Singapore 2025: Greece, Hungary and Spain flying high in men’s and women’s water polo tournaments

In a never-seen before scenario at a major tournament, three nations, all from Europe, managed to qualify both their respective men’s and women’s team to the semi-finals of the World Championships. In Singapore, Greece, Hungary and Spain booked six spots of the eight on offer, with the Serbian men and US women the other qualifiers.

Men’s tournament

Where have those great quarter-finals days gone – asked many at the end of a day which saw four lop-sided contests in the men’s event. Indeed, in recent years, the last-eight clashes produced absolute thrillers.

Fukuoka Worlds, 2023: four matches, all decided by a single goal (including one shootout).

Doha Worlds, 2024: two by a single goal, one by a two-goal margin.

Paris Olympics: all four by a single goal, including two shootouts.

In Singapore, all four matches lacked the usual tension and drama as the fourth period commenced. The upper part of the bracket was the very same as in Doha, Italy met Greece and Spain faced Montenegro.

This year, the Greeks blew Italy away. Greece jumped to a better start and already led 1-3 when Italy’s Matteo Iocchi Grata was ejected for four-minutes after underwater VAR-footage clearly revealed his violent action (he kneed Stylianos Argyropoulos in the face).

While most recently, at the top level, these expulsions barely brought a significant advantage, this time the Greeks made the most of it and produced a 4-0 run. Italy missed their lonely five on four, while Greece buried the penalty and scored their first three full six on fives.

Italy faced a mountain to climb, but even after they got back to full strength, they were unable to match the Greeks’ composed game.

It was 1-9 already before they could score a couple of goals, still, Panagiotis Tsortsatos came up with the match of his life in the Greek goal and he denied the Italians in the most crucial moments. He delivered 16 saves with a 58% percentage, while the Italians could never come closer than six goals.

Montenegro managed to push Spain to their limits in Doha, despite losing 12-15 at the end – but this year, the Spanish eased through to the last four.

The young guns of Dejan Savic staged a promising start and led 2-3 early on, but after Unai Aguirre stopped Duro Radovic’s penalty, the scene change dramatically.

Aguirre, who had to pick the ball out of his net three times in the first two minutes, lifted his game and conceded only once more until the end of the third, when he was subbed.

This was the story of the match: the Montenegrins scored three in two minutes and could add only two in the remaining time. Aguirre came out of the pool with an astonishing 14 for 18, 78% save percentage – and Edu Lorrio only let in one goal too.

Spain’s sharp shooters made their impact as usual, and here it was Bernat Sanahuja who led the charge with six goals, alone outscoring the Montenegrins in a 14-5 victory.

Next came the only non-European clash, where the Serbs did a clean job against the rejuvenated American side. It was a massive team effort from the Olympic champions, with 11 of their 13 field players scoring and no one hit more than two.

They were expanding the gap as time went by, leading 6-3 at half-time and 10-5 before the fourth. The US side, six of them coming from the U20 Worlds where they finished runners-up, simply couldn’t hold off the powerful Serbs.

The last quarter-final encounter promised something big – but the Hungarians thrashed Croatia in the end, and the opening period was a real goal fest, ending 6-6.

It was a worrying sign for the Croats that the Magyar snipers destroyed Marko Bijac – Marton Vamos hit three, two from the distance, so the starting goalie was subbed right away at the first break.

While this didn’t change the trend in the Croatian half, the Hungarians stepped up in defence, as their goalie Kristof Csoma started delivering saves and the Magyars, with their captain Krisztian Manhercz in command, stormed to 7-11 lead by half-time.

Bijac came back for the second half, but in two and half minutes, Hungary were up by six, at 7-13, and they seemed to have the game in control.

However, they somewhat ran out of steam and the experienced Croatians smelled blood, shutting out their rivals for the rest of the period, and coming back to 9-13, then went on fighting early in the fourth.

Croatia were on the comeback trail as they reduced the gap to two in three minutes at 12-14, and had a possession to cut it to one, but couldn’t create any danger, and Hungarian rookie Zsombor Vismeg’s stunning action goal killed their momentum.

The Croats were unable to score in the remaining five minutes, while the Magyars found an extra gear to close out the game with a 4-0 run and knocked out the title-holders.

Women’s tournament

In the women’s competition, the quarters offered the expected thrills, at least in the three encounters involving the European powerhouses.

Greece were the first to advance to the semis after a dramatic win over Australia thanks to a last-gasp goal from Maria Myriokefalitaki.

After a brilliant run in the second period, where the Greeks hit four goals – three in a row after being 3-2 down – the World Cup winners took charge.

It was a massive defensive game where the Greeks were able to shut out the Olympic silver medallists for 10:40 minutes.

The Aussies also tightened their defence, limiting the Greeks to a lonely penalty goal in the third, but still trailed 5-6 before the final quarter.

Stefania Santa had a one-on-one chance early in the fourth, but goalie Gabi Palm came up big and the Australians could finally come back to even at 6-6.

Eleftheria Plevritou finally managed to end her team’s frustrating drought with a fierce shot in a six on five, but the Aussie Stingers took their last chance and converted an extra for 7-7, with 47 seconds remaining.

Controversy took over in the remaining time – as no call came around Myriokefalitaki when the ball was fed to her in the centre, so Australia had 22 seconds to hit the winner, only to lose the ball 14 seconds later, due to a turnover call, and Myriokefalitaki was the fastest to react and swam away for a counter to finish it off 1.5sec before the buzzer.

Hungary and Italy played another exciting match, though it lacked the real big time water polo these two teams have produced in the good old days.

The young Italians made the most of their chances in the first half – netting three six on five goals in the first period and adding two penalty shots in the second, while struggling to create any opportunities when six on six.

The Magyars gradually started to dominate, Rita Keszthelyi recalled her prime by firing in four brilliant goals and producing great passes in a row. A fast double midway through the third gave Hungary a 9-6 lead and even though the Italians fought hard, they couldn’t really penetrate their rivals’ defence.

The Hungarians kept the distance for five minutes in the fourth, and even though Chiara Ranalli netted another extra for 10-8, Krisztina Garda’s blast in the next possession reset the three-goal gap with 2:29 to go.

Italy’s next came with 1:17 on the clock, which was way too late, and Dora Leimeter’s shot in a six on five secured Hungary’s semi-final berth.

The real drama came in the last match, featuring Europe’s two greats, Spain and Netherlands. It reproduced all the drama we have seen before between these two giants – such as in their clash in last year’s European Championships final in Eindhoven, and their Olympic semi-final in Paris.

For a while, it looked like an unusual no-contest as Spain stormed to a 7-2 lead with great speed and the utmost precision in defending.

However, the Dutch, pulling one back before the middle break, stepped up early in the third and came up with a great 0-3 run in three minutes to make it 6-7.

The Spanish responded well, though, and restored their three-goal cushion soon at 7-10, but Lieke Rogge buried a penalty 44 seconds before the last break. And 38 seconds into the fourth, Kitty-Lynn Joustra netted an extra and the Dutch trailed by only one at 9-10.

A fierce battle ensued, and three and a half minutes later Spain struck first, as Nona Perez’s action shot gave them a two-goal lead 3:24 from time. Then the Dutch reply came instantly, with Lieke Rogge sending the ball home from a six on five and there was still 2:44 remaining on the clock.

It was an enormous battle where the Dutch could force an exclusion, and as the game headed into the last minute, Lieke Rogge, who was on fire, scored the equaliser with 45 seconds remaining.

Both teams had one more possession, the Dutch even went for a seven on six after a time-out, but missed it, and thankfully for them, the Spanish were unable to fully control the ball and take a shot into the empty net in the last four seconds.

So, just like in Paris, the decision was left to penalties. And just like in Paris, the Spaniards had the edge in the shootout – they buried all their shots, just like a year ago, while the Dutch had two misses.

It should be as painful as it sounds – this was the Netherlands’ third shootout loss in a row at the majors, after losing in the quarters at the Doha Worlds (to Hungary), then back-to-back to Spain, in the Olympic semis and here in the quarters.

–

Click here for the full schedule and results.

Click here to watch live on Eurovision Sport.

Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

The post Singapore 2025: Greece, Hungary and Spain flying high in men’s and women’s water polo tournaments first appeared on European Aquatics®.