2020 Men's European Water Polo Championship

The 2020 Men's European Water Polo Championship was the 34th edition of the major European water polo tournament for national teams. It was held at the Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, from 14 to 26 January 2020.^[2][3]

2020 Men's European Water Polo Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Hungary
Dates	14–26 January
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Hungary (13th title)
Runner-up	Spain
Third place	Montenegro
Fourth place	Croatia
Tournament statistics
Matches	48
Goals scored	988 (21 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Konstantin Kharkov (21 goals)^[1]
Best player	Dénes Varga
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Hungary claimed their 13th title by defeating Spain in the final.^[4]

Host

LEN announced the choice of Budapest as host for the competition on 9 July 2016.^[5] All the matches were played at the Danube Arena.

Budapest	Budapest 2020 Men's European Water Polo Championship (Europe)
Danube Arena
Capacity: 6,600

Qualification

Main article: 2020 Men's European Water Polo Championship Qualifiers

Sixteen teams were allowed to the tournament. The qualification was as follows:

• The host nation
• The best seven teams from the 2018 European Championships not already qualified as the host nation
• Eight teams from the qualifiers

Event	Date	Location	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation	9 July 2016	–	1	Hungary
2018 European Championships	16–28 July 2018	Barcelona	7	Serbia   Spain   Croatia   Italy   Greece   Montenegro   Russia
Qualifiers	11–13 October 2019	Various	8	Georgia   Germany   Slovakia   France   Romania   Malta   Turkey   Netherlands

Format

The sixteen teams were split in four groups with four teams each. The first classified team of each group directly qualified for the quarterfinals, the second and third teams played each other in cross group format to qualify for the quarterfinals.^[6]

Squads

Further information: 2020 Men's European Water Polo Championship squads

Draw

The draw of the preliminary round's pools was held in Budapest on 22 October 2019.^[7][8] The teams were divided into four groups of four teams each; according to LEN rules the first batch for the draw was composed by the best four teams of the previous edition, the second batch by the teams ranked from fifth to eighth in 2018, while the third and fourth batch were composed respectively by the teams ranked first and second in the four qualification groups.^[6][9]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Serbia   Spain   Croatia   Italy	Greece   Montenegro   Russia   Hungary	Georgia   Slovakia   Romania   Turkey	Germany   France   Malta   Netherlands

The draw resulted in the following groups:^[10][9]

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Croatia	Netherlands	Hungary	France
Germany	Romania	Malta	Georgia
Montenegro	Russia	Spain	Greece
Slovakia	Serbia	Turkey	Italy

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC+1).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	3	3	0	0	44	23	+21	9	Quarterfinals
2	Montenegro	3	2	0	1	35	18	+17	6	Play-offs
3	Germany	3	1	0	2	20	32	−12	3
4	Slovakia	3	0	0	3	13	39	−26	0	13th place classification

Source: WP2020Budapest
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

14 January 2020 11:30	Report	Slovakia	4–15	Montenegro	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Sébastien Dervieux (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 0–6, 1–4, 1–4
		four players 1	Goals	Ivović 4

14 January 2020 14:30	Report	Germany	9–17	Croatia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Sergey Naumov (RUS), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 2–6, 1–6, 4–4
		Restović 3	Goals	Miloš 3

---

16 January 2020 10:00	Report	Germany	8–5	Slovakia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Ivan Raković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 4–1, 1–2, 3–2, 0–0
		Real 3	Goals	five players 1

16 January 2020 20:30	Report	Montenegro	10–11	Croatia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Sergey Naumov (RUS), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 1–2, 2–4, 2–4, 5–1
		four players 2	Goals	Bukić 3

---

18 January 2020 16:00	Report	Slovakia	4–16	Croatia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Svetlana Dreval (RUS), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 0–3, 2–4, 1–4, 1–5
		four players 1	Goals	Bušlje 5

18 January 2020 17:30	Report	Germany	3–10	Montenegro	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Raffaele Colombo (ITA), Matan Schwartz (ISR)
		Score by quarters: 1–2, 0–3, 1–3, 1–2
		Gielen 2	Goals	four players 2

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Serbia	3	3	0	0	39	20	+19	9	Quarterfinals
2	Russia	3	1	0	2	34	33	+1	3^[a]	Play-offs
3	Romania	3	1	0	2	26	34	−8	3^[a]
4	Netherlands	3	1	0	2	22	34	−12	3^[a]	13th place classification

Source: WP2020Budapest
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
Notes:

1. Russia 3 Pts, +5 GD; Romania 3 Pts, 0 GD; Netherlands 3 Pts, −5 GD

14 January 2020 10:00	Report	Romania	8–9	Netherlands	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Robert Tiozzo (CRO), Gernot Häntschel (GER)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–3, 4–1, 0–3
		Gheorghe 3	Goals	Winkelhorst 3

14 January 2020 17:30	Report	Serbia	13–9	Russia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Carlos Ortega (ESP), Róbert Horváth (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 4–3, 2–3, 4–2
		Prlainović 4	Goals	Merkulov 3

---

16 January 2020 13:00	Report	Romania	7–15	Serbia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Erkan Turkkan (TUR), Peter Balzan (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 3–5, 1–1, 1–5, 2–4
		Oanta, Radu 2	Goals	Mandić 4

16 January 2020 14:30	Report	Russia	15–9	Netherlands	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Gernot Häntschel (GER), Matan Schwartz (ISR)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 5–1, 3–2, 4–4
		Kharkov 6	Goals	three players 2

---

18 January 2020 11:30	Report	Romania	11–10	Russia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Veselin Mišković (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 3–2, 2–0, 3–5
		Gheorghe 4	Goals	Lisunov 3

18 January 2020 20:30	Report	Serbia	11–4	Netherlands	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Gernot Häntschel (GER), Erkan Turkkan (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 0–1, 3–1, 5–2, 3–0
		Mandić 3	Goals	Lindhout 2

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hungary (H)	3	2	1	0	56	16	+40	7^[a]	Quarterfinals
2	Spain	3	2	1	0	58	25	+33	7^[a]	Play-offs
3	Turkey	3	1	0	2	25	53	−28	3
4	Malta	3	0	0	3	17	62	−45	0	13th place classification

Source: WP2020Budapest
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.
(H) Host
Notes:

1. Hungary 11–11 Spain

14 January 2020 13:00	Report	Malta	7–23	Spain	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Diana Dutilh-Dumas (NED), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 3–4, 2–6, 0–7, 2–6
		S. Camilleri 3	Goals	Munarriz 5

14 January 2020 19:00	Report	Turkey	5–19	Hungary	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Luis Santos (POR), Ivan Raković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 4–4, 0–4, 1–3, 0–8
		Özbek, Yenigün 2	Goals	Manhercz 4

---

16 January 2020 11:30	Report	Malta	10–13	Turkey	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Sébastien Dervieux (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 1–5, 3–4, 2–1, 4–3
		Plumpton 5	Goals	Sönmez 3

16 January 2020 19:00	Report	Hungary	11–11	Spain	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Michiel Zwart (NED)
		Score by quarters: 4–2, 1–2, 3–4, 3–3
		Vámos 3	Goals	Perrone 4

---

18 January 2020 10:00	Report	Turkey	7–24	Spain	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Radosław Koryzna (POL)
		Score by quarters: 3–5, 1–6, 1–8, 2–5
		Yutmaz 3	Goals	Munarriz 5

18 January 2020 19:00	Report	Malta	0–26	Hungary	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Ivan Raković (SRB), Diana Dutilh-Dumas (NED)
		Score by quarters: 0–6, 0–7, 0–8, 0–5
			Goals	Zalánki 7

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	3	3	0	0	38	19	+19	9	Quarterfinals
2	Greece	3	2	0	1	35	30	+5	6	Play-offs
3	Georgia	3	1	0	2	25	42	−17	3
4	France	3	0	0	3	24	31	−7	0	13th place classification

Source: WP2020Budapest
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) goal difference.

14 January 2020 16:00	Report	France	7–9	Georgia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Radosław Koryzna (POL), Erkan Turkkan (TUR)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 2–3, 1–2, 1–2
		Izdinsky, Vernoux 2	Goals	Vapenski 3

14 January 2020 20:30	Report	Italy	10–6	Greece	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: György Kun (HUN), Veselin Mišković (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 1–2, 3–2, 3–1, 3–1
		three players 2	Goals	six players 1

---

16 January 2020 16:00	Report	Greece	17–10	Georgia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Gabriella Várkonyi (HUN), Robert Tiozzo (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 5–1, 6–1, 2–4, 4–4
		Fountoulis 4	Goals	Rurua, Vapenski 2

16 January 2020 17:30	Report	France	7–10	Italy	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Carlos Ortega (ESP), Luis Santos (POR)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 1–3, 2–3, 2–1
		Vernoux 2	Goals	Di Fulvio, Figlioli 3

---

18 January 2020 13:00	Report	France	10–12	Greece	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: György Kun (HUN), Carlos Ortega (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 1–3, 6–3, 2–3
		Crousillat, Marzouki 2	Goals	Vlachopoulos 5

18 January 2020 14:30	Report	Italy	18–6	Georgia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Róbert Horváth (SVK), Robert Tiozzo (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 4–1, 3–2, 5–3, 6–0
		three players 3	Goals	Magrakvelidze 2

Knockout stage

Bracket

Play-offs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

22 January

Italy

8

20 January

Montenegro

10

Montenegro

17

24 January

Turkey

6

Montenegro

8

Hungary

10

22 January

Hungary

14

20 January

Russia

10

Russia

14

26 January

Georgia

13

Hungary (PSO)

9 (5)

Spain

9 (4)

22 January

Serbia

6 (3)

20 January

Spain (PSO)

6 (4)

Germany

6

24 January

Spain

12

Spain

9

Croatia

8

Third place

22 January

26 January

Croatia

14

Montenegro

10

20 January

Greece

11

Croatia

9

Romania

7

Greece

14

5th place bracket

	5–8th place semifinals				Fifth place
	24 January
	Italy	14
					26 January
	Russia	12
					Italy	7
	24 January
					Serbia	8
	Serbia	12
	Greece	9
					Seventh place
					26 January
					Russia	9
					Greece	11

9th place bracket

	9–12th place semifinals				Ninth place
	22 January
	Turkey	6
					24 January
	Georgia	12
					Georgia	8
	22 January
					Germany	9
	Germany	15
	Romania	10
					Eleventh place
					24 January
					Turkey	3
					Romania	20

13th place bracket

	13–16th place semifinals				13th place
	20 January
	Slovakia	8
					22 January
	Malta	4
					Slovakia	6
	20 January
					France	9
	Netherlands	8
	France	9
					15th place
					22 January
					Malta	9
					Netherlands	19

Play-offs

20 January 2020 14:30	Report	Montenegro	17–6	Turkey	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Gabriella Várkonyi (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 5–1, 5–0, 4–4
		Ivović 3	Goals	Özbek, Yenigün 2

---

20 January 2020 16:00	Report	Germany	6–12	Spain	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Svetlana Dreval (RUS), Boris Margeta (SLO)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 3–6, 0–3, 2–2
		Real 2	Goals	Granados 5

---

20 January 2020 17:30	Report	Russia	14–13	Georgia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), Sébastien Dervieux (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 6–4, 3–2, 2–4, 3–3
		Bychkov 5	Goals	Baraldi, Jelaca 3

---

20 January 2020 19:00	Report	Romania	7–14	Greece	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Sergey Naumov (RUS), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 2–3, 0–6, 2–4
		Negrean 2	Goals	Genidounias 6

Quarterfinals

22 January 2020 16:00	Report	Italy	8–10	Montenegro	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 3–4, 1–2, 1–1
		Figari 2	Goals	Petković 4

---

22 January 2020 17:30	Report	Serbia	9–10	Spain	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 1–4, 2–1, 1–0  PSO: 3–4
		Mandić 3	Goals	Perrone, Sanahuja 2

---

22 January 2020 19:00	Report	Hungary	14–10	Russia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Radosław Koryzna (POL), Matan Schwartz (ISR)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 3–3, 4–3, 4–2
		Manhercz, Varga 3	Goals	Kiselev, Merkulov 3

---

22 January 2020 20:30	Report	Croatia	14–11	Greece	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Sébastien Dervieux (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 6–3, 4–3, 3–3, 1–2
		Joković 4	Goals	Vlachopoulos 3

13–16th place semifinals

20 January 2020 11:30	Report	Slovakia	8–4	Malta	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), György Kun (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 2–1, 1–2, 2–0
		Zaťovič 4	Goals	S. Camilleri 4

---

20 January 2020 13:00	Report	Netherlands	8–9	France	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Giuliana Nicolosi (ITA), Ivan Raković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 2–2, 1–2, 2–2
		Gottemaker, Winkelhorst 2	Goals	Marzouki 4

9–12th place semifinals

22 January 2020 13:00	Report	Turkey	6–12	Georgia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Carlos Ortega (ESP), Sergey Naumov (RUS)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 2–2, 1–4, 2–2
		Acar, Yenigün 2	Goals	Bagaturia, Bitadze 3

---

22 January 2020 14:30	Report	Germany	15–10	Romania	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Veselin Mišković (MNE), György Kun (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 5–1, 2–5, 5–1, 3–3
		Stamm, Strelezkij 4	Goals	three players 2

5–8th place semifinals

24 January 2020 14:30	Report	Italy	14–12	Russia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Sébastien Dervieux (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 5–3, 4–4, 3–1, 2–4
		Aicardi 3	Goals	Bychkov, Kharkov 3

---

24 January 2020 16:00	Report	Serbia	12–9	Greece	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Radosław Koryzna (POL), Carlos Ortega (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 3–2, 4–2, 2–2
		Dedović, S. Mitrović 3	Goals	Vlachopoulos 3

Semifinals

24 January 2020 17:30	Report	Croatia	8–9	Spain	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Sergey Naumov (RUS)
		Score by quarters: 1–0, 3–4, 2–2, 2–3
		Munarriz 3	Goals	Bukić 2

---

24 January 2020 19:00	Report	Montenegro	8–10	Hungary	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Adrian Alexandrescu (ROU), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 1–3, 2–4, 3–2
		Radović 3	Goals	Varga 4

15th place game

22 January 2020 10:00	Report	Malta	9–19	Netherlands	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Robert Tiozzo (CRO), Levan Berishvili (GEO)
		Score by quarters: 2–5, 2–5, 2–4, 3–5
		S. Camilleri 5	Goals	Van Yperen 6

13th place game

22 January 2020 11:30	Report	Slovakia	6–9	France	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Gernot Häntschel (GER), Ivan Raković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 0–2, 1–4, 3–1, 2–2
		Mare. Tkáč 2	Goals	Kalinić 3

Eleventh place game

24 January 2020 11:30	Report	Turkey	3–20	Romania	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Luis Santos (POR), Róbert Horváth (SVK)
		Score by quarters: 1–5, 0–6, 1–6, 1–3
		three players 1	Goals	Fulea 5

Ninth place game

24 January 2020 13:00	Report	Georgia	8–9	Germany	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: György Kun (HUN), Matan Schwartz (ISR)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 2–0, 2–3, 1–4
		Vapenski 2	Goals	three players 2

Seventh place game

26 January 2020 14:30	Report	Russia	9–11	Greece	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Robert Tiozzo (CRO), Carlos Ortega (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–3, 3–3, 2–3
		Kharkov 4	Goals	Argyropoulos 3

Fifth place game

26 January 2020 16:00	Report	Italy	7–8	Serbia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), György Kun (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 4–1, 0–2, 1–2
		Di Fulvio 3	Goals	Aleksić, Filipović 2

Third place game

26 January 2020 17:30	Report	Montenegro	10–9	Croatia	Danube Arena, Budapest Referees: Sergey Naumov (RUS), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 2–4, 4–1, 3–1
		Ivović 5	Goals	three players 2

Final

26 January 2020 19:00	Report	Hungary	14–13	Spain	Danube Arena, Budapest Attendance: 6,600 Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 3–0, 2–2, 3–4  PSO: 5–4
		three players 2	Goals	Munarriz 3

Final standing

Qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics

Qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics World qualification tournament

Rank	Team
	Hungary
	Spain^3
	Montenegro
4	Croatia
5	Serbia^1
6	Italy^2
7	Greece
8	Russia
9	Germany
10	Georgia
11	Romania
12	Turkey
13	France
14	Slovakia
15	Netherlands^4
16	Malta

• ¹ Serbia qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics as the winner of 2019 World League
• ² Italy qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics as the winner of 2019 World Championships
• ³ Spain qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics as the runners-up of 2019 World Championships
• ⁴ The Netherlands qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics World qualification tournament as the host of the tournament

Statistics and awards

Top goalscorers Rank Name Team Goals Shots % 1 Konstantin Kharkov   Russia 21 32 66 2 Alberto Munarriz   Spain 20 43 47 3 Álvaro Granados   Spain 18 40 45 4 Konstantinos Genidounias   Greece 17 38 45 Dénes Varga   Hungary 30 57 6 Felipe Perrone   Spain 16 32 50 Gergő Zalánki   Hungary 27 59 8 Aleksandar Ivović   Montenegro 16 43 35 Angelos Vlachopoulos   Greece 37 41 10 Dušan Mandić   Serbia 14 29 48 Source: wp2020budapest.microplustiming.com

Top goalkeepers Rank Name Team Saves Shots % 1 Daniel López   Spain 60 108 56 2 Moritz Schenkel   Germany 56 113 50 3 Tomáš Hoferica   Slovakia 52 95 55 4 Dejan Lazović   Montenegro 50 91 55 5 Marco Del Lungo   Italy 47 92 51 6 Eelco Wagenaar   Netherlands 46 90 51 7 Marko Bijač   Croatia 45 81 56 8 Marius Tic   Romania 42 105 40 9 Irakli Razmadze   Georgia 39 87 45 10 Emmanouil Zerdevas   Greece 38 87 44 Source: wp2020budapest.microplustiming.com

Awards

The awards were announced on 26 January 2020.^[11]

Award	Player
Most Valuable Player	Dénes Varga
Best Goalkeeper	Daniel López
Topscorer	Konstantin Kharkov (21 goals)

References

2. . len.eu. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
3. "European Water Polo Championships 2020 – Schedule". len.eu. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
4. "Hungary is back on top after 21 years, another shootout loss for Spain". wp2020budapest.com. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
5. "Budapest to host all 2020 Europeans". len.eu. 9 July 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
6. "Rules and regulations: European Water Polo Championships" (PDF). len.eu. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
7. . len.eu. 13 October 2019. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
8. Vanda Orosz (13 October 2019). "European Championships Men's Qualification". wpnews.eu. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
9. Ivan Curcic (22 October 2019). "Draw for 34th European Championships: Two "groups of death"". total-waterpolo.com. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
10. "2020 European Water Polo Championships, Budapest – Draw". len.eu. 22 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
11. . total-waterpolo.com. 26 January 2020. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.

External links