The 2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship was the 21st edition of the biannual continental championship for women's national 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 in Eindhoven.
Netherlands were the defending champions, beating Spain, 8–7, in the final in Eindhoven. They defended their title with a 15–13 penalty shootout win over Hungary. Croatia achieved their best result, placing 6th.
Host selection Belgrade Belgrade was given the hosting rights in May 2022. This would've been Serbia's third time hosting after 2006 and 2016.
Hosting change At a press conference in Valletta, Malta, held in June 2024, it was briefly mentioned that the bidding process had reopened for this competition, but no official statement was made at that time. It would later become official as in March 2025, it was confirmed that the men's event will be held in Belgrade but the venue for the women's tournament would be changed due to Serbia requesting that they only host the men's event.
Winning bid indicated in Bold:
(unknown city) (with Funchal as the host city) (with Tenerife as the host city)
After that announcement, Italy and Tenerife, Spain were touted as potential hosts, but on 4 July 2025, Portugal was given the hosting rights with Funchal as the venue. This is Portugal's first time hosting the event and first time the country hosted a senior women's championship in any sport. Miguel Arrobas, President of the Portuguese Swimming Federation said the following:
Preparations On 28 September 2025, a dedicated website went live. On 8 October, an information bulletin became available.
Tickets Tickets were put on sale on 10 December 2025.
Partners and sponsors Delfina Epam Fluidra Kap Seven Malmsten
Format A new system was used for this tournament. The new format was unveiled in March 2025. This was the third different format in three editions.
Group stage
The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. In each group, there were two teams from the last tournament and two teams from the qualifiers. They played a round-robin in their groups. The top two teams of each group advanced to the main round (Group A & Group C formed Group E and Group B & Group D formed Group F) with all results against the teams that advanced aswell carried over. The bottom two teams were dropped to the classification round, which was played in a similar style to the main round.
Second group stage
In the main round, the teams played against opponents from the other first-round group. From this round, the top-two ranked teams of each group advanced to the semifinals; the other teams were dropped to the 5th–8th place semifinals.
In the classification round, the teams played against opponents from the other first-round group. Then each team played one classification game for the final position.
Knockout stage
The four remaining teams progressed to the knockout stage, where two semifinals and a final determined the European champions.
Qualification
16 teams were able to compete at the main event. They were broken up as follows:
The top eight teams from the 2024 European Championship not already qualified as host nation Final eight from the qualifiers.
Of the sixteen teams who qualified, fourteen took part in the previous edition. Switzerland returned for the first time since 1995 and did so on merit for the first time. Portugal comes back for the first time since 2016.
Of the absentees, Czechia failed to qualify after appearing in 2024, while 2024 debutants, Bulgaria, didn't enter qualification.
The lowest ranked team to qualify was future hosts Portugal, ranked 20th, while Ukraine is the highest ranked team to not qualify, placed 15th.
+EventDateLocationQuotasNation(s)2024 European Championship5–13 January Eindhoven8Qualifiers 6–8 June 2025 Setúbal2 Hannover2 Novi Sad2 Nováky2
Summary of qualified teams
Venue Similar to 2016, the Štark Arena (now Belgrade Arena) was to be used for the entire competition before their withdrawal. When Funchal was confirmed as the new hosts, the Olympic Swimming Pool Complex was also announced as the venue for competition. The facility was built in 2004 and has recently hosted some Aquatics events, including the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, 2024 World Para Swimming European Open Championships and the 2025 European Artistic Swimming Championships.
FunchalOlympic Swimming Pool ComplexCapacity: 850
Original venue in SerbiaBelgradeŠtark Arena (now Belgrade Arena)Capacity: 18,386
Draw
The draw was held at 11:30 WET on 2 October 2025 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. Before the draw began, speeches were done by Eduardo Jesus, Regional Secretary of Tourism and Culture, Miguel Arrobas, President of the Portuguese Swimming Federation, and European Aquatics president, Antonio Silva. The guests were seven-time Olympic windsurfer, João Rodrigues and Masters Swimming Champion, Susana Gomes, who assisted with the draw. The draw started with, in order, pots 1, 2, 3 and 4 being drawn, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically. The position for the team within the group would then be drawn (for the purpose of the schedule).
Seeding The pots were decided by the rankings of the 2024 European Championship and also of the 2026 Qualifiers. Pot 1 consisted of the teams positioned 1–4 in the 2024 Women's European Water Polo Championship Pot 2 consisted of the teams positioned 5–8 in the 2024 Women's European Water Polo Championship Pot 3 consisted of the group winners of the 2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship Qualifiers Pot 4 consisted of the group runners-up of the 2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship Qualifiers
+ Pot 1Team1234 + Pot 2Team5678 + Pot 3Team (H)ABCD + Pot 4TeamABCD
Draw results + Group A TeamA1 A2 A3 A4 + Group B TeamB1 B2 B3 B4 (H) + Group C TeamC1 C2 C3 C4 + Group D TeamD1 D2 D3 D4
Schedule
ScheduleRoundMatchdayDateGroup stageMatchday 1 26 January 2026Matchday 2 27 January 2026Matchday 3 29 January 2026Second group stageMatchday 4 30–31 January 2026Matchday 5 1 February 20269–16 placement gamesAll games 2 February 2026Knockout stage5–8 placement bracketSemi-finals 3 February 2026 5–8 placement games 4 February 2026Final 5 February 2026
Referees On 24 November 2025, the following 18 referees were selected for the tournament. The referees represent 18 countries, including the 16 participating teams alongside match officials from Malta and Ukraine.
Lea Saftić Aurely Bouchez Hendrik Schopp Maxim Gerasimov Natali Markopoulou Nóra Debreceni Ayal Gabel Alessia Ferrari Massimo Angilleri Diana Dutilh Dumas Luis Santos Mihnea Alexandrescu Ivanka Raković Krstonošić Martina Kuniková Marta Cabanas Ruben Garcia Gökhan Can Ciğer Anna Goncharenko
Squads
Each nation has to submit a list of 15 players.
Preliminary round
The match schedule was released on 12 November 2025.
Tiebreakers Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 2 points for a penalty shootout win, 1 point for a penalty shootout loss, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches.
If the ranking of one of these teams is determined, the above criteria are consecutively followed until the ranking of all teams is determined. If no ranking can be determined, a drawing of lots will decide the outcome.
All times are local (UTC±0).
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Classification round Group G
Group H
Placement games 15th place game
13th place game
Eleventh place game
Ninth place game
Main round All points obtained in the preliminary round against teams that advance as well were carried over.
Group E
Group F
Knockout stage Bracket
5th–8th place semifinals
Semifinals
Seventh place game
Fifth place game
Third place game
Final
Final standings
Best results Team 8th (2010, 2022, 2024) 6th
Rankings table
Qualification table
Rank Team Qualification WC EC Q Q Q Q Q Q 4 Q 5 Q 6 Q 7 Q 8 Q 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
QQualified directly to a main tournament
Method of qualification Qualified for the phase indicated based on this tournament
2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship NetherlandsSeventh title
Team roster: Laura Aarts, Christina Hicks, Simone van de Kraats, Maxine Schaap, Maartje Keuning, Fleurien Bosveld, Bente Rogge, Noa de Vries, Kitty-Lynn Joustra, Lieke Rogge, Lola Moolhuijzen, Nina ten Broek, Britt van den Dobbelsteen, Pien Gorter, Linde Haksteen.Head Coach: Evangelos Doudesis
All Star Team The all-star team was announced on 5 February 2026.
Position Player Goalkeeper Laura Aarts Field player Maria Myriokefalitaki Field player Rita Keszthelyi Field player Simone van de Kraats Field player Krisztina Garda Field player Kitty-Lynn Joustra Field player Eleni Xenaki
Statistics
Top goalscorers +RankNameGoalsShots 1 Beatriz Ortiz 25 39 642 Vasiliki Plevritou244553 Iva Rožić4 Kitty-Lynn Joustra22 28 79 Ema Vernoux 57 396 Alma Yaacobi20 41 49 Maria Bogachenko 42 488 Dafne Bettini193850 Monika Sedláková10 Maria Myriokefalitaki18 28 64 Chiara Ranalli 30 60 Maria Machado 47 38 Jelena Butić 58 31
Top scoring teams +RankNameGoalsShots 1 134 258 51.9 2 125 246 50.8 3 112 233 48.1 4 109 250 43.6 5 101 226 44.7 6 85 202 42.1 7 84 217 38.7 8 73 196 37.2 972 185 38.9 10 198 36.4 11 69 231 29.9 1260 182 33 13 195 30.8 14 53 186 28.5 15 49 191 25.7 16 40 171 23.4
Top assisting teams +RankTeamAssists 1 632 523 504 455 446 357 348 2592311 1812 1513 1314 1015 816 7
Top sprinting teams +RankNameSprints 1 24/28 85.7 2 22/28 78.5 3 21/28 75 4 17/24 70.85 14/24 58.314/2850 8 13/28 46.4 9 12/28 42.81011/2445.81210/2441.6 14 9/24 37.5 15 5/24 20.8 16 1/28 3.5
Player of the match For the first time, player of the match awards will be given during the knockout stage. A player of the match award is given to the player deemed as playing the best in each match.
Round Team Match Team Player Semifinals 11–12 PS Rita Keszthelyi 8–4 Kitty-Lynn Joustra Third place game 15–8 Eleni Xenaki Final 13–15 PS Simone van de Kraats
Notable statistics Most goals in a game: 36 (Italy 25–11 Turkey, 29 January) Least goals in a game: 9 (Netherlands 5–4 Hungary, 31 January) Most goals by a team in a game: 28 (Netherlands 28–2 Switzerland, 27 January; Hungary 28–3 Romania, 27 January; Hungary 28–4 Portugal, 29 January) Least goals by a team in a game: 2 (Netherlands 28–2 Switzerland, 27 January; Great Britain 20–2 Romania, 30 January) Biggest goal difference in a game: 26 (Netherlands 28–2 Switzerland, 27 January)