They swim, we know: what to expect from the Russian national team at the Water Polo World Cup

The Russian men's national water polo team will participate in the second division of the World Cup, which will be held in Malta from April 7 to 13. This is the first international start of the national team in a game sport since the suspension of our athletes in 2022. 24 national teams will participate in the tournament, and only the winner will be promoted to the first division next year. The finalists will play in the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in Sydney in July. About the chances of our team to compete for the final victory — in the material of Izvestia.

The top three players

In the first stage, each national team will play three matches in three days. The best 16 teams will qualify for the playoffs (the teams that took the last places in their quarters and the two worst teams from the third place will be eliminated). The opponents of our water polo players (the team will play in a neutral status) in the group stage will be the national teams of Brazil, Great Britain and South Africa.

Brazil is the most formidable force of these three — a number of players of this national team play for strong European clubs. Great Britain and South Africa, with all due respect to them, are unlikely to compete with our national team, which will include Daniil Merkulov, the winner of the 2024 Champions League (in Ferencvaros, Hungary), goalkeeper Peter Fedotov, the winner of the 2014 European Cup among club teams, and the stars of Russian water polo in recent years: Roman Shepelev., Nikolai Lazarev, Nikita Derevyankin, Andrey Balakirev, Egor Yemelyanov, Zamir Mirziev and Konstantin Sheikin. Many of them have already participated in various tournaments as part of the national team, but for a number of young players, the World Cup will be their international debut.

"The last international competitions we had were in Prague in 2021, the World Championship for our age,— Zamir Mirziev told Izvestia. — There was a coronavirus, and at the last moment the quota was released — in two weeks we assembled a team, swam, and abandoned. How does it feel to come back now? I'm skeptical of all the rumors, and it was hard to believe right away, given the circumstances. I decided that it would be better not to believe, and if it happens, I will be glad. Gradually, joy accumulated in such a lump. I've been wanting to come back for a long time, catch up with the rest of the national teams. We absolutely needed it.

The national team was taken to Malta by an experienced coaching staff led by Serbian specialist Dejan Stanojevic. From 2003 to 2013, he was an assistant to the head coach of the Serbian national team, Dejan Udovicic. Under the leadership of this duo, the Serbs won Olympic bronze medals twice, won the World League five times, and won the European Championship. Stanojevic also served as the head coach of the national teams of Romania (2014-2018), Kazakhstan (2019-2020) and Georgia (2021-2025).

"The first match against Brazil will be important for us," Deyan Stanoevich told Izvestia. — Right now, the Brazilians are stronger in terms of quality of play than our other rivals in the group, but for us every match is crucial, and it is with these thoughts that we intend to hold this World Cup. We're going to Malta to be the first. We will see how realistic this is and whether we have the necessary qualities for it when the tournament starts.

Our national team lacks a lot of international matches and experience, and at the moment this is our biggest disadvantage, he continued. But after many years, Russia has the opportunity to play with good and high-quality teams, and our national team should make the most of it, the coach concluded.

"Serbia is very pleased with the return of the Russian team after a four-year hiatus"

Head coach of the Russian national water polo team Deyan Stanoevich — about the upcoming World Cup and significant changes in the rules of the game

The main competitors of our national team

We will meet the main competitors for the victory in the second division of the World Cup in the playoffs.

— Montenegro, Australia, France are excellent and high—class national teams, they are among the best in the world of water polo, — said Dejan Stanojevic. — But Romania, Georgia, and Germany are also great teams. These teams have a lot of experience, they have been playing water polo at a high level for a long time, some of them have six or seven foreign players who have received passports... So the competition will be high.

The winner of the second division of the World Cup will take part in the matches of the first one next year, and the finalists of the upcoming tournament will compete for the main trophy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in Sydney. At the same time, the Australian national team will play in the final tournament regardless of the results of the second division, having received a quota to participate as the host country.

It should be noted that over the past few years, water polo has adopted rules that have significantly accelerated the game. The court was reduced from 30 to 25 meters, and possession of the ball was reduced from 30 to 28 seconds. Added the right to release the seventh fielder instead of the goalkeeper in the end.