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.

Hungary claimed their 13th title by defeating Spain in the final.

Host

LEN announced the choice of Budapest as host for the competition on 9 July 2016. 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

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.

Squads

Draw

The draw of the preliminary round’s pools was held in Budapest on 22 October 2019. 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.

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:

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	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	3	3	0	44	23	+21	9	Quarterfinals
2	Montenegro	3	2	1	35	18	+17	6	Play-offs
3	Germany	3	1	2	20	32	−12	3	Play-offs
4	Slovakia	3	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	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Serbia	3	3	0	39	20	+19	9	Quarterfinals
2	Russia	3	1	2	34	33	+1	3	Play-offs
3	Romania	3	1	2	26	34	−8	3	Play-offs
4	Netherlands	3	1	2	22	34	−12	3	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:

^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c 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	Quarterfinals
2	Spain	3	2	1	0	58	25	+33	7	Play-offs
3	Turkey	3	1	0	2	25	53	−28	3	Play-offs
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:

^ Jump up to:^a ^b 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	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	3	3	0	38	19	+19	9	Quarterfinals
2	Greece	3	2	1	35	30	+5	6	Play-offs
3	Georgia	3	1	2	25	42	−17	3	Play-offs
4	France	3	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

20 January

Montenegro

24 January

Turkey

Montenegro

Hungary

22 January

Hungary

20 January

Russia

Russia

26 January

Georgia

Hungary (PSO)

Spain

22 January

Serbia

20 January

Spain (PSO)

Germany

24 January

Spain

Croatia

Third place

22 January

26 January

Croatia

Montenegro

20 January

Greece

Croatia

Romania

Greece

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
	Spain³
	Montenegro
4	Croatia
5	Serbia¹
6	Italy²
7	Greece
8	Russia
9	Germany
10	Georgia
11	Romania
12	Turkey
13	France
14	Slovakia
15	Netherlands⁴
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
4	Dénes Varga	Hungary	17	30	57
6	Felipe Perrone	Spain	16	32	50
6	Gergő Zalánki	Hungary	16	27	59
8	Aleksandar Ivović	Montenegro	16	43	35
8	Angelos Vlachopoulos	Greece	16	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.

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