The men's national polo team of Romania, drastically defeated by Italy in the last match of group D at the European Championship
Article by Luminița Paul – Published Thursday, January 15, 2026, 6:14 p.m. / Updated Thursday, January 15, 2026 6:15 p.m.
The Romanian national team clearly lost, 6-20 (1-5, 3-4, 0-4, 2-7), in front of Italy, in the last match played in the first phase of the groups at the European Championship in Serbia, but they had secured qualification for the next stage of the competition.
The final duel in group D was also the most difficult for the Romanian men's national team: they met Italybronze medalist at the previous edition of the European Championship and three times victorious over time.
The “Tricolori” had not prevailed against the prestigious opponent since 2009, 12-10 in a match of the World League, while last year, at the World Championship, the peninsulars prevailed with 17-5.
This time, the gap was greater and the failure clearer. A first half in which Italy distanced itself to 5-0 without an effective opposition from the Poles led from the sidelines by coach Bogdan Rath. The first tricolor goal came when there were 2:10 minutes left in the game, from 6 meters, succeeded by Vlad Georgescu from Francesco Iudean's pass. 1-5 was also the score of the “quarter”.
The second was the most balanced, Romania scoring three goals, in order Levente Vancsik, Georgescu and Iudean, while the Italians found the way to Țic's goal four times. However, the advantage of the opponents swelled decisively in the third part, which ended with 4-0and the fourth recorded the most successes in total, 9, 7-2 for the triple European champions and the final result, 20-6 in their favor.
Scorers Romania: Georgescu 2, Vancski 2, Iudean 1, Șepeluș 1.
Scorers Italy: Del Basso 4, Condemi 3, Cassia 3, Bruni 2, Antonucci 2, Alesiani 1, Ferrero 1, Dolce 1, Iocchi 1, Balzarini 1, Di Somma 1.
Italy storm through Group D, while Turkey fight to earn their first points. #EWPC2026 pic.twitter.com/0praYC7wy6
— European Aquatics Water Polo (@Euro_Waterpolo) January 15, 2026
Romania goes to the second phase of the groups
The national team had ensured the jump to the next stage, where the first three from each of the four groups of four go up, already after having prevailed in the matches against Slovakia, 16-8and Turkey, 20-19. The “Tricolori” finished Serie D in second place, behind unbeaten Italy. Slovakia ranked 3rd.
Romania's best performance at the EC is 4th place, achieved twice, in 1993 and 2006.
The system of running the race is a new one, the third different from the last as many editions. From the six groups of four teams, the first three move on, taking with them the points obtained.
In the second phase of the groups, they will combine with the adjacent series and play other matches. The teams ranked in the first two positions will advance to the semifinals, the others will play for ranking places. Romania's objective is to rank among the top eight.
The Romanian polo players will return to Belgrade Arena on Saturday, January 17, from 9:30 p.m., to meet the team ranked second in group B. The last two games are still to be played there, Slovenia – Georgia and Greece – Croatia. For now, Greece and Croatia share 1st place and the other two share 3rd place.
All EC matches are played at the Belgrade Arena, just like in 2016, when the Serbian capital also hosted the continental competition. It is the third occasion, after the one in 2006, when the action took place at the Tasmajdan Sports Centre, also in Belgrade.
