Malta waterpolo to face powerhouses Hungary and Montenegro at European Championships

The Malta waterpolo national team were handed a tough draw at the 2026 European Waterpolo Championships that will be held in Serbia between January 10 and 25.

Milan Cirovic’s boys are gearing up for their sixth successive participation in a continental final and are keen to try and improve on the 15th placing achieved in the last edition held in Croatia two years ago.

Malta were drawn in Group A and will be up against two powerhouses in world waterpolo in Montenegro and Hungary while France complete the line-up.

Montenegro have won the European Championships and the FINA World League in the past, while Hungary are 13-time European champion and also boast gold medals at the worlds and the Olympic Games.

“This is a very tough draw for us,” ASA president Karl Izzo told the Times of Malta.

“We are aware of the strength of our opponents, and we will be working hard to ensure that we arrive for the first match on January 10 in the best possible condition.

“Our main objective remains to improve on our best-ever result in the championship, which was 14th place, and we are already working hard to provide the team the best possible preparation.

“The new format provides an added challenge for us, but I have great faith in coach Milan Cirovic and his technical staff to reach our objective.”

The upcoming European championship edition will feature a new format.

The men’s 16-day tournament will begin with Group Stage One, featuring four pools of four teams – consisting of two nations that finished in the top eight in 2024 and two sides that successfully navigated the qualification process.

Across three match days, each side will face every opponent in their group, with a day of rest between games.

Following Group Stage One, the top three teams from each pool will advance to Group Stage Two, which will merge the top 12 teams into two new groups of six – Group E (teams from Groups A and C) and Group F (teams from Groups B and D).

All the points gained during Group Stage One will carry over to the second phase, where each side will contest three more games against new opponents, ensuring a dramatic road to the knockout rounds.

The four teams that finish bottom of their respective pools after Group Stage I will play a round-robin set of games to determine their final rankings (13th–16th place).

After Group Stage II, the top two teams in each pool will secure a highly-prized spot in the semi-finals, while the others will face crossover classification games to decide the fifth to 12th place.

Group Stage

Group A: Malta, France, Montenegro, Hungary

Group B: Slovenia, Greece, Croatia, Georgia

Group C: Netherlands, Israel, Serbia, Spain

Group D: Turkiye, Romania, Italy, Slovakia

Note: First three teams advance from each group