After successfully hosting the Women’s U16 European Water Polo Championships last week, the action resumes in the same Istanbul pool on Monday with the start of the Men’s Elite U16 European Water Polo Championships. The Division One tournament also begins on Monday in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Men’s U16 European Water Polo Championships
Elite (Istanbul, 7-13 July)

Group A: Hungary, Serbia, Spain, Türkiye
Group B: Montenegro, Greece, Italy, Croatia
Group C: Malta, Netherlands, Georgia, Moldova
Group D: Germany, Romania, Poland

Division One
(Ljubljana, 7-13 July)

Group A: Bulgaria, Slovenia, France, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovakia
Group B: Czechia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Bosnia & Herzegovina

For the first time in decades, the organisers didn’t have to change the pool set-up between a women’s and men’s tournament, as the field-of-play has become identical once more (for some years in the past, the women also played on a 30m field, but now the men’s territory has also been reduced to 25m).

Indeed, the U16 men will be the first to play under the new rules at a European Aquatics major. However, what hasn’t changed is the list of the ‘usual’ suspects who will have a shot at the title in Istanbul.

Watching the trends in recent years, mentioning Spain first among the favourites goes without saying. Let alone this season, the Spaniards have already landed the men’s U20 title and last week their U16 women also grabbed gold.

No one would be surprised if their winning series continued. Though here there are a few more challengers, as Hungary, with whom the Spanish play their opener on Monday and the other strong team in Group A – Serbia – will also seek glory in the coming week.

And Group B is packed with title-contenders, as Montenegro, Greece, Italy and Croatia have also come for medals.

The format remains the same with two divisions in the Elite tournament. The top-two ranked sides in Group A and Group B advance directly to the quarters, while the third and fourth-placed teams have to play crossovers against the top four-ranked sides from the lower division.

However, this age-group has welcomed the most entries, so parallel with the Istanbul tournament, a Division One event will run in Ljubljana and here the best teams may earn a berth in the top tier event for the 2027 edition.

–

Watch all the action live from Istanbul and Ljubljana 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