2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship

For the women's tournament, see 2026 Men's European Water Polo Championship.

2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Serbia
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)

The 2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship will be the 21st running of the tournament. It will be held in Belgrade, Serbia.^[1]

Host selection

Belgrade was given the hosting rights on 13 May 2022.^[1]

Potential hosting change

On 6 June at a press conference in Valletta, Malta, It was briefly mentioned that the bidding process had reopened for this competition. Although, no official statement has been released regarding this.

Qualification

Main article: 2026 Women's European Water Polo Championship Qualifiers

16 teams will be able to compete at the main event. They are broken up as follows:

• The host nation
• The top seven or eight teams from the 2024 European Championship not already qualified as host nation
• Final seven or eight from the qualifiers.

Event	Date	Location	Quotas	Nation(s)
Host	13 May 2022	–	1	Serbia
2024 European Championship	29 August – 10 September	Eindhoven	8	Netherlands  Spain  Greece  Italy  Hungary  France  Great Britain  Croatia
Qualifiers	2025	Various	7

Venue

Similar to 2016, the Štark Arena will be used for the entire competition.^[2]

Belgrade		Belgrade
		Štark Arena
		Capacity: 18,386

References

1. "Tel Aviv, Belgrade To Host Next Two European Water Polo Championships". swimswam.com. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
2. https://www.rts.rs/sport/vaterpolo/4812827/beograd-domacin-evropskog-prvenstva-u-vaterpolu-2026-godine.html