The 2024 Women's
European Water Polo Championship will be the 20th running of the tournament. It will be held in
Eindhoven
Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,[Netanya
Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...]
, Israel, But the competition was taken away from Israel for security reasons after the
2023 Israel–Hamas war
}
The ongoing armed conflict between Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups and Israel military forces began on 7 October 2023, 50 years after the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Hamas's coordinated surprise offensive, codenamed "Al-Aqsa Fl ...
commenced.
This edition will be the first one to be played by 16 teams.
Host selection
The championship was originally going to be held in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, Israel between 7 and 21 October 2023 (although it would still be called the 2024 European Championship).
But on 31 March 2023, it was moved to the Israeli city of
Netanya
Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...
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 (due to the
2024 World Aquatics Championships
The 2024 World Aquatics Championships, the 21st edition of the World Aquatics Championships, will be held in Doha, Qatar, from 2 to 18 February 2024. Originally scheduled to be held in November 2023, the championships were postponed until Februa ...
being held in February 2024).
However, after the
2023 Israel–Hamas war
}
The ongoing armed conflict between Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups and Israel military forces began on 7 October 2023, 50 years after the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Hamas's coordinated surprise offensive, codenamed "Al-Aqsa Fl ...
broke out,
LEN
Len or LEN may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Len (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Lén, a character from Irish mythology
* Alex Len (born 1993), Ukrainian basketball player
* Mr. Len, American hip hop DJ
*Le ...
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
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
Eindhoven
Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,[Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...]
were reported as possibly interested in hosting the championships.
On 17 November, Eindhoven was announced as the host city for the tournament.
The last time Eindhoven hosted the event was in
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
.
Expansion
During the
2022 European Championships
The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The tournament began three days after the conclusion of the 2022 Commo ...
, Israeli media said that the 2024 edition will expand to 16 teams. On 31 March 2023,
LEN
Len or LEN may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Len (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Lén, a character from Irish mythology
* Alex Len (born 1993), Ukrainian basketball player
* Mr. Len, American hip hop DJ
*Le ...
officially announced the expansion to 16 teams, alongside the format change.
Format
This will be the first edition where the teams are sorted into two Divisions, based on the last edition and the qualifiers. The top eight teams will make Division 1 and the other eight teams Division 2. Both divisions will be split into two groups of four teams. The top-two teams from each group of Division 1 will advance to the quarterfinals, while the other teams meet the top-two sides from each group of Division 2 in a play-off round. After that, a knock-out system will be used.
Qualification
16 teams will be able to compete at the main event. They are broken up as follows:
* The host nation
* The top seven teams from the
2022 European Championship not already qualified as host nation
* Final eight from the
qualifiers.
Venue
Similar to
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
, the
Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion
Pieter is a male given name, the Dutch form of Peter. The name has been one of the most common names in the Netherlands for centuries, but since the mid-twentieth century its popularity has dropped steadily, from almost 3000 per year in 1947 ...
will be used for the entire competition. The capacity is 2,065.
Draw
The draw was held on 12 September 2023 in
Netanya
Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...
, 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 round
The schedule was announced on 24 November 2023.
''All times are local (
UTC+1
UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in:
*Central European Time
*West Africa Time
*Western European Summer Time
** B ...
).''
Division 1
Group A
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Group B
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Division 2
Group C
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Group D
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Knockout stage
Bracket
Playoffs
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13–16th place bracket
13–16th place semifinals
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15th place game
13th place game
9–12th place bracket
9–12th place semifinals
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Eleventh place game
Ninth place game
Quarterfinals
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5–8th place bracket
5–8th place semifinals
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Seventh place game
Fifth place game
Semifinals
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Third place game
Final
Final standings