Belgrade 2026: Meet the teams – Group D – Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Türkiye

ITALY

• Italy have always belonged to the continental powerhouses. They joined the European party in 1938 and they finished outside the top 5 only 7 times in their following 29 appearances. They stood on the podium 11 times (3-2-7): won the title in 1947, 1993, 1995, were runners-up in 2001 and 2010 and bronze medallists in 1954, 1977, 1987, 1989, 1999, 2014 and in the last edition in 2024. On their last 17 appearances, since 1987, they missed the semis only 6 times (1997, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2016, 2020). The 2003 performance was the worst ever (9th). They came 4th in 1950, 1958, 1966, 1970, 1991, 2012, 2018 and in 2022, 5th in 1938, 1974, 1985, 2006, 2008, 6th in 1981, 1997, 2016, 2020 and 8th in 1962.

• Italy also produced fantastic results on the world stage: were Olympic champions in 1948, 1960 and 1992, clinched the world title in 1978, 1994, 2011 and in Gwangju 2019, and lost the final in a shootout against Spain in 2022 in Budapest, then again, to Croatia, in Doha 2024. Further medals at the Olympics: silver in 1976 and 2012, bronze in 1952, 1996 and 2016 – Worlds silver in 1986, 2003, 2022, 2024, bronze in 1975. Also won the World Cup in 1993 and grabbed their first-ever World League trophy in 2022.

• Since Alessandro Campagna returned from Greece and took over the national team for the second time (during his first spell Italy was runner-up at the Europeans and 4th in Worlds in 2001), the Italians started to roll in 2010. They barely missed the semis of the big tournaments: 2010: ECH: 2., 2011: WL: 2., WCH: 1., 2012 ECH: 4., WL: 3., OG: 2., 2013: WL: 3., WCH: 3., 2014: WL: prel., ECH: 3., 2015: WL: 7., WCH: 4., 2016: ECH: 6., WL: 4., OG: 3. 2017: WL: 2., WCH: 6. 2018: WL: prel. ECH: 4., 2019: WP: prel., WCH: 1., 2020: ECH: 6., OG: 7. 2022: WCH: 2., WL: 1., ECH: 4, 2023: WC: 2., WCH: 5., 2024: ECH: 3., WCH: 2., OG: 7., 2025: WCH: 7. In 31 events they reached the semis on 33 occasions – though they didn’t survive the quarters at the 2020 Europeans and at the Olympics, but bounced back to clinch silver at the Worlds and gold in the World League in 2022.

ROMANIA

• Romania entered the scene in 1962 and immediately joined the ‘higher circles’ by finishing 5th. Three straight 6th place finishes followed, then a bit of sinking started: they came 7th in 1977 and in 1981, then 8th in 1983, that time it meant relegation to Group B. They returned in 1987 (7th), then jumped to 5th in 1989, fell back to 8th in 1991. Two years later they earned their best-ever result: by upsetting Croatia they reached the semis for the first time in 1993 and settled for the 4th place. They repeated this feat in 2006, that time they ousted Italy in the quarters (this was the last time that any other team than the ‘Big Seven’ reached the top four). The other editions weren’t as successful: 11th in 1995, 9th in 1999, 11th in 2001, 10th in 2003, 9th in 2008, 7th in 2010, and 8th in 2012, 2014, 10th in 2016 and 11th in 2018 and again in 2020. They did one better in 2022, then came the big jump, ousted Georgia in the crossovers to reach the quarters where they finished 8^th but that also sent them to the Worlds where they earned the Olympic spot too.

• They missed the qualifications for the Europeans only once, in 1997.

• Romania had some fine spells at the world stage as well though they are still waiting for their first medal: they were 4th at the 1976 Olympics and 5th in 1964. After failing in the qualifications on three consecutive occasions they finally managed to go through in 2012 and finished 10th in London and returned to the Games last year in Paris, though finished last, 12^th.

• At the World Champs they clinched the 5th place in 1975 and came 6th in 1978 and 2005. Their last appearance happened in Barcelona 2013 when they finished 13th – they missed the qualifications for the next four editions, before they made it to Doha, then to Singapore too, and grabbed the 10^th place at both occasions.

SLOVAKIA

• Slovakia’s best result at the Europeans came in 2003 when they finished 7th. They were close to a miracle in 2001 but finally lost 8-7 to Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals and finished 8th. They also had an 8th place finish in 1997, otherwise they had to settle for lower ranks. Upon their debut in 1993 they were 10th, while their last four appearances produced weaker finishes – indeed a straight decline: 2006: 11th, 2008: 12th, 2016: 13th, 2018: 14^th, 2020: 14^th and 15^th in 2022, before they did a bit better in 2024, coming 13^th.

• They could qualify for the Olympics once, in 2000 when they finished bottom (12th). In fact, they suffered one of their worst defeats at majors in Sydney when Russia beat them 21-5 in the last round of the prelims.

• In those years the Slovaks had three connecting World Championships appearances: came 10th in 1998, 11th in 2001 and 8th in 2003 – since then they were unable to make the cut.

TURKIYE

• It’s been 60 years since the Turkish side first made the Europeans – in Utrecht 1966. Since then, they were part of the show 7 times in total, a 10^th place finish in 2010 was their best effort. They came 12^th in 2020 and in 2012. 14^th in 1991, 15^th in 2018 and 16^th in 1966 and 2016.

• Interestingly, this time they have qualified at the expense of Germany, which led to a historical crash as this was the first time the Germans failed to qualify (enter) for the Europeans in the 100-year-long history of the Championship (they missed the 1950 edition due to political reasons).

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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