The coming days are devoted to age-group action at the European stage as the Men’s European U17 Water Polo Championships qualification tournaments take place at four venues. Eight teams can join the show, scheduled for August.
Apart from Group A, the top two ranked sides of each group will join the already qualified sides at the championships, to be held in Manisa (TUR). Turkiye, as the host, shall go through from Group A, no matter which rank the team will take at the end of the tournament so from here the highest ranked side will qualify – though based on the power ranks, the Turks should battle for the top spot with host Georgia.
Teams drawn from the first two pots – appearing in the first two places below where the groups are shown – are the favourites anyway. However, Group B may see some hotly contested encounters as Germany, host Slovenia and France seem to be on the same level – and only two can make the cut.
After the conclusion of the qualifiers this weekend, the draw for the big stage shall take place on 1 April in Sabadell, on the site of the Champions League Women Final Four, and the European Championships kick off on 8 August.
As for the women, since LEN received 17 entries, no qualification is necessary, all teams shall play at the Championships, also to be held in Manisa, on 29 July–5 August – the draw for this event will also happen in Sabadell.
You can follow all the tournaments with live streaming and results at this page on the LEN Website
Men’s European U17 Water Polo Championships, Qualifications
Group A (Tbilisi, GEO)
Georgia, Turkiye, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Cyprus
Group B (Maribor, SLO)
Germany, Slovenia, France, Austria
Group C (Targu Mures, ROU)
Romania, Ukraine, Switzerland, Moldova, Ireland
Group D (Gzira, MLT)
Malta, Slovakia, Great Britain, Poland, Latvia
