team-mates in Barcelona and Martin still recalls that period as the most important one in his playing career when he was lucky to share the dressing room with legends such as Savic.
Group Stage II
Group E
18:00 Hungary v Netherlands
• Hungary are the only team in this group bringing with them the maximum points from the group stage, 6 – Serbia had two wins, but one came after a shootout – against the Netherlands… The Dutch showed in the first evening they are capable of rocking the top favourites when their game is clicking. Now they will face one of the toughest defences of the championship, as Hungary have conceded the second fewest goals in the group-stage, 23 (Spain tops that list with 22).
• The two sides met recently, in Rotterdam shortly after Christmas, when the Hungarians downed the host Dutch side 12-9, but they had to come back from a massive 2-6 deficit.
• In other matches played at majors, the Magyars lead 4-0 head-to-head, considering recent years. Back in 2025, they clashed at the World Cup quarter-finals and Hungary won 21-11.
• The last time they met at the Europeans was in 2018, with Hungary winning that clash 12-9 in the eight-finals. Earlier in the same season, two World League matches saw the Dutch suffer heavy losses – a 13-1 thrashing in Hungary and a 13-6 away win in the Netherlands.
• Fun fact: Several key players of the Dutch team are either still playing in Hungary, like the Hessels twins, Benjamin and Sebastian, or spent two seasons there recently, like Lars ten Broek. The two Hessels’ mother is Hungarian, so they speak the language well and left an impact in the Hungarian league while playing for Honved (where they were team-mates with goalie Kristof Csoma) and they are also protagonists in their current club OSC.
Group Stage II
Group E
20:30 France v Serbia
• Ever since falling in the crossovers to France in 2022 which eventually led to their worst-ever result at the Europeans, a 9th place finish, the Serbs always look to gain revenge for one of the most embarrassing defeats in their history.
• Carrying over two losses from the Group Stage, the French need a miracle to reach the semis – instead, they should look for returning to the top eight; they fell from there two years ago when the Serbs took revenge for Split 2022 in the crossovers.
• Apart from that 10-9 shock in 2022, Serbia have never had big problems to defeat the French. In total, the Serbs lead 16-1 in the last 15 years – most recently they played on the last day of the Trebinje tournament and Serbia won 16-7.
• They also met in the Belgrade Arena almost exactly 10 years ago at the Europeans, it was 16-8 on 14 January.
• Fun fact: En route to their third straight Olympic title, Serbia faced off against France in Paris in the 4th round of the group stage in a game where a loss would have eliminated the Serbs before the knockout phase would have started, something which had never happened to any title-holders in the past. Nor this time either, as Serbia won 15-8 and never looked back.
13th-16th Classification
10:15 Malta v Israel
• The two sides are looking for their first win here, respectively.
• They met twice two years ago, in the group stage, when Malta won 13-11, then again, for the 15th place, when it Malta won again, though only in a shootout. The thrilling match ended in a 12-12 tie but the Maltese were the better with the penalties (5-4).
12:45 Slovenia v Slovakia
• These two sides have had less than 24 hours to bounce back from their respective third defeats on Thursday, which denied them a spot in Group Stage II.
• While for Slovenia it was a somewhat expected outcome, for Slovakia, the loss to Türkiye came with utter disappointment.
• They have met three times at the last two editions held in Croatia, and Slovakia lead 3-0. In 2024, they met in the group stage (in Division II), the Slovaks won 11-7, then again, for the 13th place, and it ended 14-10. Two years earlier, the Slovaks bagged a 11-5 victory to finish 15th in Split.
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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics
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