European Water Polo Championship Women

Season Description
The 2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship was the 21st edition of the biannual continental tournament in national women's water polo teams, organised by Europe's governing aquatics body, European Aquatics. The tournament was played from 26 January to 5 February 2026. The competition was intended to be held in Serbia's capital Belgrade, alongside the men's championship. However, the Serbs would later relinquish the hosting rights for the women's event. On 4 July 2025, Portugal was awarded the hosting rights for the first time with Madeira's capital, Funchal, being selected as the host city. This was the second edition to have different hosts for both genders after European Aquatics made the change permanent in March 2025. This edition also witnessed a new format, introducing a second group stage as opposed to an extended knockout round. For the second time, 16 teams were participating in the tournament, following the expansion in 2024. The top eight teams from the 2024 edition qualified automatically, while the remaining eight teams progressed via qualification. Future hosts, Portugal, and Switzerland qualified after a 10 and 31 year drought respectively. This tournament acted as a qualifier for the 2027 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest and the 2028 European Championship edition. Netherlands were the defending champions, beating Spain, 8–7, in the final in Eindhoven. They defended their title with a finals win over Hungary.

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