The club season is over, but you don’t have to wait until September before more world-class water polo heads your way.
For better or for worse, the summer is stacked with international action, which includes a revamped World Cup Finals, a second World Championship in as many years, and a myriad of age group tournaments. If you have a strong appetite for international water polo, you won’t be disappointed.
There are plenty of dates to mark on your calendar, so be sure to save this article to help you keep track of what promises to be an action-packed summer.
June
The summer ‘appetiser’ comes this weekend in Bucharest’s suburb of Otopeni, with the U20 Men’s World Championships. It seems more than ever that players at this age group continue to break into their respective senior club and national teams, so there are plenty of familiar faces to look out for at this eight-day event.
As we enter the mid-stage of the month, our attention shifts towards the realm of senior international water polo, with a particular focus on the qualification rounds for the 2024 European Championships. With eight different countries serving as hosts for the men’s and women’s competitions, exciting water polo action will never be too far away.
As June draws to a close, we can look forward to the World Cup Final tournaments set to take place in California. First on the agenda is the women’s tournament in Long Beach, followed by the men’s competition commencing five days later, just 35 km north at the University of Southern California.
In the final week of the month, international water polo returns to Zagreb and Mladost, as the venue for the incredibly popular U15 Women’s European Championships.
10th – 17th June: World U20 Men’s Championships, Otopeni, Romania
23rd – 25th June: European Championships, Qualification Stage 2
23rd – 25th June: Women’s World Cup Final, Long Beach
24th June –2nd July: Women’s U15 European Championships, Zagreb, Croatia
30rd June – 2nd July: Men’s World Cup, Los Angeles
July
The heart of the summer sees the lion’s share of overlapping competitions.
The men’s edition of the U15 European Championship tournament heads to the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica as the first competition of the month, shortly followed by the hugely anticipated and twice postponed World Championships in Fukuoka. Sixteen teams will compete in both the men and women’s competitions, with the top two teams securing their ticket to the Paris Olympic games next year. The water polo community will then maintain its focus in Asia for the World University Games in Chengdu, China, as well as the universally popular World Beach Games in Bali.
Spain are the reigning World Champions. Photo: Total Waterpolo.
8th – 16th July: Men’s European U15 Championships, Podgorica, Montenegro
14 – 30 July: 20th World Championships, Fukuoka, Japan
28th July – 8th August: 31st World University Games/Universiade, Chengdu, China
30 July – 5 August: Women’s European U17 Championships Manisa, Turkiye
August and September
Manisa in Turkiye plays host to a U17 European Championship double-header throughout the cross-over of September and August, before The summer’s action concludes in Coimbra, Portugal’s former capital, for the U20 World Championships.
5th – 12th August: World Beach Games, Bali
2nd – 11th August: Masters World Championships, Kyushu, Japan
8th – 15th August: Men’s European U17 Championships, Manisa, Turkiye
8th – 15th September: Women’s World U20 Championships, Coimbra, Portugal,
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