The second round of the European qualifying tournament kicks off today in Kiev.

Barcelona, October 4 2017

The second round of the qualifying tournament for the 33^rd LEN European Water Polo Championships Barcelona 2018 starts today in Kiev (Ukraine) and tomorrow in Rio Major (Portugal) and Gorzow (Poland). After these tournaments, which will go on until Sunday, six women’s and eight men’s teams will book a ticket to the next stage, which will consist of a two-legged tie and will be played in 2018.

Women’s Qualifications

The women’s tournament kicks off today in Kiev. Out of the seven participating squads, only one will be eliminated. The countries taking part in this stage are the Czech Republic, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Israel, Switzerland and Ukraine, the host team. The tournament will use a round-robin format and the six classified teams will face on February 17 and March 3 2018 the teams that finished 7 to 12 in the latest European Championships held in Belgrade: France, Germany, Serbia, Portugal, Croatia and Turkey.

Men’s Qualifications

Portugal hosts one of the men’s tournaments that begin on Friday. Latvia, Israel, the Czech Republic – second classified team from the first round held in Prague – and Portugal will travel to Rio Major. The other group, that will play in Gorzow (Portugal), is formed by Poland, Belarus, Israel and Switzerland, winner of the first round. No team will be eliminated, though the results will determine the duels of the following round, held on February 17 and March 3, that will include the teams classified 9 to 16 in Belgrade: France, Romania, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Georgia, Malta and Turkey.

47 teams registered for the European Championships Barcelona 2018, 14 of which have already secured their ticket to the final: the eight best men’s and the six best women’s teams from Belgrade 2016. In the first tournament held in Prague Austria and Bulgaria were eliminated.

Barcelona 2018 will take place from July 14-28 2018 at the Bernat Picornell Pools.

total-waterpolo.com