Women's Water Polo Tournament at the Aquatics AQUA World Championships 2025

[George_D 1,638]

and  -  15-13 in penalty shootout (FT: 11-11. Pens: 4-2)

[phelps 8,691]

6 hours ago, George_D said:

Quarterfinals #1

 

  7-8  
 26-8 

 

 girls in semifinals!!! 

very, very happy for Greece (definitely my favourite team, when they don't play vs Italy), but let's be honest, if I were Australian, right now I'd be absolutely mad 

[phelps 8,691]

no comment on Italy 

[Makedonas 2,262]

Very happy that our girls are back in the World Championships semifinals for the second time in a row!

 

A shame we could not do this against Australia in the quarterfinals in Paris last year, but better late than never I suppose.

 

We had a very young team in Paris with only one player over age 29 (Asimaki). Since then, we had some girls retire from the national team (Asimaki, M.Plevritou, Chydirioti) and others retired from the sport completely (Diamantopoulou-29 yo, Eleftheriadou-26 yo). I thought it would be tough for us in 2025/26 to unexpectedly lose so many players but the new/young girls have really stepped up, which we also saw in the World Cup this year where we won gold 

[copravolley 639]

31 minutes ago, Makedonas said:

Very happy that our girls are back in the World Championships semifinals for the second time in a row!

 

A shame we could not do this against Australia in the quarterfinals in Paris last year, but better late than never I suppose.

 

We had a very young team in Paris with only one player over age 29 (Asimaki). Since then, we had some girls retire from the national team (Asimaki, M.Plevritou, Chydirioti) and others retired from the sport completely (Diamantopoulou-29 yo, Eleftheriadou-26 yo). I thought it would be tough for us in 2025/26 to unexpectedly lose so many players but the new/young girls have really stepped up, which we also saw in the World Cup this year where we won gold 

Greece has had better junior teams than Italy for many years and even with a significant rejuvenation of the squad, it hasn't lost as much quality as Italy. Other countries, like Hungary and the Netherlands, play with stable squads and are therefore still strong. Italy has no idea how to approach this sport – for years, there's been a constant crisis, a miss of success in the junior cempetition and then constant rejuvenation of the squad, which no have any results. A single bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships won't change that. Zero stability and a miss of young, talented players, like in the USA and Greece, to afford constant roster changes. The result is that we could have even lost to China. In my opinion, this is the wrong path.

[copravolley 639]

I'm curious about the Spanish phenomenon in this sport. 15-20 years ago, this country was practically nonexistent in the world's top teams – they had only one star: Bianca Gill in the center. Since then, they have become the best team alongside the USA for over 10 years. The Netherlands, despite having limited number od players and a weak league, has remained at the top for years thanks to their physicality. And let's remember, there's no Russia... In all of this, there's no Italy, which has no plan. Perhaps it's worth investing in foreign coaching ideas? Constantly hanging around Italians doesn't work... Maybe we have to bring in someone from Spain, Greece, etc., give him 4-5 years, give him influencethe to youth sector as well and only then expect success.

Edited July 20, 2025 by copravolley

[Cobi 1,025]

1 hour ago, copravolley said:

I'm curious about the Spanish phenomenon in this sport. 15-20 years ago, this country was practically nonexistent in the world's top teams – they had only one star: Bianca Gill in the center. Since then, they have become the best team alongside the USA for over 10 years. The Netherlands, despite having limited number od players and a weak league, has remained at the top for years thanks to their physicality. And let's remember, there's no Russia... In all of this, there's no Italy, which has no plan. Perhaps it's worth investing in foreign coaching ideas? Constantly hanging around Italians doesn't work... Maybe we have to bring in someone from Spain, Greece, etc., give him 4-5 years, give him influencethe to youth sector as well and only then expect success.

Spain has a limited number of players compared to other countries (top teams are located in Barcelona + Canoe in Madrid, but the team is way better in men's side), but the coaching level at club level is very high, especially for youth teams.

[Makedonas 2,262]

6 minutes ago, Cobi said:

Spain has a limited number of players compared to other countries (top teams are located in Barcelona + Canoe in Madrid, but the team is way better in men's side), but the coaching level at club level is very high, especially for youth teams.

Same with us, the top teams are generally located in the (mostly wealthy) coastal suburbs of Athens, and most of the national team players are from here, for both men and women, with a few exceptions.

 

But even then, the rare good players from other parts of the country (usually Thessaloniki and Crete) always relocate to coastal Athens suburbs in their early teenage years...

[copravolley 639]

19 minutes ago, Cobi said:

Spain has a limited number of players compared to other countries (top teams are located in Barcelona + Canoe in Madrid, but the team is way better in men's side), but the coaching level at club level is very high, especially for youth teams.

In theory the USA should have the largest number of players: a large country with a university system. 

[copravolley 639]

35 minutes ago, Makedonas said:

Same with us, the top teams are generally located in the (mostly wealthy) coastal suburbs of Athens, and most of the national team players are from here, for both men and women, with a few exceptions.

 

But even then, the rare good players from other parts of the country (usually Thessaloniki and Crete) always relocate to coastal Athens suburbs in their early teenage years...

In the case of the Italian women's team, we need to start at the bottom with the youth, as there hasn't been a flow of young talent into the senior teams for years. Silipo, Oca, or anyone else could be the national team coach but without new and strong players, they won't achieve anything.

The men's situation is different: there's a pool of strong players and good juniors, but a change at the helm of the senior NT would be useful. Campagna has achieved a lot, but 16 years is a long time...