Belgrade 2026: Hungary, Spain, Montenegro and Serbia all shine ahead of second group stage

Hungary, Montenegro, Spain and Serbia all prevailed on Wednesday as they finished the first group stage in fine form. Hungary demolished Malta to make it three wins from three, Montenegro survived a late surge from France, while Spain eased past the Netherlands, and hosts Serbia outclassed Israel. The heat is set to really turn up for all the progressing sides from Friday, when the second group stage begins.

Men’s 2026 European Water Polo Championships – Belgrade
Day 5, Wednesday 14 January

Group A

Malta 6-21 Hungary
France 12-13 Montenegro

Group C

Netherlands 7-14 Spain
Israel 9-19 Serbia

Group A

Malta 6-21 Hungary
(2-4, 2-7, 2-5, 0-5)

Hungary did a clean job in the final round of the group stage. Once more, instead of going for a full-scale scoring festival – which would have been a very natural approach in their comfortable position against Malta – the Magyars stayed focused in defence and never wanted to take unnecessary risks up front.

Despite only leading 2-4 after eight minutes, they didn’t start rushing anything in the second, and the patience paid off as they added seven more after their deadly counters started clicking more and more.

The first half ended 4-11, while the second half was 2-10 – which clearly showed that even when the difference grew to 10 goals, they didn’t soften their tight defensive grip.

They even shut out the Maltese in the last 10:30 minutes, while the Vigvari brothers delivered a series of spectacular goals.

Both Vendel and Vince finished with three hits. Vince’s gentle touch at the end of a counter in the middle of the fourth was one of those rare moments when gladiators of the modern era give way to some joy in this disciplined game.

Hungary advanced with six points in hand to the next phase, and since the Serbians dropped a point against the Dutch, they are in a real pole position in the race for the semi-finals.

Group A

France 12-13 Montenegro
(3-3, 3-7, 2-2, 4-1)

Montenegro landed all three points in a thrilling match in which they had already led by five goals and were on course for a fine win.

The French had other ideas and staged a great surge in the fourth, and even had chances to level the scores, but a late goal from Dusan Matkovic decided the outcome.

The first period produced an even battle, with both sides having to work hard to create clear chances. France took the lead when Alexis Drahe put away a man-up, followed by killed man-downs at both ends, before Balsa Vuckovic buried a penalty earned on a counter.

Loris Canovas replied from a six-on-five, but Vasilije Radovic also delivered an unmissable assist on the 2m line in an extra.

Just 27 seconds later, Montenegro took the lead as another counter ended in a penalty and Dmitrii Kholod converted it. Still, the French equalised as Canovas found the back of the net from a man-up with 0:02 on the clock.

The second quarter started in a different fashion. The French lost some composure in attack and Vuckovic stormed away for two counter-strikes in just 51 seconds, forcing Vjeko Kobescak to call an emergency time-out.

It helped, though only briefly – Thomas Vernoux enjoyed some free space to send his trademark rocket into the net, but Dusan Matkovic’s fierce bouncer was a perfect reply.

Montenegro netted three more after only 1:14 had gone off the clock in this quarter, and it could have been more, but Vlado Popadic’s penalty – again after a counter – was well saved by Hugo Fontani. Still, Vernoux’s next blast hit the post on a six-on-five, and Vuckovic fired in his fourth from a man-up.

After a turbulent minute, a kind of re-counter was finished off by Canovas for 5-7, but the Montenegrins kept going.

They forced another penalty in positional play and Strahinja Gojkovic buried it. A missed French extra followed, then an action goal by Aljosa Macic from the perimeter gave his side a four-goal lead (5-9).

They kept that until half-time. Steven Vitrant came up with a fine action shot, but Srdan Janovic also delivered on the last extra, 19 seconds from time.

Montenegro’s sparkling offence really made the difference in this quarter with a 3-7 blast, only to start the third quarter with two loose balls.

The French forced back-to-back extras but converted only the first. The next two, called within the same possession, went begging, and a brilliant long-range shot from Vuckovic halted any French comeback – for the time being.

Midway through the third, more fine defending and a great drive by Radovic killed their rivals’ momentum, as he broke to the goal and pulled the ball back after grabbing it some 30cm above the crossbar.

It was extraordinary technique, but first and foremost, it meant Montenegro led by five again.

Drahe pulled one back with 3:03 to go, but the goals dried up until the last break. Petar Tesanovic produced a couple of huge saves as the French tried everything, but the Montenegrin goalkeeper – playing for Marseille in the club season – denied their best chances.

Dejan Savic’s men laid back a bit up front, not wanting to take risks, and also seemed to have burned a lot of energy with those fast attacks.

Their advantage started melting away in the fourth. Bouet finished off a counter, then the Montenegrins missed a man-up and Mathis Mas muscled his way to the goal to halve the deficit in just 63 seconds for 10-12.

Fontani stopped a sharp finish while man-down, and with 4:21 on the clock, the French came back with a six-on-five goal after a time-out – Canovas beat the block and Tesanovic to score France’s third in a row for 11-12.

The thriller hit new heights. Both sides had great chances – the French another man-up – but they lacked fresh legs and, above all, fresh minds.

The young Montenegrins were unable to beat Fontani, while the French also failed to make the right choices.

The clock showed 0:49 when Savic called a time-out, and that proved decisive.

After taking a deep breath and cooling down, the returning players produced some excellent passing to set up Matkovic on the wing, and he ended the contest with a brilliant one-timer for 11-13, 28 seconds from time.

Just 10 seconds later, Canovas blasted one in from the left wing, leaving 18 seconds of possible excitement. But the Montenegrins comfortably held on to the ball to bag all three points, which they will carry over to the next stage.

Group C

Netherlands 7-14 Spain
(2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 1-2)

Two fast goals from the Netherlands, a man-up and a penalty, gave them a 2-1 lead in 1:35 minutes, then the Spaniards managed to bring order in front of their goal as their vibrant and aggressive defending kept the Dutch at bay. Killing four man-downs in a row was solid proof of that.

Up front, they still made a couple of mistakes, as if they were still stuck in that minor turmoil which cost them the game against the Serbians. Still, Oscar Asensio levelled midway through the quarter, and Alberto Munarriz put them ahead for the first time at 2-3.

After an almost seven-minute-long drought, the Dutch could score again, as Kas te Riele fired in their second man-up in the same possession at the start of the second quarter.

Spain missed a man-up despite having two attempts – Munarriz then didn’t wait for any set-up on the next one and rifled the ball in right away after the call.

This triggered a great surge – Unai Biel had a great steal and finished off the six-on-five he earned from that, and in 34 seconds Francesco Valera hit another one, as this smaller storm gave the title-holders a 3-6 lead.

The Dutch pulled one back from a man-up-plus-penalty combo and soon had a couple of possessions to further narrow the gap, but the Spanish defence worked well again.

Biel then had another blast 31 seconds before half-time – again, it wasn’t a perfectly built attack, just a perfect shot as individual skill prevailed.

That further expanded the gap, and early in the third, Munarriz came up with a magnificent lob just after killing another man-down to make it 4-8.

Lars ten Broek buried a second attempt on a six-on-five, but Miguel del Toro had an easy finish from the centre after great positional play to maintain their four-goal advantage.

It grew to five after Spain also converted a second chance on a six-on-five, by Alejandro Bustos from close range (a coach’s challenge from the Dutch was rejected – the corner in question in their preceding possession was not confirmed).

What came next was even more painful for the Netherlands – three more six-on-fives in succession (mixed with a turnover foul against Spain), but the Spaniards killed them all within a minute.

As a reward, Biel Gomila converted their next chance from close range after some battling to make it 5-11.

Te Riele hit one from distance, but again four minutes went by between Dutch goals while the Spaniards remained quite effective up front as well.

Munarriz converted another penalty, then the Spaniards denied another Dutch extra, keeping them 0-for-6 in this quarter alone to lead 6-12.

This had a calming effect on the game – the contacts were no longer that harsh and the Spanish didn’t rush anything.

They still netted two, both from man-ups, while conceding only one, from a penalty (the second one was off target by Sebastian Hessels).

Spain bagged all three points thanks to their outstanding man-down defence, as they kept the Dutch at 2-for-15 (0-for-7 in the second half) – and they will carry this win into the next phase.

Group C

Israel 9-19 Serbia
(3-4, 3-5, 1-3, 2-7)

Serbia needed a lot more time than expected to break Israel. It happened towards the end of the third period, and a grave mistake from one of the Israeli players gave the necessary push for the hosts to build the advantage their fans had come to see.

The Serbs committed the same mistake a couple of other favourite teams had done. After storming to a 0-3 lead in four minutes, they laid back too early, seemingly convinced the game was already on the right track.

It started where it had ended against Spain – Viktor Rasovic scored the winner two days ago, and he netted the opening two goals here, but later in the first the Israelis also started scoring.

Hitting two in 34 seconds brought them back to 3-4 before the first break, and after some lacklustre play by the hosts, Yoav Rendler and Ronen Gros evened the scores early in the second quarter at 5-5.

The crowd sat stunned in their seats, but that served as a wake-up call for the Serbs, and they staged a great rush, hitting three in a span of 52 seconds.

However, this didn’t break the Israelis and didn’t help the Serbs in the long term – after a quick exchange of goals, the scoreboard showed a modest 6-9 lead for the home side at half-time.

Yuval Klarfeld pulled one more back 1:04 into the third, and in the following minutes, the Israelis stood firm while the Serbs didn’t really find their rhythm. Almost five minutes went by, and it still stood 7-9.

Though the heroics took their toll on the underdogs, as at one point four players swam out for a quick change, and one of the substitutes made an illegal entry, jumping over the rope.

After a VAR review, a penalty was called. Vasilje Martinovic buried it, and that was a push once more. Sava Randjelovic added two more before the last break from man-ups.

The fourth period then produced a one-sided contest – the Israelis ran out of steam and couldn’t do much to stop a Serbian onslaught.

The final scoreline, 9-19, would suggest an easier cruise, but it was not – at least not until the last 11 minutes, when the Serbs staged a 2-10 rout.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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