Greece men's national water polo team

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Greece
Flag of Greece.svg
FINA codeGRE
Nickname(s)Galanolefki (The Blue-white)
Ethniki (The National)
AssociationHellenic Swimming Federation
ConfederationLEN (Europe)
Head coachThodoris Vlachos
Asst coachDimitris Kravaritis
CaptainIoannis Fountoulis
FINA ranking (since 2008)
Current1 (as of 9 August 2021)
Highest1 (2021)
Lowest16 (2011)
Olympic Games (team statistics)
Appearances16 (first in 1920)
Best result2nd place, silver medalist(s) (2020)
5-time Olympian(s)George Mavrotas (1984–2000)
Georgios Afroudakis (1996–2012)
Top scorer(s)Kyriakos Giannopoulos (44 goals, 1980–1992)
World Championship
Appearances15 (first in 1973)
Best result3rd place, bronze medalist(s) (2005, 2015)
World Cup
Appearances8 (first in 1985)
Best result2nd place, silver medalist(s) (1997)
World League
Appearances7 (first in 2002)
Best result3rd place, bronze medalist(s) (2004, 2006, 2016, 2020)
European Championship
Appearances18 (first in )
Best result4th place (1999, 2016)
Mediterranean Games
Appearances8 (first in 1951)
Best result2nd place, silver medalist(s) (2018)
Media
Websitekoe.org.gr (in Greek)
Medal record
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2020 Tokyo Team
World Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Montreal Team
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Kazan Team
World Cup
Silver medal – second place 1997 Athens
World League
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Long Beach
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Athens
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Huizhou
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Tbilisi
Mediterranean Games
Silver medal – second place 2018 Tarragona Team
Bronze medal – third place 1951 Alexandria Team
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Athens Team
Bronze medal – third place 1993 Languedoc-Roussillon Team
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Tarragona Team
Last updated: 8 August 2021

The Greece men's national water polo team represents Greece in international men's water polo competitions and it is organized and run by the Hellenic Swimming Federation.

Greece has a long tradition of strong presence at international level, with their major successes being the two bronze medals won at the World Championship in 2005 and 2015. The Greeks have also won a silver medal at the World Cup in 1997, three bronze medals at the World League in 2004, 2006 and 2016, as well as one silver (2018) and four bronze medals (1951, 1991, 1993, 2013) at the Mediterranean Games.

Moreover, they have closely missed a medal in the 2016 European Championship, the 2004 Olympic Games, the 2003 World Championship and the 1999 European Championship, ending up in the 4th place in all four of them. Greece is one of only nine national teams in the world to have won (at least) a medal in the World Championship, currently occupying the eighth place on the medal table, one above Germany. They have qualified at least for the quarter-finals in all their World Championship participations since 1994, winning the two aforementioned bronze medals and never finishing below the 6th place from 2001 and on.

Honours[]

Competition 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Total
Olympic Games – 1 – 1
World Championship – – 2 2
World Cup – 1 – 1
World League – – 4 4
European Championship – – – –
Mediterranean Games – 1 4 5
Total – 3 10 13

Olympic Games[]

World Championship[]

World Cup[]

World League[]

Mediterranean Games[]

Competitive record[]

Olympic Games[]

Main article: Greece men's Olympic water polo team records and statistics

Greece has participated 16 times at the Olympic Games, always present in the tournament since 1980. Their best result is the 2nd place at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, after losing 13–10 to Serbia in the gold medal game. The Greeks have secured a quarter-finals' presence in six occasions.[1]

Year Position
Belgium 1920 8th
France 1924 13th
United Kingdom 1948 15th
Mexico 1968 14th
West Germany 1972 14th
Soviet Union 1980 10th
United States 1984 8th
South Korea 1988 9th
Spain 1992 10th
United States 1996 6th
Australia 2000 10th
Greece 2004 4th
China 2008 7th
United Kingdom 2012 9th
Brazil 2016 6th
Japan 2020 Silver medal icon.svg
Total 16/28

World Championship[]

Greece has a strong presence at the World Aquatics Championships, where they have been placed third in the world in two occasions.[1] The first was in 2005 in Montreal, after their 11–10 victory over Croatia in the bronze medal game, with Georgios Afroudakis scoring the winning goal, with a spectacular backhand shot, with only 11 seconds left in the overtime.[2] The second one was in 2015 in Kazan, after their penalty shootout win over Italy in the bronze medal game. Greece has qualified at least for the quarter-finals in all their tournament participations since 1994, with the 6th place being their lowest position from 2001 and on.

Christos Afroudakis (left) and Manolis Mylonakis (right) are the two players who have won both the 2005 and the 2015 bronze medals of Greece at the World Championship.
Year Position
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1973 12th
West Germany 1978 12th
Ecuador 1982 12th
Spain 1986 11th
Australia 1991 10th
Italy 1994 7th
Australia 1998 8th
Japan 2001 6th
Spain 2003 4th
Canada 2005 Bronze medal icon.svg
Australia 2007 6th
Spain 2013 6th
Russia 2015 Bronze medal icon.svg
Hungary 2017 4th
South Korea 2019 7th
Total 15/18

World Cup[]

Greece had qualified for the FINA Water Polo World Cup in all but two occasions between 1985 and 2006, winning the silver medal in 1997 in Athens, losing 5–8 to the United States in the final.[1]

Year Position
West Germany 1985 8th
Greece 1987 8th
Greece 1993 7th
United States 1995 6th
Greece 1997 Silver medal icon.svg
Australia 1999 7th
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 2002 5th
Hungary 2006 7th
Total 8/15

World League[]

Greece had a regular presence at the FINA Water Polo World League during the first years of the competition, starting from 2002. They have won four bronze medals so far in 2004, 2006, 2016 and 2020.[1]

Year Position
Greece 2002 4th
United States 2003 5th
United States 2004 Bronze medal icon.svg
Serbia and Montenegro 2005 5th
Greece 2006 Bronze medal icon.svg
Italy 2008 8th
China 2016 Bronze medal icon.svg
Georgia (country) 2020 Bronze medal icon.svg
Total 8/19

European Championship[]

As one of the most competitive European nations in water polo, Greece is a regular contestant at the European Water Polo Championship since 1989, although they have yet to win a medal, with their best results being the 4th place in 1999 in Florence and in 2016 in Belgrade.

Year Position
Spain 10th
Bulgaria 8th
West Germany 11th
Greece 6th
United Kingdom 7th
Austria 1995 9th
Spain 1997 7th
Italy 1999 4th
Hungary 2001 7th
Slovenia 2003 8th
Serbia 2006 6th
Spain 2008 11th
Croatia 2010 9th
Netherlands 2012 6th
Hungary 2014 6th
Serbia 2016 4th
Spain 2018 5th
Hungary 2020 7th
Croatia 2022 Qualified
Total 19/35

Team[]

Current squad[]

Roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Head coach: Thodoris Vlachos[3]

No. Player Pos. L/R Height Weight Date of birth (age) Apps OG/
Goals 		Club Ref
1 Emmanouil Zerdevas 10GK 2R 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 89 kg (196 lb) (1997-08-12)12 August 1997 (aged 23) 84 0/0 Greece Olympiacos [4]
2 Konstantinos Genidounias 50D 2R 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 92 kg (203 lb) (1993-05-03)3 May 1993 (aged 28) 161 1/4 Greece Olympiacos [5]
3 Dimitrios Skoumpakis 20CB 2R 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 109 kg (240 lb) (1998-12-18)18 December 1998 (aged 22) 70 0/0 Greece Olympiacos [6]
4 Marios Kapotsis 50D 2R 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 84 kg (185 lb) (1991-09-13)13 September 1991 (aged 29) 108 0/0 Greece Olympiacos [7]
5 Ioannis Fountoulis (C) 50D 2R 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 89 kg (196 lb) (1988-05-25)25 May 1988 (aged 33) 311 2/24 Greece Olympiacos [8]
6 Alexandros Papanastasiou 50D 2R 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 86 kg (190 lb) (1999-02-12)12 February 1999 (aged 22) 58 0/0 Croatia Jug Dubrovnik [9]
7 Georgios Dervisis 20CB 2R 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 100 kg (220 lb) (1994-10-30)30 October 1994 (aged 26) 146 1/3 Greece Olympiacos [10]
8 Stylianos Argyropoulos 20CB 2R 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 100 kg (220 lb) (1996-08-02)2 August 1996 (aged 24) 97 0/0 Greece Olympiacos [11]
9 Konstantinos Mourikis 40CF 2R 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 115 kg (254 lb) (1988-07-11)11 July 1988 (aged 33) 272 2/11 Greece Olympiacos [12]
10 Christodoulos Kolomvos 40CF 2R 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 106 kg (234 lb) (1988-10-26)26 October 1988 (aged 32) 239 1/2 Turkey Enka [13]
11 Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis 50D 2R 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 94 kg (207 lb) (1999-11-19)19 November 1999 (aged 21) 28 0/0 Greece Vouliagmeni [14]
12 Angelos Vlachopoulos 50D 2R 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 80 kg (176 lb) (1991-09-28)28 September 1991 (aged 29) 183 1/13 Serbia Novi Beograd [15]
13 Konstantinos Galanidis 10GK 2R 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 110 kg (243 lb) (1990-09-01)1 September 1990 (aged 30) 103 0/0 Greece Apollon Smyrnis [16]
Average 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 96 kg (212 lb) 27 years, 255 days 143

Note: Age as of 23 July 2021
Source: Greece Men | Tokyo 2020 Olympics

World Championship medal-winning squads[]

The following are the bronze medal-winning Greek rosters in the men's water polo tournaments of the 2005 and the 2015 World Championships:

Notable coaches[]

Alessandro Campagna

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. pp. 4, 14, 25, 40, 48. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  2. ^ Το χάλκινο μετάλλιο της Εθνικής ομάδας πόλο των ανδρών στο Παγκόσμιο Πρωτάθλημα του 2005 στο Μόντρεαλ sport24.gr, 30 July 2014 (in Greek)
  3. ^ "Water Polo - VLACHOS Theodoros". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  4. ^ "ZERDEVAS Emmanouil". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  5. ^ "GENIDOUNIAS Konstantinos". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  6. ^ "SKOUMPAKIS Dimitrios". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  7. ^ "KAPOTSIS Marios". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  8. ^ "FOUNTOULIS Ioannis". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  9. ^ "PAPANASTASIOU Alexandros". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  10. ^ "DERVISIS Georgios". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  11. ^ "ARGYROPOULOS KANAKAKIS Stylianos". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  12. ^ "MOURIKIS Konstantinos". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  13. ^ "KOLOMVOS Christodoulos". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  14. ^ "GKIOUVETSIS Konstantinos". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  15. ^ "VLACHOPOULOS Angelos". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  16. ^ "GALANIDIS Konstantinos". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 23 August 2021.

External links[]

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