2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship
The 2024 Men's European Water Polo Championship was the 36th edition of the tournament, held in Dubrovnik and Zagreb, Croatia from 4 to 16 January 2024. Originally, Israel had been selected as host and the competition was slated to be held in Netanya, from 3 to 16 January 2024. Due to security concerns after the breakout of the Gaza war, LEN announced the Championship would be hosted elsewhere.
Host selection
The championship was originally going to be held in Tel Aviv, Israel between 7 and 21 October 2023. But on 31 March 2023, it was moved to the Israeli city of Netanya and rescheduled for 3 to 16 January 2024 at the Wingate Institute Olympic swimming pool. This decision was made to reduce the travel costs for the participating teams and make sure there was only one stoppage during the season instead of two.However, after the Gaza war broke out, LEN said they would monitor the situation on 12 October. But on 2 November, LEN announced that the tournament would not be hosted in Israel.
After that announcement, Budapest, Belgrade, Berlin, Romania and Zagreb had been reported as possibly interested in hosting the championships Croatia was announced as the host on 17 November, with Dubrovnik and Zagreb as venues. Croatia became the first country to host the men's championships twice in a row.
Format
This was the first edition with teams sorted into two Divisions, based on the last edition and the qualifiers. The top eight teams made Division 1 and the other eight teams Division 2. Both divisions were split into two groups of four teams. The top two teams from each group of Division 1 advanced directly to the quarterfinals, while the other two teams from each group played against one of the top two sides from each group in Division 2 in a play-off round. Starting with quarterfinals onward, the regular knock-out system was used.Qualification
Sixteen teams competed at the main event.- The host nation
- The top eight teams from the 2022 European Championship not already qualified as host nation
- Final seven from the qualifiers.
| Event | Date | Location | Quotas | Nation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Host | 13 May 2022 | – | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 European Championship | 29 August – 10 September |  Wp|CROWp|HUNWp|ESPWp|ITAWp|GREWp|FRAWp|MNEWp|GEOWp|NEDWp|GERWp|SRBWp|ROUWp|SLOWp|MLTWp|SVKVenuesThis tournament marked the first time that the championships was held in more than one venue, with Dubrovnik and Zagreb hosting games. The latter hosted the games from the quarter finals onwards.
DrawThe draw was held on 12 September 2023 in Netanya, Israel.Division 1 The pots for Division 1 were decided by the rankings of the 2022 European Championship
Division 2 The seeding for Division 2 was decided by who finished first and second in the qualifiers.
Preliminary roundThe schedule was announced on 24 November 2023.''All times are local.'' Division 1Group A---- ---- Group B---- ---- Division 2Group C---- ---- Group D---- ---- Knockout stageBracketPlayoffs-------- ---- 13–16th place bracket13–16th place semifinals----9–12th place bracket9–12th place semifinals----Quarterfinals-------- ---- 5–8th place bracket5–8th place semifinals----Semifinals----Final standingsSpain qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics as the highest ranked team not yet qualified for the event. Croatia, Montenegro and Romania secured the three remaining European tickets to the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.
Awards and statisticsAwardsThe awards were announced on 16 January 2024.
MarketingOn 7 December 2023, the Croatian Water Polo Federation announced the logo for the event. Logo was inspired by Croatian interlace and slogan of the championship was: "Waves of Unity". |