Until 2020, there were not many American players in the European water polo clubs. But, after the coronavirus pandemic halted college competitions in the USA, a mass arrival of the Americans to European water polo started. Since then, the American water polo has been making strides towards greater involvement in European water polo.
The Water Polo Federation of the United States (USA Water Polo) announced that 17 players from the US men’s national team would be playing in Europe in the season 2023/24. There have never been so many Team USA players in Europe
It is a significant increase from the 11 players of Team USA in European clubs two years ago. In the season 2022/23, 16 national team players were in the clubs in the European leagues. Sixteen players were in the European clubs in the season 2020/21, but some of them returned home after that season.
Twelve players who participated in the World Championships in Fukuoka will play in Europe. 11 of them played in Europe in the previous season, with Thomas Gruwell being the only returnee. He briefly competed for Greek Chios three years ago. Recently, Gruwell joined Jadran Split. In the meantime, he was in the USA and played for UCLA in the college league.
Total Waterpolo has published a lot of information about the Americans in Europe, especially in our summary of the transfer market.
Six Americans who won 5th place at the World Championships in Fukuoka will play in Italy. Ben Hallock stays at the European champion Pro Recco. Max Irving moved from Telimar Palermo to Brescia. Johnny Hooper, Irving’s teammate in Telimar in the previous season, will continue his career in the Palermo-based club, and he will be joined by Quinn Woodhead (who arrived from Panathinaikos). Marko Vavic moved from Barcelona to Savona. Luca Cupido departed Barcelona to join Ortigia.
Two members of the national team will play in the Croatian League. Hannes Daube headed to Croatia, as well as Thomas Gruwell. Daube, who played for Olympiacos in the season 2020/21, returned to Europe early this year. He debuted for Marseille in January. After spending several months at the best French club, Daube arrived at Jug Dubrovnik.
Alex Bowen will play his second season in Noisy-le-Sec, the runner-up in the French League.
Dylan Woodhead and goalkeeper Drew Holland didn’t change the clubs. Both stayed in Greece – Woodhead at Vouliagmeni, and Holland at Peristeri.
Left-handed Tyler Abramson will gain experience of playing in the German and Champions League. He moved from Posillipo to Spandau Berlin.
The players from the Fukuoka roster who still haven’t played in Europe and won’t come to the “Old Continent” this year are goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg and brothers Chase and Ryder Dodd. The Dodd brothers won the bronze medal with the junior national team at this year’s World U20 Championships, which was the first medal for the male teams of the USA at the World Championships in all age groups (youth, junior and senior teams).
Five other national team athletes have committed to playing for European water polo clubs. Benjamin Stevenson joined Greece’s Panathinaikos after leaving Posillipo. Kacper Langiewicz moved from Kaposvar, Hungary, to Germany’s Waspo 98 Hannover. Goalkeeper Jack Turner stays in Mataro, Spain, and Mason McQuet will continue with Mediterrani, Spain. Thomas Dunstan, who trained with Partizan Belgrade in 2022 and played for Pays d’Aix (France) in the last season, moved to Italy (Roma)
“Playing in Europe brings out the best in our athletes. We are looking forward to seeing the guys contribute to some of the best clubs in the world while we continue preparations for the Pan American Games this Fall”, Dejan Udovicic, Team USA head coach, said for the USA Water Polo website.
After Langiewicz left Kaposvar, there are no Americans in the Hungarian League. Also, water polo fans in Serbia won’t watch Team USA members in the upcoming season. In previous years, several players of the American national team were on the rosters of the Serbian teams—some of them were Alex Bowen and Marko Vavic, who played for Partizan. Dunstan trained with Partizan, the club Dejan Udovicic played for and started his coaching career.
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