Aquafeed24.com is the number one website in Greece about water polo, swimming, and beach water polo. It was established in 2017 and has been delivering extensive reports on everything happening inside the pools of Greece, but also bring worldwide news to Greek water polo fans.
Here are they TOP 5 pick for both categories
1. Ashleigh Johnson (USA)
US National Player | Clubs: Ethnikos | Position: Goalkeeper
We don’t need to introduce Ashleigh Johnson and her career, as she is famous all over the world. Another year passed with her being declared the best goalkeeper in the world, both at the World League-Super Final and at the Tokyo Olympics. We are looking forward to seeing her in Greece, playing for the club of Ethnikos Piraeus.
2. Simone van de Kraats (NED)
Dutch National Player | Clubs: Polar Bears / CN Mataro | Position: Right winger
2021 was a revealing year for the young Dutch player, who helped her country qualify for the Tokyo Olympics through the Pre-Olympic tournament in Trieste while becoming the Top Scorer in Japan with 28 goals!
3. Rita Keszthelyi-Nagy (HUN)
Hungarian National Player | Club: UVSE | Position: Left Driver
Hungary's bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics was the epitome of an excellent 4 year-cycle for Attila Biro's team. In every statistical category, the experienced all-around Hungarian player, Rita, stood out and couldn’t be missing from Aquafeed24’s list.
4. Maddie Musselman (USA)
US National Player | Clubs: UCLA | Position: Left Driver
Very talented player, who revealed herself and performed great at Athens’ World League while looking quite promising for what she would show at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Confirming everyone’s belief, Maddie Musselman played great at Tokyo. Her career includes nothing but Gold medals!
5. Christina Tsoukala (GRE)
Greek National Player | Clubs: Olympiacos | Position: Centre Back
The great Greek player and World Champion in Shanghai (2011), ended her career in water polo this year. Christina Tsoukala said her goodbye to the sport as a European Champion with Olympiacos, while also contributing as much as she could to helping Greece in the Pre-Olympic tournament in Trieste. However, the Greek National team didn’t manage to qualify in Tokyo... We “salute” her by including her name in the Top 5 of this season, honouring her great offer to water polo from all these years.
1. Dusan Mandic (SRB)
Serbian National Player | Clubs: Pro Recco / Novi Beograd | Position: Right Driver
Years and years of constant work and effort passed until Pro Recco reached “the promised land”, by winning the Champions League title in 2021 at Belgrade. Dusan Mandic had a decisive role in this accomplishment of the Italian team, performing and playing great in general and also standing out in the Final game against Ferencvaros, where he scored 3 goals. He was the MVP of the FINAL 8 in the Champions League. He continued to have a top performance at the Tokyo Olympics, winning the 2nd consecutive gold medal at the age of 27. Plus, he is the leader of the Serbian national team and we are looking forward to seeing his future.
2. Stylianos Argyropoulos (GRE)
Greek National Player | Clubs: Olympiacos, Jug Adriatic | Position: Driver
In our opinion, the huge revelation of this year (worldwide) in water polo is Argyropoulos. The Greek player can “fit” in all positions and has been working hard to reach this level. At the Tokyo Olympics, he performed great in many game. He even became a cover on the BBC, rightfully so. He is currently playing at Jug Dubrovnik and fairly belongs to the elite.
3. Filip Filipovic (SRB)
Serbian National Player | Clubs: Szolnok / Olympiacos | Position: Right Driver
Filip Filipovic’s “last dance” included an Olympic Gold medal with the National Team of his home country, Serbia. On top of that, he performed flawlessly in crucial games in Tokyo. He conquered the Hungarian National Championship with Szolnok, and had also won the Euro Cup. Filip Filipovic is like… “a good old wine” and 2021 was his year. He is currently playing for the top Greek water polo team of Olympiacos and we’ll make sure to watch every one of his games!
4. Emmanouil Zerdevas (GRE)
Greek National Player | Clubs: Olympiacos | Position: Goalkeeper
Undoubtedly the goalkeeper who improved the most at the Tokyo Olympics: Manos Zerdevas. He helped Greece achieve the historic success of winning the Olympic Silver medal, setting also a record of saves. He has a long way full of successes ahead and at the age of 24 has already conquered a lot.
5. Gergo Zalanki (HUN)
Hungarian National Player | Clubs: FTC, Pro Recco | Position: Right Driver
Our last choice was quite difficult… We couldn’t add a third Greek to our team, although Giannis Foundoulis and Ntinos Genidounias deserved it. Following those two great players, we thought of Victor Nagy who ended his career with a bronze Olympic medal and had also the Euro Cup (through penalty process) with Szolnok. However, we couldn’t ignore the excellent season of Gergo Zalanki, who gave tremendous performances in the Olympic tournament in Tokyo, while he was a finalist in the Champions League with Ferencvaros. He is continuing in Pro Recco and we are looking forward to seeing what he has “in-store” for us.
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