The Women’s World League Europe Final Tournament will start in Budapest tomorrow. The remaining three rounds of the European qualifications, which started in 2019, and were interrupted due to the coronavirus outbreak, will be played in the Duna Arena.
The tournament will begin tomorrow, but the qualifications will restart on Thursday, because of two withdrawals.
Seven teams entered the European Qualifications for the World League: Hungary, the Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Spain, Greece, and France. But only five sides will take part in the Budapest tournament, while one of the five teams won’t play official matches.
FINA announced that Italy and France had canceled their participation and that the forfeited matches would award a technical score of 5:0 to the teams present.
Two withdrawals made an unexpected situation. Hungary, the host of the tournament, would have played against France and Italy in Budapest. Since the home team will win these two games with a technical score, Hungary will finish atop the standings and qualify for the Final Eight.
The Hungarian Water Polo Federation decided to go on with the organization of the tournament. Besides the hosts’ senior national team, the Hungarian Universiade team will take part, and it will play friendly matches against the teams which will battle for spots at the Final Eight.
The tournament will be opened by friendly games on Wednesday.
All in all, there will be four official games that will be played from Thursday to Saturday.
The Netherlands will be very busy. The Dutch will play three official games against tough opponents (Russia, Spain, Greece). Spain will have two games, Greece and Russia one each.
The top three teams from the European qualifications will qualify for the Final Eight. A host of the F8 hasn’t been officially announced yet. But, according to the latest news, the tournament will be held in Russia. If Russia is a host and finishes among the top three in Europe, the 4th-placed team in the qualifications of the Old Continent will also advance to the F8.
Women’s World League, European Qualification Tournament, Budapest
Wednesday, March 24
Friendly matches: Hungary – Netherlands (16:30), Greece – Russia (18:30), Hungary Universiade team – Spain (TBD)
Thursday, March 25 (Day 5 of the European qualifications)
16:30 Netherlands – Greece
18:30 Russia – Spain
Hungary – Italy 5:0 (technical score)
Friendly match: Hungary – HUN Universiade (20:30)
Friday, March 25 (Day 6)
18:30 Netherlands – Spain
Greece – Italy 5:0 (technical score)
Hungary – France 5:0 (technical score)
Friendly matches: HUN Universiade – Russia (16:30), Hungary – Spain (20:30)
Saturday, March 27 (Day 7)
18:00 Netherlands – Russia
Italy – Spain 0:5 (technical score)
Greece – France 5:0 (technical score)
Friendly matches: Greece – HUN Universiade (16:00), Hungary – Spain (20:00).
Current standings
(without the five matches to be registered 5: 0)
1 Hungary 4 –10
2 Spain 3 – 8
3 Italy 3 – 7
4 Russia 4 – 6
5 Netherlands 2 – 2
6 Greece 3 – 0
7 France 3 – 0
The live streaming of all matches on FINA TV
