European Water Polo Championship

Season Description
The 2026 Men's European Water Polo Championship is the 37th edition of the biannual continental tournament in men's national water polo teams, organised by Europe's governing aquatics body, European Aquatics. The tournament takes place from 10 to 25 January 2026. This edition will mark the 100 year anniversary of the championships. This edition is the first one ever to have a 25 meter swimming pool, down from 30 meters. The competition will be held in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, for the third time. This will be the second edition to have different hosts for both genders after European Aquatics made the change permanent in March 2025. This edition will also witness a new format, introducing a second group stage as opposed to an extended knockout round. 16 teams will take part for the sixth time. The top eight teams, including hosts Serbia, from the 2024 version qualified automatically, while the remaining eights teams progressed via qualification. Turkey qualified after a 6-year drought, while Germany failed to qualify on merit for the first time. This tournament will act as a qualifier for the 2027 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest and 2028 European Championship. Spain are the defending champions, beating Croatia, 11–10, in the final in Zagreb. However, they failed to defend their after missing out on the semifinals. Hosts Serbia won their ninth title after beating Hungary 10–7 in the final. Greece managed to be on the podium for the first time after beating Italy in the bronze medal game with an score of 12–5.

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