Belgrade 2026: Serbia crowned European champions after defensive masterclass against Hungary

Serbia won their third successive European crown on home soil with a dominant display against Hungary on Sunday night in Belgrade. After an even first half against the battling Hungarians, the hosts started to pull away, with their excellent defence restricting their rivals to just two goals in the last 16 minutes. When Djordje Lazic put the Serbs up by three (9-6) in the fourth quarter, the atmosphere inside the packed arena turned into a festival for the final moments. Earlier, Greece surged to their first-ever podium finish at a European Championships after leading the bronze medal game from start to finish against Italy.

Men’s 2026 European Water Polo Championships – Belgrade
Day 16, Sunday 25 January

Gold medal final

Serbia 10-7 Hungary

MVP: Dusan Mandic (SRB)

Bronze medal final

Italy 5-12 Greece

MVP: Konstantinos Kakaris (GRE)

Final standings: 1. Serbia, 2. Hungary, 3. Greece, 4. Italy, 5. Spain, 6. Croatia, 7. Montenegro, 8. Romania, 9. France, 10. Georgia, 11. Netherlands, 12. Türkiye, 13. Malta, 14. Slovakia, 15. Slovenia, 16. Israel

Gold medal final

Serbia 10-7 Hungary
(3-2, 2-3, 2-1, 3-1)

The two powerhouses, which had staged a 29-goal epic in the second group stage (and had a 37-goal blast last summer in their World Championship semi-final), this time played a final where defensive efforts proved to be the decider.

The first half saw five goals apiece, then in the second, the Serbs limited their rivals to just two goals, while they added five once more and the hard work at the back landed them another title in Belgrade, third here, sixth overall as an independent nation.

After both sides missed their opening man-ups, Vendel Vigvari put Hungary ahead from their second extra, but Nikola Lukic made the most of Dusan Mandic’s fine assist as the defenders tried to cover the big leftie, leaving enough space for his team-mate to level it up with a one-timer.

Glusac stopped the next Magyar man-up too and then, after a couple of missed action shots, Radomir Drasovic had an easy finish in a six-on-four to make it 2-1 midway through the opening period.

Leftie Akos Nagy then converted Hungary’s extra, then a turnover foul ended the Serbs’ man-up. And after some battling with not much danger, Lukic sent the ball home from another six-on-five, but Soma Vogel finally made his first save, a really crucial one.

Vogel kept on delivering fine stops and while Szilard Jansik hit a blistering one from their first extra of the second quarter, Krisztian Manhercz hit the woodwork from the next, but Vendel Vigvari came up with a brilliant action goal to swing the lead back to Hungary (3-4).

The Serbs were struggling in attack at this point,  as their perimeter shots weren’t inflicting any damage and they even missed a five-on-four (which is easier, in principle, to make than a six-on-five).

But the hosts maintained their tight defending, which left little space for the Hungarians to create chances. Five minutes into the second, a fine centre action from Lazic earned a penalty for the Serbs and Mandic buried it.

Then Akos Nagy hit the crossbar from a man-up, then the Serbs had a six-on-five after a time-out, but they couldn’t bring it to a shot, yet the next one ended in a great set-up and Nemanja Vico tipped the ball into the empty net.

Vince Varga stepped up next and sent a blistering shot into the net to make it 5-5, which made the half-time scores level at 5-5.

In this final, the 53 seconds in the third when the Serbs managed to score back-to-back goals to make it 7-5 were felt to be paramount.

Mandic offered one of his trademark 6m blasts and after a steal, Vasilije Martinovic put away an extra with a pinpoint shot and the hosts led by two.

They had a couple of possessions to expand the gap, but the Hungarian defence tightened up once more and with 3:48 on the clock, they delivered a perfectly played six-on-five with Gergo Fekete’s finish.

That kept them alive and soon they had another extra to level it up, but Adam Nagy, who was the engine of Hungary’s offence in the previous match, missed the shot once more.

The Magyars then killed the Serbs’ six-on-four and then went for a counter. Fekete waited too long and the ball was swept from his hand, then they came straight back down for another one, and this time Manhercz couldn’t outsmart Glusac.

The Serbs were visibly tiring, as they couldn’t do much up front and a third counter was launched, this time Jansik could have had an equaliser, but the heroic defenders somehow blocked his shot, so the Serbs had a single-goal advantage entering the final period.

And at the beginning of the fourth, it was clear the Hungarian attack was not clicking – this time a quick play didn’t work as Glusac stopped Jansik’s shot on a man-up.

That turned out to be a crucial miss, practically, as the Serbs managed to survive (the word Mandic used in his post-game interview) the Magyars’ late surge as they killed two man-downs and three counters in between.

When the Serbs finally earned a six-on-five, they played it after a time-out and by forcing a penalty, they kind of had a match ball. Mandic sent it home for 8-6, and even though there was 4:13 left to play, Hungary seemed to be in trouble.

And in 67 seconds, the Serbs had it. Manhercz took the shot in their next man-up, but Glusac made another save, while another feed to the post was put away neatly by Djordje Lazic, as he flicked the ball from hand to hand before flashing the ball past Vogel.

Hungary’s offence had lost its composure, they had a six-on-four, but Manhercz’s pass was plucked out of the air by Mandic, and just a bit later he sealed the Serbs’ victory with another blast from 6m for 10-6.

The Magyars, desperate to grab any chance they might have, went for seven-on-sixes, but nothing worked, though the Serbs didn’t take any risks, so they just killed the time and didn’t make shots towards the empty net.

With 50 seconds to go, a shark-attack by Vendel Vigvari ended in a goal, but however Magyar-style it was, it didn’t ruin the hosts’ celebrations, which in truth had started inside the packed Belgrade Arena minutes earlier.

Indeed, this defensive battle was won by the Serbs, who shut out the Magyars for 13:48 minutes after 7-6, and limited them to seven goals in the end, the fewest Hungary have ever scored in a game since water polo has been played in a 25m field.

As the buzzer went, the arena went into a total frenzy, the Serbs returned to the European throne for the first time since 2018 and claimed their eighth title (ninth in total including the Yugoslav era). Also, this was their third triumph in Belgrade. On home soil – they are the rulers.

Bronze medal final

Italy 5-12 Greece
(1-4, 1-3, 2-3, 1-2)

The prospect of claiming their first-ever medal at the European Championships clearly gave the Greeks a lot more motivation in the bronze medal match, and that was visible right from the beginning.

They were much more into the game, showed more will and more determination in each possession and defence, and they won the game practically by half-time.

The Greeks stormed to a 0-4 lead in six minutes, as they converted all three of their man-up chances, and Konstantinos Kakaris scored a great one from the centre, while the Italians couldn’t break through the Greek defensive wall.

A time-out by Italy coach Sandro Campagna was designed to halt his team’s bad start and they immediately forced a penalty.

Filippo Ferrero buried it, but they were unable to come any closer, as they missed their last two man-ups.

And those misses came back to haunt them early in the second quarter when Efstathios Kalogeropoulos put away another extra for 1-5, while an excellent block killed Italy’s next six-on-five too.

Overcoming the disappointments of losing the semis is often challenging for all players, and that was mirrored by the game, as the pace was slower than in their previous encounter, played in the second group stage.

Still, the Greeks had much more focus and were definitely sharper, and a great individual effort from Alexandros Papanastasiou pushed them towards their ultimate goal with a fine finish to make it 1-6.

The Italians were becoming a little desperate, as they were unable to get past the Greek defence, with their shots barely making it to the goal, and if any reached Emmanouil Zerdevas, the Greek goalie’s hands somehow always blocked them.

And when Italy missed back-to-back man-ups, and Kalogeropoulos sent the ball home from the Greeks’ next six-on-five for 1-7, it felt like there was no way back for Italy.

The extra-man conversion rates must have been really infuriating Campagna, as his players then missed another one.

Then, in the dying seconds of the first half, Francesco Condemi’s shot from their next man-up somehow got through Zerdevas’ hands, but not even at 2-7 did the game look any different.

It was an alarming stat that Italy had only had seven shots on target in the entire first 16 minutes…

When Konstantinos Kakaris scored from a dying possession early in the third, it was becoming even more clear that the Greeks were finally going to get to stand on a podium at the European Championships.

Condemi then netted a five-on-four, but again the next Italian extra was denied, and soon the last crucial scene also went in the Greeks’ favour.

Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis’ nice lob landed somewhere around the goal line, and when the Italians earned an extra from the resulting counter, play was stopped for a VAR review.

It confirmed Gkiouvetsis’ shot had travelled far enough, which gave the Greeks a 3-9 lead (instead of the Settebello having a chance to make it 4-8), and at that point the Italians were broken.

Italy missed another extra, while the Greeks converted theirs, from a second attempt after the rebound fortunately fell to Dimitrios Nikolaidis after a rare save from Marco Del Lungo.

The Italians wasted two more six-on-fives, while the Greeks could afford a miss, but they still led 4-10 before the last break, as Ferrero managed to pull one back with another last-gasp hit.

Still, it was clear there wouldn’t be any significant change in the remaining eight minutes and apart from some minor incidents, the players kept their calm and didn’t want to press too hard any longer.

Stylianos Argyropoulos added two more to bring his tally to four in this match, a stylish end to the campaign which, after decades of waiting, landed them a well-deserved medal.

After the game, Konstantinos Kakaris was presented with the MVP award after an outstanding performance, and Argyropoulos’ four goals took him to the top of the goalscoring charts here in Belgrade – joint level with France’s Thomas Vernoux on 26.

MVP Team of the 2026 European Water Polo Championships: Stylianos Argyropoulos (GRE), Strahinja Rasovic (SRB), Krisztian Manhercz (HUN), Konstantinos Kakaris (GRE), Akos Nagy (HUN), Dusan Mandic (SRB) & Milan Glusac (SRB)

Watch all the action from Belgrade on Eurovision Sport

For the full results/tables/stats from the European Championships, 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: Serbia crowned European champions after defensive masterclass against Hungary first appeared on European Aquatics®.