(quarters: 1:4, 4:6,0:2, 2:3)
France: Vernoux 5, Guerin 1, Bouet 1.
Hungary: Manhercz 4, Vin. Vigvari Fekete 2, Ven. Vigvari 2, Varga 2, Vismeg 1
Just six days ago, Hungary trashed France 20:7 at the Trebinje Cup. Today, the Hungarians once again demonstrated their dominance, particularly in defense—a segment of their play that has improved significantly since the start of their preparations for the Belgrade tournament. A good defense allowed Hungary to mount many counterattacks. The Hungarians scored six goals from the counters in their opening game.
Krisztian Manhercz Photo by Krsto Vulovic
Hungary effectively limited France’s scoring opportunities and controlled the rivals’ attacks very well. France only got on the scoreboard in the 7th minute when the top scorer of the match, Thomas Vernoux, converted a penalty shot, making it 1:3.
Hungary increased its lead to five in the 12th minute (8:3) and maintained the difference until the end of the first half. Thomas Vernoux scored the fifth goal for France in the 15th minute (5:9) from a penalty shot. Following that goal, Hungary kept the French scoreless until the 30th minute, when Vernoux broke the deadlock from a distance (6:14). In the rest of the match, each side added a goal apiece, and Hungary recorded a comfortable victory.
(quarters: 5:6, 0:5, 4:5 3:5)
Malta: Camilleri 4, M. Zammit 3, Nagaev 1, Muscat 1, N. Zammit 1, Fenech 1.
Montenegro: Gojkovic 4, Spaic 3, Matkovic 3, Mrsic 2, Macic 2, Stupar 1, Perkovic 1, V. Radovic 1, Janovic 1.
Montenegro quickly gained a three-goal lead (3:0 and 4:1). However, the brave Maltese started catching up with the favorite, and quickly cut their deficit (3:4). Until the end of the first period, the teams traded goals, so Malta trailed 5:6 before the second quarter. However, Montenegro ruled the field in the second period. It kept Malta goalless and, led by the MVP of the European U18 Championships, Strahinja Gojkovic, netted five goals to enter the second half with a comfortable 11:5 advantage.
Photo by Krsto Vulovic
During the middle break, Malta recovered from a poor second period. However, Montenegro controlled the match. Early in the fourth period, the Montenegrins reached a 20:10 lead, but Malta avoided a double-digit defeat.
With the exception of the second quarter, the Maltese team didn’t disappoint, leading up to their crucial match against France. Their head coach, Cirovic, stated that they aim to advance further than in previous championships and avoid finishing in the 13th-16th place classification.
GROUP C
(quarters 5:4, 3:2, 2:4, 3:4, PSO 3:5)
Netherlands: Te Riele 5, Ten Broek 4, S. Hessels 1, B. hessels 1, Van der Weijden 1.
Serbia: Mandic 6, S. Rasovic 2, Cuk 1, Lazic 1, N. Jaksic 1, Vico 1, Martinovic 1.
Shootout- Serbia: S. Rasovic, Mandic, Martinovic, Jaksic, Cuk. Netherlands: Ten Broek, Te Riele, Wan der Weijden (GLusac saved shot from Gbadamassi in the 3rd round)
Before the Championships, Serbia’s head coach, Uros Stevanovic, warned that his team should not underestimate the Netherlands. The Dutch proved him right by showing they had come closer to being among the best teams in the world.
Their impressive performances at the Rotterdam tournament were not merely the result of the favorites having off days.
Serbia initially led the game 1:0 and then 2:1, but the Dutch team quickly turned the score around, going ahead 4:2, 5:3, and 6:4 within the first eight and a half minutes. The Serbian team struggled to find a solution to stop Lars ten Broek and Kas te Riele, who each scored three goals up to that point. Van der Weijden extended the lead to 7:4 with a penalty shot in the 11th minute. Serbia managed to close the gap as Mandic and Strahinja Rasovic converted man-up opportunities, making it 6-7. However, Sebastian Hessels had the final say in the first half; just five seconds before the break, he scored from a distance after a deflection, bringing the score to 8:6.
the Men’s European Water Polo Championship match between Netherlands and Serbia at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia, on 10.01.2026.
In the 19th minute, Serbia, with a great support of 3.000 fans, finally equalized after Nikola Jaksic made it 9:9 from the 5m line. The hosts’ defense worked a little bit better with Milan Glusac who replaced Radoslav Filipovic in front of the goal at halftime, worked better than in the first half. However, they couldn’t break the Dutch defense, making mistakes in the attack, so the Netherlands led 10:9 before the final eight minutes.
Dusan Mandic put Serbia in front with his fifth goal – 11:10 with less than six minutes remaining shortly after, Kas Te Riele responded with his 5th goal (11:11). The Serbs entered the final minute with a slim 13:12 advntagee, but 42 seconds before the end, Benjamin Hassels scored on an extra to equalize once again (13:13). Serbia lost the ball in its final possession, and the Dutch had 14 seconds in their last attack. Kas Te Riele sent the ball into the net from a nice lob. But the VAR review showed that Te Riele’s shot came after the buzzer, and the match entered the shootout.
Milan Glusac saved a shot from his former teammate at Novi Beograd, Bilal Gbadamassi, in the third round of shots, and that made the difference.
“We knew that the Netherlands could play well, which it had shown during the preparations. However, the Dutch didn’t surprise us in terms of the tactics. The problem was our play. The only positive impressions for us in this game were two points. We had luck that the last goal in the regular time came after the buzzer, and then we won in a shootout. We have to play much better in the upcoming matches. With this level of performance, we can’t hope for anything against our next opponent, Spain.
Branko Mitrovic, the Netherlands head coach, said:
“Luck is always a factor in a penalty shootout. We had a chance to get all three points, but we failed. Anyway, we demonstrated that we can play on an equal level with the favorites, which was our primary goal.
(quarters:0:9, 3:6, 0:6, 0:7)
Israel: Gros 1, Gvishi 1, Arazi 1.
Spain: Granados 6, Munarriz 5,Biel 4, Asensio 4,Larumbe 2, Cabanas2 , Valera 2, Daura 1, Sanahuja 1, De Toro 1,
Considering that the Belgrade Championships is the first European tournament under the new rules, it was expected that the single-game scoring record would be broken. It happened in the first game already. Until today, the record was held by Greece (27:1 against Turkiye).
Marc Larumbe Photo by Krsto Vulovic
The new record was in the air already midway through the second quarter, as the title-holder raced to a 13:0 lead in the first 11 minutes. Israel reduced the gap during the mid-break. However, the Spaniards didn’t slow down in the second half. Alvaro Granados closed the scoring from a counterattack with 48 seconds remaining, with his 6th goal, and Spain became the first team to score more than 27 goals in the history of the men’s Europeans.
January 11 – Group B: Slovenia – Croatia (18:00), Greece – Georgia (20:30), Group D: Turkiye – Italy (12.45), Romania – Slovakia (15:15).
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