Funchal 2026: Spain surge past Croatia to finish fifth at European Championships

Spain brushed off the disappointment of missing out on a European Championships medal for the first time since 2012 by winning the 5th/6th final against Croatia in emphatic fashion. Earlier, Israel also ended their campaign on a high after producing a dominant display against France to finish seventh.

Women’s 2026 European Water Polo Championships – Funchal
Day 10, Wednesday 4 February

Classification finals

5th/6th final

Croatia 9-23 Spain

7th/8th final

Israel 20-12 France

5th/6th final

Croatia 9-23 Spain
(4-8, 1-5, 1-5, 3-5)

Spain may still have been hurting from missing out on the medal games, but in their 5th-8th semi against France and their final clash with Croatia, they showed no signs of feeling sorry for themselves.

After demolishing the French on Tuesday, they quickly set about dismantling Croatia, firing in eight goals in the opening quarter, with captain Bea Ortiz scoring the first with a 6m blast to set them on their way.

In the second period, the Olympic champions moved eight clear (5-13), with Elena Ruiz completing her hat-trick shortly before half-time, while Iva Rozic was leading Croatia’s resistance, striking twice.

Croatia kept on fighting – just as they have throughout this tournament – with Ria Glas rising spectacularly to block Paula Leiton’s shot at the start of the third, before captain Jelena Butic hit her second of the game with a rocket from the perimeter that flew into the top right corner.

Spain were still dominating, though, and were winning 6-18 at the last break after replying with five unanswered goals.

In the fourth, the Spanish surge continued, as Croatia’s intensity levels started to dip, and they rubber-stamped their authority on the game by shutting their opponents out for a further three minutes.

They were 15 ahead (6-21) by the time Rozic finally ended Spain’s 0-8 run – and their 8:59 barren spell – with a nice finish from a counter.

At the end, Spain stopped at 23, with Ortiz top-scoring with five goals, which takes her to the top of the scorers’ chart in Funchal for now (25), one ahead of Rozic (24), who ended the game with three.

Despite the result, Croatia have still secured their best-ever finish at a European Championships and will head home happy. The Croats’ previous best position was 8th, which they achieved on three occasions, in 2010, 2022 and 2024.

For Spain, finishing 5th is obviously a huge disappointment, as the last time they failed to make the semi-finals was in 2012 in Eindhoven (where they also took 5th place). Since then, they have had six straight top-four finishes, including winning two of the last three finals, in 2020 and 2022 (they were runners-up in 2024).

7th/8th final

Israel 20-12 France
(7-3, 3-2, 6-5, 4-2)

After four straight losses in Funchal, Israel finally showed their true colours again to take down France and claim seventh place with a dominant display.

Maria Bogachenko’s left-wing strike got the Israelis off the mark from their first six-on-five, and soon it was 2-0, with Tahel Levi faking, then delicately lobbing the ball over France goalkeeper Romane Secheresse.

Valentine Heurtaux pulled one back with a powerful 6m blast, but Israel hit two more – through Bogachenko and Alma Yaacobi – to give them a three-goal lead midway through the opening quarter.

By the first break, Israel were four clear (7-3), as they were overpowering the French defence time and time again.

In the second period, both teams exchanged early goals before Shunit Strugo struck from the centre to move Israel five clear, and when Yaacobi flashed in another fierce shot, the game was drifting away from the French.

An Ema Vernoux penalty just before the buzzer cut the gap to five (10-5) and gave the French some hope ahead of the second half.

France got within four twice in the third (13-9 and 14-10), but Israel hit two late goals – Noa Sasover slamming in from the centre, and Noga Levinshtein rifling in from the left wing – to make it 16-10 at the last break.

In the fourth, Israel continued to dictate, hammering in four more to take their total to 20, while France could only manage two, as they fell seven behind.

The win was Israel’s second ever against France at a European Championships, and a huge improvement on their previous encounter two years ago in the group stage, when they suffered a heavy 16-8 defeat.

Compared to their placements in Eindhoven, Israel improved by two places, from 9th to 7th, while France slipped from 6th to 8th.

For the full schedule, results and tables from the women’s European Water Polo Championships in Funchal, click here

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Andy Rollé for European Aquatics

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