The draw for the qualifications for the next European Championships will be conducted on Saturday, in Sabadell, during the Women’s Champions League Final Four.
The next European Championships will be held in Israel. According to the calendar posted on LEN’s website, the tournament is scheduled for October. But, we already reported that the Israel Water Polo Federation had announced that the Championships had been moved to January.
LEN hasn’t announced the new dates of the tournament. But, in today’s press release about the draw, the European Federation mentioned that the Championships would be held in 2024 (the pool in Netanya will probably be the venue).
The qualifications will be played between June 22 and 25.
Men’s draw
Nine teams are already qualified for the men’s tournament in Israel . The top eight from the European Championships in Split (Croatia, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Montenegro and Georgia) and the host Israel are qualified.
Sixtheen teams in the qualifications will be split into four groups. They will battle for the remaining seven European Championships berths. The four group winners and the three best second-ranked teams will advance to Israel.
The best three ranked sides will be determined based on the points gained. If they are tied in points, the goal difference will be the next criterion, then the number of the scored goals in all matches and, finally, if they are still tied, precedence shall be given to the team having won the largest number of the matches. If there is still equality, the classification will be decided by a draw.
Serbia will play in the qualifications for the European Championships for the first time because it finished 9th at the previous Europeans in Split. Serbia will be the favorite regardless of the group it will play. It’s sure that Romania, the Netherlands and Germany won’t play against the Olympic champions because they are in the same first, pot of the draw.
But, it won’t happen for the first time that the reigning Olympic champion will play in the European qualifiers. Eleven years ago, Croatia finished 9th at the European Championships in Eindhoven, and because of that, it had to play in the qualifications for the 2014 Europeans. Several months after a disappointing 9th place in Eindhoven, Croatia won the Olympic gold in London.
The teams are allocated to the pots according to the rankings at the Europeans in Split and the results in the qualifications. The teams that didn’t participate in the qualifications for the previous European Championships are in the fourth pot.
2024 European Men’s Championships, Qualifications
Already qualified: Croatia, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Montenegro and Georgia, Israel.
Pots for the draw
First line: Serbia, Romania, the Netherlands, Germany.
Second line: Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania
Third line: Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland.
Fourth line: Bulgaria, Finland, Great Britain, Portugal.
The hosts of the tournaments will be Malta, Turkey, Netherlands and Slovenia.
Women’s draw
LEN has expanded the number of the participating teams at the Women’s European Championships from 12 to 16, the Federation confirmed today.
The top eight from Split are already qualified. Since Israel women’s team managed to reach the quarterfinals in Split, there will be eight available berths in the women’s qualifiers. The top two from each of the four groups will qualify.
Fourteen teams will participate in the qualifications, so only six won’t advance to the Europeans. There will be two groups of three and two of four teams.
2024 European Women’s Championships, Qualifications
Already qualified: Spain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Israel, France, and Croatia.
Pots for the draw
Line 1: Serbia, Germany, Romania, Slovakia.
Line 2: Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey, Malta, Ukraine.
Line 3: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Great Britain, Sweden
Romania, Serbia, Portugal and Bulgaria will organize the tournaments.
