Belgrade 2026: Meet the teams – Group A – Hungary, Montenegro, France and Malta

HUNGARY

• Hungary are the most successful country in the history of the Europeans. They won the first title on offer in 1926, captured the following four as well – no other team have clinched five titles in a row – and amassed 13 golds altogether, also a record till date (1926, 1927, 1931, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1974, 1977, 1997, 1999, 2020). In fact, they won eight of the first 10 editions (1926-1962) and 10 of the first 14, while only 3 in the last 22. They got silver in 1970, 1983, 1993, 1995, 2006, 2014, 2022, bronze in 1981, 2001, 2003, 2008, 2012 and 2016.

• Hungary’s medal tally stands at 13-7-6, the best in the field. They came 4th in 1947, 2010 and in 2024, 5th in 1966, 1985, 1987, 1991, their worst ever performance was a 9th place in 1989 – and produced a second-worst in 2018 by finishing 8th, winning only two games in seven matches.

• All in all, Hungary were ranked in the Top 5 on 32 occasions in 34 appearances and skipped the Europeans only once in 1950 (due to political reasons).

• On the world stage, the Hungarians also top the all-time ranks: they are nine-time Olympic champions (1932, 1936, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1976, 2000, 2004, 2008), got 3 silvers and 4 bronzes. After they ended up twice on the 5th place in London 2012 and in Rio 2016, they managed to return to the podium in Tokyo, finishing third, though ended up 4^th in Paris.

• The Magyars are four-time World champions (1973, 2003, 2013, 2023 – winning all the editions held in years ending in 3) and they also have eight silver medals and a bronze.

• Hungary won the World Cup in 1979, 1995, 1999 and 2018, and the World League in 2003 and 2004.

• Hungary have won only five gold medals in the last 17 years (2008 Olympics, 2013 Worlds, 2018 World Cup, 2022 Europeans, 2023 Worlds) at major events, though they reached a final in four of the last six years (2020 Europeans: gold, 2022 Europeans: silver, 2023 Worlds: gold, 2025 Worlds: silver).

MONTENEGRO

• Soon after gaining independence, Montenegro won the European title at its very first try in Malaga 2008. Since then, they came 5th (2010), 2nd (2012), 4th (2014), 2nd (2016), 6th (2018) and got the bronze in Budapest 2020, so they stood 5 for 7 in reaching the semis, but on the last two occasions they couldn’t carry on that impressive run and finished 7^th in 2022 and 6^th in 2024.

• Montenegro also enjoyed some fine spells on the world stage, though at the Olympics they have a miserable series of losing three straight semis and bronze medal matches alike, finishing 4th in Beijing, London and Rio – and then dropped to the 8^th place in Tokyo and finished 9^th in Paris.

• At the Worlds, they had mixed fortunes: 9th in 2009, 7th in 2011, silver medallists in 2013, 5th in 2015 and 2017, but in 2019 they hit an all-time low by finishing only 10th in Gwangju and it didn’t improve significantly ever since as they had three straight 8^th places (2022, 2023, 2024) and came 6^th last year in Singapore.

• In the World League they won in 2009, had two bronze medals in 2013 and 2014 and earned a second title in Budapest 2018, and a third in 2021 but was 6^th in 2022.

• All in all, that World League win was Montenegro’s last medal at the majors – since they were unable to make the semi-finals at any big events. This means, that in the last 11 majors, they never survived the quarter-finals.

FRANCE

• France were one of the ruling nations in the early stages: they were Olympic champions in 1924 and clinched a silver at the European Championships in 1927. This was their last podium finish in the history of the sport. After placing 6th in three consecutive editions (1931, 1934, 1938), they appeared at the Europeans occasionally: were 6th in 1950, 8th in 1958, 13th in 1966, 11th in 1970. Played in Group B in the following editions, came 12th in 1989, 11th in 1991. In the next decades they could qualify only to the editions staged in Budapest (2001, 2014), then managed to book a spot for Belgrade 2016 where they finished 9^th. Dropped back to 12th in Barcelona and sank further in Budapest after losing to Georgia in the prelims (0/3) and ended up in the 13^th place. In 2022, they made the upset of the tournament by beating Serbia in the crossovers to finish 6^th, their best result since 1950. Two years later, the Serbs took their revenge in the same phase and France had to settle for 9^th place.

• At the Olympics, besides their 1924 gold, they had two bronzes from 1900 and 1928 and a 4th place from 1936. After that, they barely took part: after 1948 and 1960 they could return in 1988 and 1992 (finished 10th and 11th) and a bit surprisingly they could qualify for Rio where they finished 11th again, but missed the cut once more for Tokyo. At the home Games, in Paris they ended up in 10^th place.

• At the Worlds they had three back-to-back appearances in 1982 (13th), 1986 (8th) and 1991 (12th) before making it again in 2017 when they finished 14th in Budapest. They managed to qualify for 2023 where they reached the quarters and finished 6^th, then came Doha 2024, when they knocked out Hungary in the quarters to reach the semis for the first time in their history. They forced a shootout against Croatia but fell short and lost to Spain in the bronze medal match – then failed to make the cut for Singapore 2025.

MALTA

• This is Malta’s sixth participation at the ‘big’ Europeans. In the first three, they were unable to win matches in regular time, though they have draws and even a shootout win upon their debut in Belgrade 2016. Their first win came in Split 2022 when they beat Slovenia for the 13-16^th crossovers and finished 14^th, but dropped back to 15^th two years ago in Dubrovnik.

• Malta’s only appearances at the top level dates back to 1928 and 1936 when they played at the Olympic Games. In Amsterdam, they beat Luxembourg 3:1 but France blew them away 16:0 in the quarters. In Berlin, they lost all their three matches (HUN 0:12, GBR 2:8, YUG 0:7) and were ranked 16th. They played in Group B at the Europeans, in 1981 and 1985, and in Group C in 1987 – also participated regularly in the FINA Development Trophy.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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