The Next Generation Water Polo Cup brings together some of the best junior teams in Europe at Club NataciΓ³ Sabadell this weekend.
This is the first edition of a tournament that aims to be the best showcase for young talents on the international scene. There will be both men’s and women’s competitions with top teams from all over Europe, such as FerencvΓ‘ros, RadniΔki, or AtlΓ¨tic-Barceloneta.
A total of 48 matches will be played on 2 playing fields, with real-time statistics and streaming throughout the weekend.
The first edition of the Next Generation Cup will bring the future stars of European water polo to the facilities of Club NataciΓ³ Sabadell from September 8th to 10th.
The tournament, jointly organized by CN Sabadell and the international water polo academy BIWPA, will feature 15 top international junior teams (born 2005 and younger), both male and female.
“We want this tournament to become a reference for the youth teams of the most prestigious clubs across Europe, a kind of Champions League for this age group,” emphasized Quim Colet, coach of CN Sabadell’s men’s senior team and sports director of BIWPA. “It’s a concept that doesn’t exist in our sport, and we believe it’s a great opportunity for top teams from the continent to compete in a high-performance environment with their young talents,” Colet added.
Teams from eight countries
The men’s competition will be of the highest level, with a total of 10 teams, including FerencvΓ‘ros and BVSC from Hungary, RadniΔki from Serbia, Marseille from France, and the three main Spanish clubs: AtlΓ¨tic-Barceloneta, Sabadell, and Barcelona. There will also be the presence of an American team from the state of Connecticut, Brunswick HS, currently ranked top-6 in the country.
In the women’s category, two foreign teams will participate, Sirens from Malta and the Dutch national team, in addition to RubΓ, Sant Feliu, and the hosts Sabadell.
In summary, more than 275 athletes and 15 teams, of which 9 are from outside Spain: Hungary, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Malta, Serbia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
A prestigious tournament
The ‘Next Gen’ will take place at the Olympic indoor pool, where two 25-meter fields will be set up, and a total of 48 matches will be played in three days. The competition is supported by Total Waterpolo, the leading digital platform for water polo, which will provide live scoring and statistics. Additionally, all matches will be streamed live over the weekend on BIWPA’s YouTube channel.
As for the competition format, from Friday until Saturday noon, the group stage matches will be played, and on Saturday afternoon, the quarter-finals and semi-finals will take place, while all the finals will happen on Sunday. The two championship games will be at 1 pm for the women’s and 2 pm for the men’s.
Tournament schedule and more details can be found on http://biwpa.com/next-generation.
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