Greece men's national water polo team

Greece
FINA codeGRE
Nickname(s)Galanolefki (The Blue-white)
Ethniki (The National)
AssociationHellenic Swimming Federation
ConfederationLEN (Europe)
Head coachThodoris Vlachos
Asst coachAnastasios Schizas
CaptainKonstantinos Genidounias
Top scorer(s)Ioannis Fountoulis
FINA ranking (since 2008)
Current3 (as of 31 July 2023)
Highest1 (2021–2022)
Lowest16 (2011)
Olympic Games (team statistics)
Appearances17 (first in 1920)
Best result (2020)
5-time Olympian(s)George Mavrotas (1984–2000)
Georgios Afroudakis (1996–2012)
Top scorer(s)Kyriakos Giannopoulos (44 goals, 1980–1992)
World Championship
Appearances18 (first in 1973)
Best result (2023)
World Cup
Appearances10 (first in 1985)
Best result (1997, 2025)
World League
Appearances7 (first in 2002)
Best result (2004, 2006, 2016, 2020)
European Championship
Appearances19 (first in 1970)
Best result4th place (1999, 2016)
Mediterranean Games
Appearances8 (first in 1951)
Best result (2018)
Media
Websitekoe.org.gr (in Greek)
Medal record
Olympic Games
2020 Tokyo Team
World Championship
2023 Fukuoka Team
2005 Montreal Team
2015 Kazan Team
2022 Budapest Team
World Cup
1997 Athens
2025 Podgorica
World League
2004 Long Beach
2006 Athens
2016 Huizhou
2020 Tbilisi
Mediterranean Games
2018 Tarragona Team
1951 Alexandria Team
1991 Athens Team
1993 Languedoc-Roussillon Team
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 silver medal at the 2020 Olympic Games and three bronze medals won at the World Championship in 2005, 2015 and 2022. 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 Total
Olympic Games – 1 – 1
World Championship – 1 3 4
World Cup – 2 – 2
World League – – 4 4
European Championship – – – –
Mediterranean Games – 1 4 5
Total – 5 11 16

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
1920 8th
1924 13th
1948 15th
1968 14th
1972 14th
1980 10th
1984 8th
1988 9th
1992 10th
1996 6th
2000 10th
2004 4th
2008 7th
2012 9th
2016 6th
2020
2024 5th
Total 17/28

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 a 7th place being their lowest position from 2001 and on when the team qualified.

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
1973 12th
1978 12th
1982 12th
1986 11th
1991 10th
1994 7th
1998 8th
2001 6th
2003 4th
2005
2007 6th
2013 6th
2015
2017 4th
2019 7th
2022
2023
2024 5th
2025 Qualified
Total 19/22

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
1985 8th
1987 8th
1993 7th
1995 6th
1997
1999 7th
2002 5th
2006 7th
2023 5th
2025
Total 10/18

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
2002 4th
2003 5th
2004
2005 5th
2006
2008 8th
2016
2020
Total 8/20

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
1970 10th
1985 8th
1989 11th
1991 6th
1993 7th
1995 9th
1997 7th
1999 4th
2001 7th
2003 8th
2006 6th
2008 11th
2010 9th
2012 6th
2014 6th
2016 4th
2018 5th
2020 7th
2022 5th
2024 5th
2026 Qualified
Total 21/36

Team

Current squad

Roster for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.

GR – Greece (as of 3 July 2025)[3]
No. Player Pos. L/R Height Weight Date of birth (age) Club
1 Panagiotis Tzortzatos 10GK 4B 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 85 kg (187 lb) (1992-05-11)11 May 1992 (aged 33) Olympiacos
2 Konstantinos Genidounias (C) 50D 2R 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 91 kg (201 lb) (1993-03-03)3 March 1993 (aged 32) Olympiacos
3 Dimitrios Skoumpakis 20CB 2R 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 119 kg (262 lb) (1998-12-18)18 December 1998 (aged 26) Panathinaikos
4 Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis 50D 2R 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 90 kg (198 lb) (1999-11-19)19 November 1999 (aged 25) Panathinaikos
5 Stylianos Argyropoulos 50D 4B 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 105 kg (231 lb) (1996-08-02)2 August 1996 (aged 28) Ferencvárosi
6 Aristeidis Chalyvopoulos 55W 2R (2002-05-20)20 May 2002 (aged 23) Panathinaikos
7 Nikos Gillas 55W 2R 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 79 kg (174 lb) (2001-06-21)21 June 2001 (aged 24) Olympiacos
8 Efstathios Kalogeropoulos 55W 2R 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 88 kg (194 lb) (2001-06-28)28 June 2001 (aged 24) CN Marseille
9 Ioannis Alafragkis 20CB 2R 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 100 kg (220 lb) (1999-06-23)23 June 1999 (aged 26) Olympiacos
10 Kostas Kakaris 40CF 2R 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 115 kg (254 lb) (1999-07-02)2 July 1999 (aged 26) Olympiacos
11 Dimitris Nikolaidis 40CF 2R 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 88 kg (194 lb) (1999-06-10)10 June 1999 (aged 26) Olympiacos
12 Nikos Papanikolaou 40CF 2R 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 110 kg (243 lb) (2000-03-29)29 March 2000 (aged 25) Panathinaikos
13 Emmanouil Andreadis 10GK 4B (2002-06-12)12 June 2002 (aged 23) NC Vouliagmeni
14 Evangelos Pouros 50D 2R (2003-08-27)27 August 2003 (aged 21) Olympiacos
15 Nikolaos Gardikas 50D 2R 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) (1998-08-20)20 August 1998 (aged 26) GS Apollon Smyrnis

World Championship medal-winning squads

The following are the medal-winning Greek rosters in the men's water polo tournaments of the Water polo at the World Aquatics Championships:

Notable coaches

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. ^ "Η 15άδα της Εθνικής ομάδας Ανδρών για τη Σιγκαπούρη". koe.org.gr.
  4. ^ Water polo at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships - Final Standings - Games - Rosters www.worldaquatics.com
  5. ^ "Water polo at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships - 3rd place match: Greece - Italy 11-9" (PDF). waterpolo.sportresult.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-11-12.
  6. ^ "Water polo at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships - 3rd place match:: Greece - Croatia 9-7" (PDF). waterpolo.sportresult.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-06-08. waterpolo.sportresult.com
  7. ^ "Water polo at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships - Final: Hungary - Greece 14-13 (pen.)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-03-30. waterpolo.sportresult.com
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