All the favourites – Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary and Türkiye – won their crossovers on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the men’s Elite U16 European Water Polo Championships in Istanbul. Meanwhile, in Ljubljana at the Division One tournament, Bulgaria and Bosnia & Herzegovina made it four wins from four to stay top of their respective groups.

Men’s U16 European Water Polo Championships
Crossovers Elite Division
Istanbul, Türkiye
Thursday 10 July 2025

Croatia 17-11 Germany
Montenegro 13-7 Romania
Hungary 14-4 Georgia
Türkiye 15-12 Netherlands

Day 4 Division One
Group Stage – Ljubljana, Slovenia
Thursday 10 July 2025

Group A

Cyprus 15-10 Slovakia
Bulgaria 14-10 Portugal
Slovenia 11-14 France

Standings: 1. Bulgaria 12pts, 2. France 9pts, 3. Slovenia 6pts, 3. Cyprus 6pts, 5. Slovakia 3pts, 6. Portugal 0pts

Group B

Lithuania 6-14 Bosnia & Herzegovina
Czechia 12-6 Latvia
Switzerland 11-11 (8-9P) Ukraine

Standings: 1. Bosnia & Herzegovina 12pts, 2. Ukraine 11pts, 3. Switzerland 7pts, 4. Lithuania 3pts, 4. Czechia 3pts, 6. Latvia 0pts

Croatia were the first team to land in the best eight in Istanbul after a convincing win over Germany in the crossovers. The highest-ranked teams from the lower divisions challenged the third and fourth-placed sides from Group A and B on Thursday, and Croatia had the chance to find a way out of the misery they went through in the group stage.

They found it, and did it with ease, as they produced two splendid quarters right away, winning each 5-2 to lead 10-4 at half-time, which was a great response from the players.

The Germans couldn’t withstand the pressure, and even though the second half was more balanced, the Croatians’ first win of the Championships was never in danger. This sets up an epic quarter-final battle on Friday between the Croats and Serbians.

Next came Montenegro and after a tight opening period, they came up with a 4-0 blast in the second to go 7-2 up by half-time. They added four more in the third to sail away with a convincing victory – and now they face Spain in the quarters.

The Hungarians overcame some early headaches as they had to equalise twice against Georgia, and missed a penalty. After an early exchange of man-up goals for 3-3, the Magyars staged a 4-0 run before the middle break, though their penalty conversion was sluggish at best (put away two, missed another one).

Georgia were 7-3 behind at half-time and had already lost two players with three major fouls, which didn’t promise much for the second half.

They did manage to score one solitary goal in the last two periods, but they were well beaten by Hungary, who will look to improve on their poor penalty conversion rate (4/9) when they face Greece on Friday.

In the fourth match, Türkiye secured their first win of the tournament with a hard-fought victory against the Netherlands. Efe Ike (seven goals) and captain Eymen Altay (four goals) were unstoppable as they helped steer their side to the last eight.

After winning each of the first three quarters, the hosts were 11-6 up and two unanswered goals early in the fourth took them out of sight. They’ll now face Italy on Friday.

In the Division One tournament, Ukraine dropped their first points of the Championships, as Switzerland sensationally scored three late goals to force a penalty shootout.

The Ukrainians looked on course for their fourth successive victory as they scored three without reply in the last period to lead 8-11.

With 3:35 remaining, Switzerland’s captain Rohan Negro hammered in a shot from distance to cut the gap to two, but the game still looked lost, especially when they missed a six-on-five chance shortly after.

However, in the last 42 seconds, Negro added a stunning double, one from extra and another from 6m to level the scores.

The penalties were flawless for the first eight rounds, then Ukraine’s Danylo Benyakh saw his effort saved to hand the Swiss the chance to win it. Gian Kluser swam up to take it, but his shot was also blocked. Ukraine had been handed a reprieve and buried their next two to seal the two points after Felix Fluckiger’s penalty was beaten away.

Also in Group B, Czechia stormed past Latvia 12-6, and Bosnia & Herzegovina soared to the top of the table after downing Lithuania 6-14, with Zarije Miladinovic firing in six times, including three penalties.

In Group A, France produced moments of brilliance in the middle two quarters to down the hosts Slovenia. A quick-fire Luka Vujanovic hat-trick in the first quarter helped guide Slovenia to a 5-4 lead, but France defended superbly for the next 15 minutes and completely shut their opponents out.

In the meantime, the French hit five at the other end to put them 5-9 ahead. Slovenia finally ended their drought through Vuk Petrovic, but the momentum was still with the French, who added three more before the last break to lead 7-12.

The Slovenians won the last quarter 4-2, but they were never able to get any closer than three.

Elsewhere in Group A, Cyprus dominated the third quarter 6-2 against Slovakia to put them on the road to victory, and Bulgaria came from behind to beat Portugal and maintain their perfect start to the Championships.

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Watch all the action live from Istanbul and Ljubljana for free on the European Aquatics TV channel, which can be found by clicking here.

For the full results/tables and schedule from Istanbul, click here.

For the full results/tables and schedule from Ljubljana, click here.

Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics