Belgrade 2026: Hungary, Spain and Serbia outgun rivals as Group Stage II begins

Group Stage II of the men’s European Water Polo Championships got underway on Friday in Belgrade, with several thrilling matches opening the new phase of the competition. Spain powered past Montenegro, Hungary battled through a stern test against a spirited Netherlands, while Serbia took control early against France, as the hosts eased their way to three more vital points.

Men’s 2026 European Water Polo Championships – Belgrade
Day 7, Friday 16 January

Group Stage II

Group E

Montenegro 6-14 Spain
Hungary 16-11 Netherlands
France 10-14 Serbia

Classification 13th-16th

Malta 15-14 Israel
Slovenia 10-10 (4-3P) Slovakia

Group Stage II

Group E

Montenegro 6-14 Spain
(1-4, 2-5, 2-5, 1-0)

Spain took a flying start, even if the first five and a half minutes were not perfect, but it was still great from their angle.

Alvaro Granados, returning from his suspension, buried a penalty 35 seconds into the game and even though he couldn’t make the next two shots in man-ups – Petar Tesanovic came up with great saves – Roger Tahull netted the second from close range.

Strahinja Gojkovic missed a penalty earned in a man-up and after the Montenegrins couldn’t take a shot in the remaining seconds, Granados had an easy one-on-one finish from the ensuing counter.

Another six-on-five was wasted at the other end, so Spain led 0-3, but before they got too much comfort, Gojkovic made up for his previous misses with a brilliant action goal to put Montenegro on the scoreboard after six minutes.

The Spaniards were not in the mood to start panicking and Alejandro Bustos showed he could also score from the perimeter, a slight but necessary deflection helped him admittedly, but it was still a great strike that gave Spain a 1-4 lead after eight minutes.

Not much changed in the second period. Biel Gomila muscled himself free to score a nice one from the centre and after another killed man-down, Pol Daura hit a big one from distance to make it 1-6.

Miroslav Perkovic pulled one back from an extra, then Granados showed some extra class in shot-making, first from the perimeter, then from a man-up, leaving no chance for Tesanovic as Spain went 2-8 up.

At the other end, Spanish goalkeeper Unai Aguirre saved another penalty besides making routine stops. As a sharp contrast to the defences’ performance, the two goalies’ stats stood like this at that point – 6/14 for Tesanovic, 5/7 for Aguirre.

With 1:45 remaining before the half-time break, Miroslav Perkovic could push the ball in from close range in a six-on-five – this was the only way Montenegro could beat the Spanish defence, feeding the ball to the 2m line – but Alberto Munarriz replied with a penalty to make it 3-9.

The game was very similar to the two sides’ previous clash at the Worlds in Singapore in the quarter-finals, where Spain had won 14-5.

The Montenegrins’ confidence was in ruins as they bounced back from the Spanish wall four times in five possessions, while Spain kept scoring and maintained a gap impossible to bridge.

There was still one minute to play in the third when Munarriz’s rocket from the perimeter set the Singapore result, 14-5, so more was expected in the remaining eight minutes.

However, the Spaniards decided to switch into energy-saving mode for the fourth, but only in attack, as they took care of business in front of their goal, limiting the Montenegrins to a single hit in the final period – the only notable event in the last quarter.

The big win keeps Spain firmly in the race, while Montenegro are heading for the exit.

Group Stage II

Group E

Hungary 16-11 Netherlands
(4-4, 4-2, 3-4, 5-1)

Hungary managed to down the Netherlands, though the Dutch forced a tough battle and managed to penetrate the Magyars’ defence a couple of times at equal strength – however, in the end the individual skills prevailed – the blasts from Gergo Fekete and Vince Vigvari landed all three points for the favourites.

Three pin-point shots from the Dutch, not from the expected players and angles, hit the first holes in Hungary’s wall, which had looked rock solid in the group stage.

The Netherlands even crept ahead at 3-4, but Krisztian Manhercz’s fierce finish 0:03 from the first break levelled the scores at 4-4.

Hungary responded well in the second quarter, tightening their defence, killing man-downs and with two fine goals jumped to a 6-4 lead, but despite denying a Dutch six-on-four, a turnover foul and a counter broke the Dutch silence after almost four minutes as Kas te Riele netted a nice lob.

However, next came another stormy phase, with another fast double by Vince Vigvari in 36 seconds which gave them an 8-5 advantage.

Still, despite all their defensive efforts which prevented perimeter shots and denied all man-downs, another counter ended in a penalty and Mart van der Weijden scored his third to make it 8-6 just before half-time.

The Hungarians missed another extra in the dying seconds before the long break and that came back to haunt them in the third as instead of a three-goal lead, they quickly found themselves in the middle of a dogfight since the Dutch levelled it up from a man-up and with te Riele’s fine shot from distance.

The Netherlands benefitted from a couple of rebounds in the opening period – now the Magyars had some luck with their second attempts, which gave them again a two-goal lead.

But they still struggled somewhat and Bilal Gbadamassi made it even again with two great finishes in 90 seconds.

The Dutch even had a ball to take the lead, but a steal not only ended it, the Magyars also had a fine counter after quite a while and Zsombor Vismeg scored a really important goal 32 seconds before the last break for 11-10, followed by another good man-down defence in the closing seconds.

That had an impact as Vince Vigvari sent the ball home from the first man-up in the fourth.

Then both sides missed extras before another penalty – converted by Sebastian Hessels – halved the distance with 5:29 to go, but only temporarily.

Fekete took care of business then, firing in the next six-on-five, then Soma Vogel, arriving for the fourth period, came up with another huge save in man-down and Vince Vigvari also offered a masterclass in shooting.

Up 14-11 with 3:31 on the clock, the Dutch would have needed something special.

It never happened – instead, Tim de Mey caused a bleeding injury to Manhercz while muscling his way towards the goal in their man-up.

The VAR review ended in his four-minute ejection, Fekete buried the penalty and he added his fifth of the night a bit later while the Dutch never had the chance to score again.

Hungary, though through some hardships, managed to bag all three points and can now get ready for a showdown with Serbia on Sunday evening.

Group Stage II

Group E

France 10-14 Serbia
(2-4, 2-5, 2-3, 4-2)

Despite a penalty stop from Serbia goalkeeper Milan Glusac after 69 seconds and an easy finish by Milos Cuk in a six-on-five, the French managed to take the lead by converting two extras midway through the first.

The Serbs were gearing up, but in this phase the French had a couple of fine defensive efforts. Still, up front they couldn’t really put the Serbs under pressure and Strahinja Rasovic put away an extra, then Nikola Dedovic converted a counter, and 14 seconds from time, Cuk also hit one from the perimeter to give his side a 2-4 lead after eight minutes.

The French could withstand the growing pressure for almost three more minutes, but after that their defensive wall crashed.

In 1:40 minutes, the hosts hit three action goals (not even a saved penalty halted the process), so they went on a 0-6 run.

Romain Marion-Vernoux ended the French drought after almost six minutes and after a missed Serbian six-on-five, Thomas Vernoux had enough space to unleash a rocket to make it 4-7.

However, France’s better spell was short-lived. Nikola Jaksic had a great finish just 19 seconds later and Nikola Lukic’s fine perimeter shot added another easy goal for the Serbs, who seemed to have it under control by half-time as they led 4-9.

The hosts no longer pushed in fifth gear, as they played a patient game and took care of defending in the first instance.

Though Vernoux found one more blasting opportunity, the French didn’t pose too much threat to the Serbs’ goal and up front, Radomir Drasovic put away a six-on-four midway through the third.

He added another one a bit later and Dedovic also launched a great perimeter shot as French goalie Hugo Fontani didn’t really read these distant balls – that was the eighth action goal from the hosts.

The French could net a penalty and an extra either side of the last break, then Vernoux hit his fourth from distance to make it 8-12, though no one felt the Serbs would be in danger in the remaining six minutes.

The home fans still felt some relief when substitute goalie Radomir Filipovic came up with two big saves in the next French man-up and with that, France’s last hopes were dashed, as their 0-3 surge was halted by an easy tip-in by Nikola Jaksic in a six-on-four.

Instead of trailing by three, it was now 8-13 and that put the game to bed.

Three more goals came in the remaining time, one for the Serbs and two late consolations for the French, as the home side cashed in all three points to set up a do-or-die clash with arch-rivals Hungary on Sunday.

Classification 13th-16th

Malta 15-14 Israel
(5-5, 4-2, 3-4, 3-3)

These two sides produced another balanced battle, just like two years ago, where the lead was swinging constantly, but in the end Malta pulled it off thanks largely to their newly adopted leftie Ivan Nagaev and captain Steven Camilleri, who netted 11 goals combined.

Malta launched their first assault in the second period when they staged a 3-0 run to lead 9-6 and three minutes into the third they still held on for 11-8. The Israelis kept fighting though and climbed back to 12-11 before the final quarter.

And a fierce shot from Ido Goldschmidt brought them back to even 27 seconds into the fourth, and even though Camilleri hit one from 6m right away, after one missed man-up apiece, Ronan Gros buried a penalty to make it 13-13 with five minutes remaining.

Just a minute later, Gros blasted another one, from the perimeter to give the lead to Israel for the first time after 4-5 in the first period.

However, Russian born Ivan Nagaev’s individual brilliance was showcased once more when he sent a perfect lob to the net from 7m in the dying seconds of Malta’s possession for 14-14.

And a fine save from incoming goalie Nicholas Grixti set up a great counter and Nikolai Zammit finished it off – it took 30 seconds for Malta to turn the game back around.

Israel had two more possessions including a six-on-five after a time-out, but they were unable to score more goals, indeed, they were shut out in the last 3:55 which cost them the match.

Slovenia 10-10 (4-3P) Slovakia
(3-3, 3-3, 3-3, 1-1, 4-3P)

The other classification match also offered some excitement, as the lead changed from time to time and only once, at 4-6, was there a two-goal gap between the two teams.

The Slovaks, visibly worn out both physically and mentally after their bitter defeat to Türkiye less than 24 hours earlier, couldn’t reproduce that great performance which kept them close against Italy.

Slovenia, considered the underdogs in this match, fought hard and made most of their chances and tried to neutralise the Slovaks’ best player, Lukas Durik, the monster centre-forward, who plays for Recco.

This opened some space for the other Slovak shooters, but the Tkac brothers, Marek (3/11) and Maros (1/5) were far from their best, not to mention captain Samuel Balaz who had been the Slovaks reliable finisher beforehand, but today could net only a single goal from six attempts.

Their struggles became spectacular in the last four minutes when the Slovenians led 10-9. Despite losing Durik with a red card, they had man-ups in their last four possessions, which included a six-on-four as well, but missed the first three.

Finally, Lukas Seman managed to score, 19 seconds from time, though the ball barely crossed the virtual line as Jure Beton in the Slovenia goal almost made a crucial stop.

The Slovenians still had faith for the shootout, though – Beton made two great stops and the decisive shot from Nace Stromajer just went in under Filip Balogh’s arm, to secure two points for Slovenia.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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