Belgrade 2026: Greece surge into semi-finals with stunning win against Italy

Greece stole the spotlight on Day 10 in Belgrade, powering past Italy to top the group and become the second team to punch their ticket to the European Championship semi-finals. The defeat leaves Italy with no margin for error – on Wednesday they will face Croatia in a straight shootout for the last semi-final berth. The Croats duly kept the pressure on by cruising past Türkiye, while earlier in the day, Romania produced a spectacular fourth quarter to sink Georgia.

Men’s 2026 European Water Polo Championships – Belgrade
Day 10, Monday 19 January

Group Stage II

Group F

Georgia 10-15 Romania
Greece 15-13 Italy
Croatia 22-9 Türkiye

Group F

Georgia 10-15 Romania
(2-2, 4-4, 1-2, 3-7)

After three hard-fought periods, the Romanian sharpshooters dismantled the Georgian defence in the fourth quarter, netting seven goals. The winners then posed for a team photo, as this victory probably secured them a 2027 World Championships berth.

The first minute saw one goal each, while the following five brought only missed opportunities at both ends.

Saba Tkeshelashvili then put the Georgians ahead from their third six-on-five, but a pinpoint action shot from Tudor-Andrei Fulea put the Romanians back on even terms 55 seconds before the first break.

Again, a quick exchange of goals kicked off the second quarter, but this time the Romanians went on to add two more, scoring three in a row in just 65 seconds to lead 3-5.

They then had a six-on-five chance to go up by three, but squandered it, and Dusan Vasic blasted back-to-back action goals in just 48 seconds to level the score at 5-5.

Vlad-Luca Georgescu converted the Romanians’ next extra, then they managed to kill a man-down and produced more solid defending.

However, Fulea hit the post from a promising counter, and the Georgians came back to force a man-up, which Vasic put away quickly enough to beat the buzzer for 6-6 at half-time.

This left an impact on the Romanians, and Stefan Pjesivac swung the lead back to the Georgians after a great man-up play 37 seconds into the third.

Their advantage didn’t last long, as Francesco Iudean also came up with a blistering shot in Romania’s six-on-five to make it 7-7.

Tensions took over, and both offenses could not really operate at their expected levels in the following four minutes.

The Georgians missed two extras, and the Romanians also struggled with their finishes, but after missing one, they managed to convert the second through Andrei Neamtu for 7-8.

Both sides had more chances in the remaining 2:34 of the third quarter, but again, not even the extras meant real advantages.

This changed in the fourth period, when, even if from a second attempt, Fulea scored another brilliantly placed shot from the left wing, and just 56 seconds later he copied his first effort with another unstoppable attempt to make it 7-10.

Jovan Saric pulled one back from a six-on-five, but next the Romanians forced a six-on-four, and Neamtu buried that as well, with some luck as his first shot rebounded off the post.

Midway through the last quarter, Luka Chikovani gave some hope to the Georgians with a big shot from distance, but Georgescu answered from the perimeter on their next possession to restore the three-goal gap.

A great block in a man-down situation, followed by another perfectly placed shot, this time from Andrei Prioteasa, sealed the Romanians’ win at 9-13 with 2:46 to go.

To underline that, the Georgians missed another extra, while Neamtu added another fine man-up finish, and one more goal apiece closed down the match.

Just like two years ago, the Romanians upended the Georgians in the key match that sent them onto the path leading to the World Championships.

At the same time, the Georgians may ask themselves where the outstanding performance went that earned them a round of applause two days earlier against the Italians.

Group F

Greece 15-13 Italy
(2-1, 4-3, 4-3, 5-6)

Finding the best angles and converting the crucial man-ups were the keys to Greece’s big win over Italy, which sent the Greeks to the semi-finals and left the Italians to play a do-or-die match, a kind of quarter-final, against Croatia on Wednesday.

After two and a half minutes of battling, Stylianos Argyropoulos broke the ice from a man-up, and in 76 seconds Konstantinos Kakaris added another from a counter for 2-0.

The Italians somewhat struggled to gear up, as this was their first real tough test in Belgrade, as the tournament draw, which had looked lucky at first, kept the other Big Seven teams away from their path until now.

It took almost six minutes for the Italians to earn a man-up, soon followed by another one, but they missed both.

Then a late turnover foul gave Matteo Iocchi Gratta a chance on the counter, and he just beat the buzzer, so after eight minutes Italy finally got on the scoreboard.

After the break, the Greeks carried on with their disciplined game, feeding the centers, earning exclusions, and a fine set-up found Dimitrios Skoumpakis on the 2m line, where he pushed the ball in, even though his initial grab was not the best.

Next came a penalty, but Marco del Lungo managed to stop Konstantinos Gkouvetsis’ shot.

Then Sandro Campagna’s challenge was successful on the next penalty, which was withdrawn, and Filippo Ferrero scored a fine goal from the perimeter right away.

This hit the Greeks somewhat, as they were preparing to go 4-1 up, but instead it stood at 3-2. However, they quickly recovered, fueled by a six-on-four and a precise finish from Nikolaos Gkillas.

Ferrero was on fire, as he put away Italy’s next extra. Then the Italian defence killed Greece’s next man-up, but they could not come back to even.

Instead, with 1:35 to go, Argyropoulos fired one in from 6m, then Iocchi Gratta hit a fine action goal as well to make it 5-4 with 41 seconds left in the half.

Following back-to-back steals, Argyropoulos went off on a counter and was stopped by Ferrero. The referees waved play on, but this time the challenge ball flew in from the Greek bench and, after review, it was also accepted.

One penalty had been challenged away earlier, but this one came back thanks to VAR. Argyropoulos buried the penalty to double the Greeks’ lead to 6-4 by half-time, which was a huge boost for his side.

It was again the Greeks who opened the scoring in the third, but only after they survived a man-down, then Konstantinos Kakaris finished off their six-on-five from close range for 7-4.

Although Alessandro Balzarini pulled one back with a fine shot, also from a man-up, Kakaris earned another penalty, which Alexandros Papanstasiou sent home for 8-5.

A turnover foul and another extra pushed the Greeks further ahead, as Gkillas blasted the ball in from the right side-back position.

Down by four, the young Italians faced a mountain to climb, and even though Edoardo di Somma banged one in from 6m and Vincenzo Dolce further reduced the gap, again the Greeks had the last laugh in the period.

Although the first attempt in their six-on-five was saved, Aristeidis Chalyvopoulos’ fierce shot found the back of the net 12 seconds from time for 10-7.

The Greeks drew first blood in the fourth as well, as Kakaris scored from the center to restore the four-goal margin.

Lorenzo Bruni netted Italy’s extra, but another six-on-four offered an easy chance for the Greeks, and Efstathios Kalogeropoulos took it.

A fine save at one end and a magnificent lob at the other by Papanstasiou, in the dying seconds of the possession, put the Greeks 13-8 up – and it was telling that four of their last five goals came from the same position, as they seemed to find the angle to hurt Del Lungo.

Still, the Italians refused to give in. A double in 44 seconds from Balzarini and Iocchi Gratta gave them some hope and also prompted a time-out call from Greece coach Theodoros Vlachos.

He managed to push his players back into the battle, and another buried man-up by Chalyvopoulos reset the four-goal gap with 3:20 remaining.

A penalty after a rebound on a man-up, converted by Iocchi Gratta, kept the Italians believing, and they managed to add another in quick succession to trail by two with 1:48 to go.

However, for the third time, they had to deal with a six-on-four and could not prevent Argyropoulos from converting it. At 15-12 with 59 seconds remaining, it was over.

Iocchi Gratta hit his fifth as a consolation, and the Italians now face a winner-takes-all contest against Croatia on Wednesday to see who reaches the last four alongside the Greeks, who can already prepare for the semis after winning the group.

Group F

Croatia 22-9 Türkiye
(6-1, 5-2, 6-4, 5-2)

Croatia did a clean job in their must-win match, never letting the Turks feel they had the slightest chance of a closer contest.

The favorites needed just over three minutes to storm to a 3-0 lead, and even though Mehmet Yutmaz pulled one back soon after, the Croats rolled on and added three more unanswered goals in the first period.

Zvonimir Butic led the charge by netting a hat trick in two and a half minutes. In the second quarter, three more action goals from as many possessions in a span of 77 seconds sent the Croats 9-1 up.

At that point they switched gears and, in parallel, their concentration levels also started to drop. They did not score for almost four minutes, while the Turks managed to add two more.

Still, before the long break, Ante Vukicevic and Luka Bukic were on target from action as well, making it 11-3 at half-time.

The game stayed on the same course in the third, as the Croats hammered in six more goals, although their defence was not that tight and the Turks were able to convert four man-ups in this period alone.

The big guns tightened up their defense somewhat in the fourth, limiting their rivals to two more goals while scoring five themselves.

Marko Zuvela won the in-house scoring contest with five strikes, although he needed 10 attempts, while Matias Biljaka and Zvonimir Butic finished one goal behind but were more effective, with 4/4 and 4/5 respectively.

In two days, the Croats will face a completely different challenge, a showdown with Italy for a place in the semi-finals.

Watch all the action live from Belgrade on Eurovision Sport

For the full schedule/results/tables from the European Championships, click here

For tickets to all the games at the men’s European Water Polo Championships in Belgrade, click here

Stay tuned to the European Aquatics Water Polo social media accounts for more news and live updates on Facebook and Instagram

Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

The post Belgrade 2026: Greece surge into semi-finals with stunning win against Italy first appeared on European Aquatics®.