After a thrilling third day of action at the men’s Elite U16 European Water Polo Championships in Istanbul, Italy and Serbia topped their respective groups after both sides earned hard-fought victories on Wednesday. In the Division One tournament in Ljubljana, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Bosnia & Herzegovina continued to impress as they all maintained their 100% records.

Men’s U16 European Water Polo Championships
Day 3 Elite Division
Group Stage – Istanbul, Türkiye
Wednesday 9 July 2025

Group A

Hungary 17-10 Türkiye
Serbia 14-12 Spain

Standings: 1. Serbia 9pts, 2. Spain 6pts, 3. Hungary 3pts, 4. Türkiye 0pts

Group B

Montenegro 12-12 (5-4P) Croatia
Greece 15-19 Italy

Standings: 1. Italy 9pts, 2. Greece 6pts, 3. Montenegro 2pts, 4. Croatia 1pt

Group C

Malta 14-11 Moldova
Netherlands 16-8 Georgia

Standings: 1. Netherlands 9pts, 2. Georgia 6pts, 3. Malta 3pts, 4. Moldova 0pts

Group D

Germany 16-11 Romania

Standings: 1. Germany 6pts, 2. Romania 3pts, 3. Poland 0pts

Day 3 Division One
Group Stage – Ljubljana, Slovenia
Wednesday 9 July 2025

Group A

Portugal 6-17 Cyprus
France 9-10 Bulgaria
Slovakia 16-17 Slovenia

Standings: 1. Bulgaria 9pts, 2. France 6pts, 2. Slovenia 6pts, 4. Cyprus 3pts, 4. Slovakia 3pts, 6. Portugal 0pts

Group B

Latvia 4-21 Lithuania
Ukraine 10-4 Czechia
Bosnia & Herzegovina 13-11 Switzerland

Standings: 1. Ukraine 9pts, 1. Bosnia & Herzegovina 9pts, 3. Switzerland 6pts, 4. Lithuania 3pts, 5. Czechia 0pts, 5. Latvia 0pts

Italy rallied to a big 15-19 win over Croatia to clinch the first place in Group B. It was a brilliant match of twists and turns with a flood of goals in the first half where the Italians, once up by four, took a 9-11 lead.

The Greeks hit back in the third with Maximos Mantzouridis leading the charge. His double in 64 seconds brought his team back to even at 12-12, and Konstantinos Papanikolau put the Greeks ahead with 2:51 remaining.

However, this only triggered the Francesco Corelli Show – the Italians’ master shooter equalised right away and, after Francesco d’Arrigo quickly added another for 13-14, he then netted two more in 30 seconds at the start of the fourth.

The Greeks were stunned, then a minute later Paolo Borsalino’s action goal expanded the gap to four which practically floored their rivals. They pulled one back, but Corelli crowned his performance with his seventh goal 1:30 from time to secure the top spot for Italy.

In the other match, the third place was at stake, but in the current format this had smaller importance – both Croatia and Montenegro were to play a crossover anyway – it was more about pride and, after two defeats, to gain some confidence before the knockout-stage kicks off.

Consequently, the clash was as fierce and close as it could be. Midway through the second period, the Montenegrins jumped to a 6-3 lead, but the Croats fought themselves back to 7-7, still before the middle break.

Montenegro kept going ahead, leading 10-9 before the last break and went 11-9 up early in the fourth, but Duje Burazin was on fire and hit two in 36 seconds to make it 11-11.

Again, Danilo Roganovic sent the Montenegrins ahead by burying a penalty, but Burazin levelled it up once more – he scored the last four for the Croats. Almost three minutes remained to score the winner but neither side found the back of the net, leaving the decision to the penalties.

There, a single save decided the outcome, as in the fourth round, Strahinja Vranes made the crucial stop, so Montenegro finished third.

In the highlighted match in Group A, Serbia staged a devastating 5-0 run against Spain to jump from being 4-5 down to a 9-5 lead deep into the third period.

Spain, offering some sparkling offensive display on the previous two days, were completely frozen up front for 10 long minutes, before they could score again. They then netted two in quick succession, but Nikola Pavlovic scored a fine action goal with 0:02 on the clock to make it 10-7 before the final period.

And the Spanish defence was unable to stop the Serbs in the fourth as well. An early penalty cut the difference to two goals, but Spain’s hopes were short-lived as the Serbs put away two 6 on 5s while killing their rivals’ extra to reset the four-goal gap.

After 12-8, the Serbs could always respond to Spain’s hits, and they still led 14-10 turning into the last three minutes. Despite Javier Sanchez-Toril’s late heroics, he scored four alone in the fourth, Spain never had a realistic chance to force a shootout and had to settle for the second place.

The third place was decided in the last match of Day 3, between Türkiye and Hungary. After the hosts had pushed Serbia and Spain close in the previous two days, it seemed they had ran out of some steam.

The Türks did lead 4-5 at the first break, but then the young Magyars started to take control, stylishly shutting up shop and winning the second quarter 3-0.

Almost 12 minutes had passed before Türkiye could score again, this time through Eymen Altay, but Hungary kept piling forward and edging further and further ahead.

In the last quarter, the Hungarians found another gear and put together a 4-0 finish to put some gloss on what was an emphatic win.

The top spots were at stake on Wednesday in Groups C and D too. Both winners hit 16 goals to finish top respectively. The Netherlands downed Georgia, and Germany beat Romania with ease – all these sides had already secured their berths in the crossovers, though the top division contenders they face are still the heavy favourites in the coming round. Malta had the better of Moldova to claim the third place in Group C.

In Ljubljana, at the Division One tournament, Bulgaria edged out France in the battle of the two unbeaten sides in Group A. Niki Tsvetkov finished off a counter 34 seconds from time to win it for the Bulgarians, who still came out on top despite missing two penalties in crucial moments.

In Group B, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina made it three wins from three. Ukraine blew away the Czechs, while the Bosnians upended the Swiss in a thrilling encounter.

In the other matches, Cyprus thrashed Portugal and Lithuania showed no mercy against their neighbours Latvia, while at the end of the day, hosts Slovenia narrowly won an entertaining clash with Slovakia.

The Slovaks trailed by three at 4-7 four minutes into the second quarter, but fought back to level the scores at 8-8 just before the long break.

After nudging ahead briefly in the third, the Slovenians wrestled back the lead and were 13-14 up going into a tense final eight minutes.

Slovakia still refused to lie down and equalised twice at 14-14 and 15-15 and even went ahead again at 16-15, but they ultimately left with nothing, as two late goals from Luka Vujanovic won it for Slovenia.

The winner came from a penalty with just 21 seconds remaining and the fans’ celebrations will surely last long into the night.

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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