International water polo returns to Croatia for the third time in less than a year, with the women’s U15 European Championships commencing in Zagreb tomorrow.
Three months on from the preliminary round of the Men’s World Cup, Mladost – the champions of Croatia’s women’s league – is braced to host more international action.
There is extra significance to this, the third U15 women’s competition. This tournament is the first European age group competition that will employ the two-tiered format – identical to that which we saw at the U20 World Championships in Otopeni earlier this month. In theory, there should be more evenly matched contests, something that is often a rarity in the early stages of women’s age-group competition.
A significant alteration has been made to the age-group championships, as all four events – U17 men and women, U15 men and women – will adopt a new playing format. Consistent with World Aquatics and their junior World Championships, the preliminary rounds of the respective European Championships will be split between higher-seeded teams and those that have qualified. The eight highest-ranked teams in each championship will be drawn into two groups of four (A and B), allowing these stronger teams to engage in a series of high-profile matches in the preliminaries. The top two ranked teams from both groups will advance directly to the quarter-finals. Simultaneously, the qualifying teams will also be categorised into two groups of four (C and D) and compete in a round-robin tournament. Subsequently, the highest-ranked teams will compete in crossover matches with the fourth-placed teams from Group A and B, while the second-ranked teams from C and D will face off against the third-ranked teams from Group A and B. The victors of these crossover matches will progress to the quarter-finals, after which the competition will continue as usual. (An exception will be made for the boys’ U15 championship, as all 26 participating teams will compete. Thus, in addition to the top eight, the remaining teams will be drawn into groups C, D, E, and F.) Therefore, only the group winners will go to the crossover round against 3rd-placed and 4th-placed teams from Division 1. From the quarterfinals, the format will be the same as for all the remaining three tournaments.
This tournament presents a highly competitive field. Hungary, the reigning champions from 2021, might just be the favourites, but 2019 winners Spain, and 2019 bronze medallists Greece will no doubt arrive to the Croatian capital as title contenders.
Group Stage Schedule
Saturday 24th June
Group A
Hungary vs Serbia
Italy vs Croatia
Group B
Spain vs Israel
Greece vs Netherlands
Group C
Czechia vs Ukraine
Ireland vs Romania
Group D
Turkey vs Germany
Sunday 25th June
Group A
Italy vs Serbia
Hungary vs Croatia
Group B
Spain vs Netherlands
Greece vs Israel
Group C
Czechia vs Romania
Ireland vs Ukraine
Group D
Slovakia vs Germany
Monday 26th June
Group A
Italy vs Hungary
Croatia vs Serbia
Group B
Spain vs Greece
Israel vs Netherlands
Group C
Czechia vs Ireland
Ukraine vs Romania
Group D
Turkey vs Slovakia
Previous Winners
2021 (Szentes) – 1st Hungary, 2nd Russia, 3rd Spain
2019 (Kirishi) – 1st Spain, 2nd Russia, 3rd Greece
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