Italy were crowned the young kings of the continent at the men’s Elite U16 European Water Polo Championships in Istanbul on Sunday. Their devastating attack hit top form in the final to dismantle Hungary’s defence to win 20-12. The Italians were flawless throughout the week as they won all of their six matches, while producing 101 goals in total. Montenegro downed Croatia for the bronze. In the Division One tournament in Ljubljana, France took the honours after beating Bulgaria in the final, while Bosnia & Herzegovina claimed the bronze.

Men’s U16 European Water Polo Championships
Finals Elite Division
Istanbul, Türkiye
Sunday 13 July 2025

Gold Medal Game

Italy 20-12 Hungary

Bronze Medal Game

Montenegro 12-7 Croatia

5th/6th Final

Spain 11-14 Greece

7th/8th Final

Türkiye 12-21 Serbia

13th-15th Play-offs

Malta 13-9 Moldova

Individual Awards

MVP – Antonio Chianese (ITA)
Best Goalkeeper – Jaksa Milanovic (MNE)
Top Scorer – Maximos Mantzouridis (GRE – 27 goals)

Day 7 Division One
Finals – Ljubljana, Slovenia
Sunday 13 July 2025

Gold Medal Game

Bulgaria 12-12 (4-5P) France

Bronze Medal Game

Bosnia & Herzegovina 9-9 (4-2P) Ukraine

5th/6th Final

Slovenia 8-9 Switzerland

7th/8th Final

Lithuania 8-13 Cyprus

9th/10th Final

Slovakia 10-11 Portugal

11th/12th Final

Latvia 2-19 Czechia

Italy turned the elite final into a lopsided battle inside the first eight minutes. They were fast and furious from the start and stormed into a 6-1 lead, leaving the Hungarians stranded.

They were clinical in front of goal as they kicked off the game with three action goals, while their defence did a tremendous job as they were moving much faster, and leaving no breathing space for their rivals.

Hungary needed some luck and a wayward backpass to finally get on the scoresheet. Huba Fabinyi chipped the loose ball in, but this didn’t get them going as Italy replied with two fast goals in 32 seconds and Francesco Maffei added another from action 26 seconds before the first break.

The difference just grew in the second quarter, as the Italians were everywhere, both in attack and in defence, while the Magyars were unable to deliver the finishes to keep up.

At 8-1 it was virtually over – even with 16-year-old boys it was hard to see any sharp twist in the match. In the second part of the period, the Hungarians found the back of the net a couple of times, but they were unable to do anything to stop, or at least slow down, the Italians, who rallied to a 12-4 lead by half-time.

Italy were playing in a totally different gear – they were superior in the water and were a lot sharper mentally.

Perhaps the different path to the final took its toll, as Italy, a group winner, enjoyed a rest day and played an easier quarter-final, while the Hungarians played their seventh match in as many days.

There wasn’t a huge difference between the number saves – but rather in the number of shots on goal. The Magyars had a lot of missed shots, hitting the posts from decent opportunities, while the Italians didn’t leave much chance for either goalies in the opposite cage. 

Once up by 13-4, their playing level dropped somewhat, and the Hungarians were able to gain some ground and scored three goals, just to make the result appear better. However, Antonio Chianese made sure Italy would have the last laugh in this quarter too, so his team enjoyed a golden lead of 14-7 before the final period.

Soon the gap began to grow once more as Pedro Puleo put away a man-up, then Bruno Bordone finished off a counter after a killed man-down to maintain the festive-like atmosphere.

More goals came at both ends, as each side looked to be eagerly awaiting the final whistle – the Italians wanted to get their hands on the gold medals, while the Hungarians were keen for their suffering to be over.

The Italians stopped at an incredible 20 goals, which is pretty unusual for a final, but their group-stage goals (19 v Greece, 17 v Montenegro and 18 v Croatia) had already shown what an outstanding generation of players this is.

The bronze medal final saw Croatia clash with Montenegro, and they had already faced off on the last day of the group stage. Back then it was a meeting between two winless sides and the Montenegrins edged their arch-rivals in a shootout.

Now, the last place on the podium was at stake and Montenegro dominated right from the beginning. They rushed to a 4-1 lead and never let the Croats inside two goals again. What’s more, after 5-3, they added two in 31 seconds to go 7-3 up.

The Croats had a better spell as they came back to 7-5 by the middle of the third, but Danilo Roganovic put away a penalty, and Andrej Durutovic converted another one 1:34 before the last break to make it 9-5.

When Roganovic hammered in his third from an extra early in the fourth, and Petar Nikolic scored just 26 seconds later from a counter, it was all over at 11-5, even though there were still six more minutes to play. The Croats got somewhat closer, but Montenegro’s victory was never in danger.

In the other placement matches, Greece upended Spain to finish 5th. It was a back-and-forth game, where Greece blew an early-three goal lead and Spain went ahead at 9-8 late in the third. It was still 11-11 deep into the fourth, but the Greeks found another level in the last three minutes to close out the match with three unanswered goals.

Serbia grabbed the 7th place with a commanding performance against host Türkiye, netting 21 goals.

For the 13th place, the round robin tourney ended in a three-way tie where the final ranks came down to the tiniest margins. Malta would have needed a six-goal win to claim the best placement and they were 9-3 up against Moldova at one point, but their rivals started climbing back (a single-goal defeat would have put them on top).

Moldova came back to two goals twice, but Malta hit back, though the four-goal margin at the end dropped them behind Poland by one goal.

On the final day of the Division One tournament in Ljubljana, France won a thrilling title bout against Bulgaria. The French had a flying start, leading 2-5, before the Bulgarians stepped up and turned the cards to go 8-6 up in the third.

However, the French were able to raise their game again, equalising soon and from 8-8 it was a toe-to-toe battle.

Leon Kaszan’s late penalty gave Bulgaria a 10-9 lead before the last period, but midway through the fourth, France went ahead at 11-12 and had a six on five chance but missed it, while Stefan Dimitrov put away the Bulgarians’ man-up to make it 12-12 with 1:40 on the clock.

The winner didn’t come in regular time, so penalties were needed. It was the 10th shot that decided the outcome, as the first nine attempts all went in, while the last Bulgarian shot hit the post, awarding the win to the French.

The bronze medal clash also ended in a shootout. Bosnia & Herzegovina jumped to an early 5-2 lead, but Ukraine staged a 0-5 surge and seemed to be sitting comfortably in the driving seat.

However, the Bosnians managed to catch them up at 8-8, netting back-to-back penalties. Danilo Benyakh netted a six on four to put Ukraine ahead once more, then they missed a crucial six on five before Stefan Glavic levelled it up from action, 50 seconds from time.

The Ukrainians had another extra, after a time-out, but couldn’t put that away either, so penalties were needed. The Bosnians were clinical, while their rivals missed twice, so they secured the third place.

Switzerland upset hosts Slovenia to clinch the 5th place after they staged a 0-3 rush after 7-5 and managed to score the last goal after 8-8, by Gian Kluser. Cyprus did a clean job in the match for 7th place, beating Lithuania with ease.

Portugal finished 9th, with a last-gasp winner by Jose Pedro against Slovakia, and Czechia thrashed Latvia to take 11th.

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

For the full results from Istanbul, click here.

For the full results from Ljubljana, click here.

Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics