After Sunday’s opening clashes, the action kicked off in all the other groups on Monday in the men’s qualifiers for the 2026 European Water Polo Championships. Slovakia delivered the first upset as they beat Germany, while Georgia hit 41 goals against Bulgaria – an unusually high number, but perhaps not any longer in this new water polo played in a 25m field.
European Water Polo Championships
Men’s Qualifications, Day 2
Monday 9 June 2025
Group A (Kranj)
Great Britain 13-5 Czechia
Slovenia 13-11 Poland
Group B (Istanbul)
Germany 8-13 Slovakia
Sweden 16-13 Finland
Türkiye 12-13 Slovakia
Germany 30-3 Sweden
Group C (Tbilisi)
Switzerland 13-23 Israel
Georgia 41-10 Bulgaria
Group D (Gzira)
France 19-7 Portugal
Malta 13-11 Ukraine
Slovakia enjoyed a tremendous day in Istanbul as they landed six points from their two matches. First, they upset the Germans with a big 8-13 win, then in the evening they could also down host Türkiye in a nail-biter to take the pole position to qualify.
A devastating 0-5 run against the Germans did the damage in the middle two periods, as the Slovaks jumped to a 2-8 lead. The Germans then had a better spell, but Slovakia’s Adam Furman scored a crucial action goal to make it 7-10 and soon another double reset the five-goal gap, which the Slovaks maintained until the end.
They were back for more in the evening and kept their momentum against the Türks, as they stormed to a 0-4 lead in eight minutes. However, the home side started climbing back and with eight minutes to go they only trailed 8-9.
The Slovaks managed to respond well once more, as an early goal from Furman dashed their rivals’ hopes to go even, then, at 9-11, Patrik Tisaj’s double in 49 seconds made it 9-13. The Türks produced a late surge, but their final goal came in the last second, which was too late to save the match to a shootout.
The Germans bounced back from their earlier defeat with a devastating win against Sweden, who won the Nordic classic against Finland in the morning.
In Group A, Great Britain clinched a brilliant win over Czechia. Early in the second quarter, the Czechs led 3-5 – and few would have thought that in the remaining 21:47 minutes only the Brits would score goals. It happened, though, as Great Britain produced a devastating and clinical 10-0 run, completely shutting out the Czechs with some superb defending.
Hosts Slovenia had to overcome some headaches against Poland. The first half was not only balanced, but the Poles even led 5-6. The Slovenians then raised their game and started dominating in the third and once they took a three-goal lead, their win was never in danger.
Elsewhere, Tbilisi staged a scoring festival, as the two matches in Group C produced a mind-blowing 87 goals.
Israel pulled off an easy win against Switzerland, 23-13. Then came Georgia and Bulgaria and a staggering feast of 41 hits from the home side – they reached double digits in all four periods.
In Gzira, France opened their campaign with a comfortable cruising against Portugal. In contrast, Malta had to dig deep to claim all three points against Ukraine.
The hosts got off to the better start and held on to a three-goal lead for most of the first half. In the third, their concentration levels seem to drop, as the Ukrainians smelled blood, and with a fine man-up goal from Danylo Sokolov they came back to even in the last second of the third at 9-9.
What’s more, with 5:36 on the clock, they went 10-11 up, but Malta had more left in the tank for the finish. The home side hit back with a 3-0 run in the last four minutes, with Steven Camilleri leading the charge as usual, as the captain added two action goals late on to seal the win.
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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics
