Belgrade 2026: Final four coaches and captains ready for European Water Polo Championships semi-finals

A novelty at the European Water Polo Championships, though familiar for those involved in the Champions League Final Four, a press conference was held with the respective head coaches and team captains of the four semi-finalists in the Belgrade Arena on Thursday. Sitting behind the trophy, Greeks, Hungarians, Italians and Serbians were all smiles, ahead of Friday’s grand battles for the medals.

What was in common in the participants’ comments was that they all agreed the most important chapter of their respective journeys will start on Friday.

In the first semi-final, from 17.00, world bronze medallists Greece and the Singapore runners-up Hungary will face off.

“I think it’s not the hard part, but the good part,” referred Greece head coach Theodoros Vlachos to the upcoming matches. “We achieved our first target, to arrive in the top four. We know the next two games are something different. Sure, we have to present our best performances if we want to win. We’ll try to go step by step and now think only of the first game.”

Last season, the two sides had two high-scoring matches in the World Cup events, one went to the Magyars, the other to the Greeks.

“Playing with Hungary is always tough, those are hard derbies, both teams want to qualify for the final,” added Vlachos. “We have our weapons, they have theirs, we’ll see who can use them better. I believe in my players and I know they are ready to come up with their best.”

Fellow head coach Zsolt Varga said that he was satisfied with Hungary’s performances so far, though he underlined that “on behalf of all coaches, I can say that it’s really hard to be 100% satisfied, as we see a lot of good things, a lot of positives, but we also see the mistakes. We are maximalists, this is our job.”

Talking about Greece, Varga emphasised “they have offered really great performances here. Outside of the water we have really friendly connections and we have high respect towards each other.” He added that Hungary “arrived here with a good level in defence and if we can keep that, we will have a chance in every game.”

Greek captain Konstantinos Genidounias was also happy with his team, which is the only unbeaten side left in the tournament.

“So far, we are very good. But I was here 10 years ago when we made the semi-finals but ended up fourth at the end. I can tell you, that is the worst feeling, it’s much better to finish fifth or sixth then.

“Against Hungary, we face a big fight, they have great traditions and over the last years we worked hard to get closer to them. If we keep playing on the level we’ve done till now, we should not be scared of anyone.”

Krisztian Manhercz, the captain of Hungary, thought that playing with Serbia and Spain in 48 hours was just part of the hard road they just passed.

“Before those matches, we had really tough games with France, Montenegro and the Netherlands, this side of the draw was a lot tougher, I think. We took all these challenges step by step and I think our team managed to play great both in defence and in offence.”

As for the other semi-final, kicking off at 20.30, hosts Serbia will clash with a rejuvenated Italian team.

Asked about his side’s somewhat imbalanced performance, Italy’s head coach Alessandro Campagna responded with a smile.

“Many of my players started the preparations with zero caps. Till now, they have only eight or nine and now they will play a semi-final match with the three-time Olympic champions in their home, in front of 12,000 Serbian people.

“I think this will make my players grow up faster in their careers as they will play the most beautiful match in their life.”

The Italian maestro admitted that stabilising the level of the game is paramount. “We’ll play with Serbia, a fantastic team. When everyone thinks they are collapsing, they come back in a moment – I admire their mentality,” Campagna said, and referring to the usual message tennis ace Novak Djokovic sent to the Serbian water polo team, he cracked that “in Australia, we can have a Djokovic–Sinner semi-final too!”

Serbian boss Uros Stevanovic recalled his remarks from the opening press conference. “I told you there that we didn’t know what we could expect from ourselves. And it didn’t start well, but we needed those games with the Netherlands, then with Spain, to change the approach and the mentality.

“Our preparation games didn’t go well and we didn’t look like we look now. We had two fantastic matches against last year’s World Championships finalists (Spain and Hungary), but I think we can still improve our level for the semi-final.”

The captains were optimistic before the big match.

Marco del Lungo said he had been here in 2016, so playing in the Arena in front of a capacity crowd would only be inspiring.

“I think our mentality is strong, from the very first training we had one month ago, this group of players wanted to improve the mentality, the discipline every single moment.”

Serbia’s Nikola Jaksic thinks “we were improving game by game, but we still haven’t reached the level we wanted.

“We are yet to play our best game here and I hope it will be tomorrow. The team is ready and we are going to give our best as we meet such a fantastic rival like Italy.”

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: Final four coaches and captains ready for European Water Polo Championships semi-finals first appeared on European Aquatics®.