The 2024 European Water Polo Championships will be historical in several aspects – for the first time, the tournaments shall be played in two-division formats, and this is going to be the first women’s edition featuring 16 teams. The initial thrills are just a few days away as the draw for the championships will be held on 12 September in Israel at 16.00 CET.

Based on the results achieved exactly one year ago in Split – and during the qualifications in June –, two divisions were formed in both events. This is going to be the grand premiere for this format at senior level, so far it worked really well at the age-group events.

This also puts special emphasis on the draw since in the top division there will be several big matches right away in the first week and only the top two ranked sides from each group will qualify to the quarter-finals directly. The third and fourth placed teams should face a ‘challenge’ from the top two ranked teams coming from the Division II groups. And this time one of these crossovers will have a special flavour since Serbia, having crashed out against France last September, will be one of the upcoming challengers, posing an imminent threat to one of the sides finishing fourth in the top division (at least this is the most probable scenario). The draw will already decide which group in the top division will be in the ‘Serbs’ way’, so the event on Tuesday, broadcasted live from Netanya, will be in the spotlight more than ever.

Another reason for the higher expectations – and this also stands for the women’s tournament, having 16 for the first time – that the Europeans will grant a respective Olympic spot for both champions. Or, if any of the qualified sides clinches the title (Hungary and Greece among the men, the Netherlands or Spain among the women), the next highest ranked non-qualified team will grab the Paris2024 berth.

Tune in – this time the excitements are guaranteed even without a ball thrown in the pool.

2024 European Water Polo Championships, Netanya – Batches for the draw

Men
Division 1
Batch 1: Croatia, Hungary
Batch 2: Spain, Italy
Batch3: Greece, France
Batch 4: Montenegro, Georgia
Division 2
Batch 5: Netherlands, Germany, Serbia, Romania
Batch 6: Israel, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia

Women
Division 1
Batch 1: Spain, Greece
Batch 2: Italy, Netherlands,
Batch 2: Hungary, Israel
Batch 4: France, Croatia
Division 2
Batch 5: Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Great Britain
Batch 6: Bulgaria, Turkiye, Czechia, Germany