Hungary and Greece will play in the final of the Men’s World Cup Final Eight in Sydney on Sunday.
Greece, which won silver last year, will battle for its first-ever gold medal at major competitions. Hungary has won many gold medals in the former World Cup and the World League, but the Hungarians’ biggest success since 2023, when the current World Cup format was introduced, has been a bronze medal, won last year.
Both teams reached the final after very thrilling semifinal games that were open until the very end.
Hungary defeated Australia 13:12, and Greece edged out Italy, 10:9.
Spain, the 2023 and 2025 World Cup winner, won 5th place. The Spaniards pulled off a late comeback in the 5th-place match against Montenegro and recorded a victory after a penalty shootout, 17:16 (12:12).
Today’s only game that lacked excitement was the 7th-place game. Croatia finished 7th, beating Georgia 18:12. The young Croatian team had a 10-goal lead in the fourth period.
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2026 World Aquatics Men’s World Cup Final Eight, Semifinals
(quarters 3:2, 2:4, 3:4, 4:3)
Australia: Byrnes 4, Constantin-Bicari 3, Mercep 2, Edwards 1, Putt 1, Berehulak 1
Hungary: Ad. Nagy 3, Zalanki 3, Manhercz 2, Vigvari 2, Ak. Nagy 1, Fekete 1, Vismeg 1.
Australia once again impressed with an excellent performance and delighted its fans, but this time fell just short of another upset. Hungary survived a dramatic finish to secure a victory.
The first half was a closely contested affair, with Australia taking a one-goal lead and Hungary leveling. In the 14th minute, the “Sharks “went in front for the last time – Edwards converted a man-up for 5:4. Hungary, playing strong in defense, went on a 4:0 run within six minutes and earned a solid 8:5 lead in the 19th minute.
Adam Nagy Photo by Krsto Vulović.
Constantin-Bicari and Mercep scored two power-play goals within just 35 seconds to cut the deficit to 8:7. The Sharks then successfully defended while being two men down, but failed to capitalize on a couple of opportunities to equalize. Gergo Zalanki restored Hungary’s two-goal cushion at 9:7, only for Mercep to answer immediately. Krisztian Manhercz struck late in the third period to give Hungary a 10:8 lead heading into the final quarter.
Shortly after the beginning of the fourth period, Australia caught up with the Hungarians. Byrnes converted a penalty shot, and Constantin-Bicari scored with an extra player, 10:10. But Zalanki put Hungary back in front in the very next possession.
The Australians equalized again at 11:11 and then 12:12. Constantin-Bicari netted Australia’s 12th goal in the 29th minute. Neither side could find another breakthrough for several minutes as the thriller was reaching its culmination. Missed chances, key saves, and turnovers followed at both ends of the pool before Zalanki converted another man-up opportunity to put Hungary ahead 13:12 with 80 seconds remaining.
Hungary’s second goalkeeper, Viktor Gyapjas, who delivered an excellent second-half performance, then denied Constantin-Bicari with a save. Australia head coach Tim Hamill immediately challenged, claiming his center-forward had been fouled. After a VAR review, however, the referees rejected the challenge, ruling that no penalty foul had been committed.
The drama was still not over. Hungary turned the ball over in its final possession, giving Australia one last opportunity. With nine seconds remaining, the Sharks earned a man-up advantage. Still, Negus’s final shot was saved by Gyapjas, who was well positioned to save the shot and Hungary’s narrow victory.
Australia shouldn’t be very disappointed. By reaching the semifinals, the “Sharks” officially qualified for the 2027 World Championships in Budapest. The remaining three teams that advanced to the Top 4 qualified for the WCH through the 2025 World Championships or the 2026 Europeans. Georgia is the only participant of the World Cup Final Eight that didn’t secure a ticket for Budapest.
(quarters 2:1, 2:4, 2:2, 3:3)
Italy: Carnessechi 3, Guerrato 1, Cannella 1, Ferrero 1, Dolce 1, Iocchi Gratta 1, Condemi 1.
Greece: Gkiouvetsis 3, Argyropoulos 3, Skoumpakis 2, Chalyvopoulos 1, Kalogeropoulos 1.
Defenses dominated from the beginning. Italy took a 1:0 lead, but Greece quickly equalized in the 6th minute when Skoumpakis scored, making it 1:1. Just 12 minutes into the game, the score was tied at 3:3. Italy’s strong defense was the result of a team effort, while Greece’s goalkeeper, Panagiotios Tzortzatos, was performing exceptionally well. In those first 12 minutes, Tzortzatos made 12 saves, while Italy’s Gianmarco Nicosia blocked three shots.
Stylianos Argyropoulos (GRE) and Filippo Ferrero (ITA) Photo by Krsto Vulović.The first turning point was a violent foul committed by Mario Del Basso in the 12th minute, meaning that Greece would have an extra player almost until the end of the first half, and a chance to go ahead from a penalty shot. Nicosia saved a penalty shot from Stylianos Argyropoulos. However, Greece’s and Ferencvaros’ ace made up for that mistake. In the following two minutes, he scored two goals, one from the left and the other from the right side, showing he is a versatile player and giving Greece a 5:3 lead. The Greeks didn’t score further goals until the end of the quarter. Iocchi Gratta halved Italy’s deficit to 4:5 from a counter in the 15th minute.
A low-scoring battle continued after the middle break. Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis netted two back-to-back goals in the opening minutes of the second half, and Greece jumped to 7:4. There were no goals for a while, until Cannella ended Italy’s 8-minute scoring silence. The “Settebello” got back into the game when Condemi cut the deficit to one from a counterattack 77 seconds before the end of the quarter (6:7).
The fourth period began similarly to the previous one – Greece, which was held scoreless for almost eight minutes, netted two early goals (Gkuiovetsis, from a penalty shot, and Skoumpakis), 9:6. In the final minutes, there were several VAR reviews, and both coaches lost their challenges.
The Italians came close with two powerplay goals from Alessandro Carnesecchi. The second came with 01:12 minutes remaining on the clock (8:9). At 00:55, Argyropoulos scored from a penalty, restoring a two-goal lead (10:8), but Carnesecchi responded from 6 on 6 immediately.
Greece struggled to overcome Italy’s pressing defense during its final possession, which allowed the “Settebello” to have a chance to equalize in the last 15 seconds. With five seconds remaining, Italy was able to draw an exclusion. Tzortzatos made another save, but even if he hadn’t, there would have been no score since the Italians’ shot was taken too late.
Panagiotis Tzortzatos (Greece) Photo by Albert ten Hove/MTB-Photo
Anyway, Tzortzatos was the hero of Greece’s victory with an amazing output of 23 saves. Italy’s Nicosia blocked 12 shots.
5th-place game
(quarters 2:3, 2:3, 3:4, 5:2, PSO 5:4)
Spain: Sanahuja 3, Daura 3, Valera 3, Tahull 2, Valls 1.
Montenegro: Ukropina 3, Matkovic 3, Macic 2, Gojkovic 2, Perkovic 1, Spaic 1.
Penalty shootout: Matkovic 0:1, Sanahuja 1:1; Perkovic 1:2, Valera 2:2; Gojkovic 2:3, Biel – Durovic saved; Stupar 2:4, Cassabella 3:4; Macic – Aguirre saved, Daura 4:4; Matkovic – Aguirre saved, Sanahuja 5:4
Spain played a match with a penalty shootout for the second time in the tournament. In the quarterfinals, the world champions controlled the pace for most of the match and had a 4-goal lead. However, the hosts managed to level the score in the dying seconds and eventually won in a shootout.
Today’s match was the complete opposite. Spain was almost always trailing behind the Montenegrins and fell behind by four goals early in the fourth quarter. Despite this, the world champions made a comeback. They scored an equalizer just 20 seconds from the end and secured victory in a penalty shootout.
Spain’s only lead in the regular time was the opening one – Valls made it 1:0 in the 3rd minute, but Montenegro quickly answered with two goals.
Early in the second quarter, Montenegro lost one of its best players, Balsa Vuckovic, who was excluded for a violent foul on Valls. This decision was one of many made after VAR reviews, which contributed to the lengthy duration of the game.
Montenegro had a 4:3 lead at that moment. Spain didn’t capitalize on a 4-minute exclusion. Montenegro’s goalkeeper Darko Djurovic saved a penalty shot from Biel, awarded because of the violent action.
Montenegro doubled its advantage during the 4-minute exclusion (5:3), and when the suspension expired, one goal separated the rivals (5:4).
Both defenses, with goalkeepers Aguirre and Djurovic, worked well, which resulted in only 10 goals in the first half (6:4).
Unai Aguirre (Photo by Albert ten Hove/MTB-Photo)
Spain leveled in the middle of the third period (6:6). Still, Montenegro was in control. Three seconds before the last break, Aljosa Macic gave the Montenegrins a 3-goal lead (10:7). They kept their momentum in the fourth period. Aleksa Ukropina widened the gap to four, 11:7, converting a penalty which was awarded just after Aguirre saved a penalty shot from Stupar.
Spain kept fighting. Daura cut the deficit to one (10:11) from a counterattack. Ukropina made it 12:10 in the 31st minute, but the Spaniards had the last word. They scored two powerplay goals in the final 85 seconds. First, Tahull halved the gap to 11:12. Then, Daura converted a 6-on-5 with 20 seconds left on the clock (12:12).
Aguirre saved a shot from Ukropna with just two seconds remaining in the game. The tension was getting higher. Following that save and before the corner kick, both Aleksa Ukropina and Marc Valls received red cards.
Montenegro came close to winning the shootout after Djurovic saved a shot from Biel in the third round. However, Aguirre, who recorded 13 saves during the four quarters, didn’t let Macic and Matkovic score in the fifth and sixth rounds.
7th-place game
(quarters 5:3, 4:3, 6:1, 3:5)
Croatia: Brubnjak 4, Pavlic 4, Susic 3, Tonicic 2, Dragosevic 1, Burburan 1, Zilic 1, Dobbric 1, Dragas 1.
Georgia: Tkeshelashvili 2, Dadvani 2, Shushiashvili 2, Vasic 2, Rogac 2, Meskhi 1, Chikovani 1.
Croatia’s young squad put up a strong fight against favorites Spain and Hungary, but ultimately lost.
The Croats continued improving their play, and their performance today was good enough to beat Georgia convincingly. Shortly after the first whistle, the Croats imposed their rhythm. Deep into the second period, they built a 4-goal lead for the first time (9:5).
Vlaho Pavlic (Croatia) Photo: CRO WP (Croatian Water Polo Federation)
Croatia ruled the field in the third quarter and had a 15:7 lead before the final eight minutes. Brubnjak and Tonicic opened the fourth period with powerplay goals and Croatia reached a double-digit margin (17:7). The finish of the match belonged to Georgia, but it was too late.
Georgia conceded 18 goals in each of its three matches in Sydney, scoring 12 against Italy and Croatia, and 16 against Montenegro.
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