Water polo is a lesser-known sport that is not always followed by the general public. And what most people do not know is that the Netherlands does have a large number of recreational water polo clubs. It is mainly the Southern and Eastern European countries where the sport is played at a high level. In this blog, let us examine what the European Championship in 2024 will mean for the fans of this tough sport.
Where and when will the European Water Polo Championships be held in 2024?
Just after New Year, from 4 to 16 January, the European water polo teams will compete for the title. That was found in Croatia. The men's matches are now being held in the cities of Zagreb and Dubrovnik.
The women's tournament had to move to Eindhoven for organizational reasons. Because it is in their own country, it will undoubtedly get more attention. Also when betting on sports in the Netherlands, there will be extensive possibilities for water polo.
What are the participating countries in the European Championship?
There are a total of 16 countries that compete for the title of European Champion 2024. They are divided into two divisions. Each division then consists of two groups. This is the division.
Division 1:
Group A: Croatia, Montenegro, France and Spain.
Group B Georgia, Greece, Italy and Hungary.
Division 2:
Group C: Serbia, Germany, Malta and Israel.
Group D: Netherlands, Slovakia, Romania and Slovenia.
There are a total of 25 countries that have a national team. But only these 16 qualify. Slovenia provides the surprise. The country is in 23rd place in the European ranking. And yet it left favorites such as Russia (place 8) and Turkey (place 12) behind.
Who are the favourites to win the European title?
The great thing about sports is that the outcome of matches is never completely certain and predictable. Sometimes the favorite confirms, but it is also often the underdog that provides the surprise of the day. Just look at Slovenia, which is dangling at the very bottom of the rankings, and still managed to qualify for the final round.
But let's take a look at who, besides Russia and Montenegro, are the other countries that had collected the most points when the ranking was drawn up in 2022.
- Hungary: 449 points
- Italy: 405 points
- Croatia: 242 points
- Spain: 226 points
- Greece: 146 points
- France: 139 points
- Russia: 115 points
- Montenegro:109 points
- Germany: 91 points
- Romania: 64 points
It is immediately noticeable that there are big differences. Hungary leads with 449 points, followed by Italy that also scores more than 400 points. But then Croatia as a nice third has only slightly more than half of Hungary's points. It then continues to drop quite quickly, with number ten only scoring 64 points.
But in the meantime, there seems to have been a landslide. Mighty Hungary seems to have done much less this past year. If we look at the odds that are quoted at the leading bookmaker for the upcoming European Championship, it is still very different countries that are seen as contenders.
It is the opinion of the bookmaker's analysts and specialists that Spain is by far the most likely candidate. Let us conclude by introducing the top ten predicted here:
- Spain
- Croatia
- Italy
- Serbia
- Greece
- Hungary
- Montenegro
- Germany
- France
- The Netherlands
However, we also recommend that you do your own research before betting on any of the teams.