The European preliminaries of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World League 2019 kick-off tomorrow, Saturday November 3, in two European cities, Athens (GRE) and Volgograd (RUS).
Eight (8) teams are taking part in the initial European phase and the groups’ composition unfolds as follow:
GROUP A: Russia, Spain, Greece, Israel
GROUP B: France, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy
Russia will first welcome Spain in Volgograd on Saturday, while Israel will face the Greeks in their capital.
On Tuesday November 6, three more games will be held as part of this initial phase: Spain and Israel will meet in Molins de Rei (ESP), Hungary and France will dispute their first game of the season in Eger (HUN) and the Italians will travel to Eindhoven to play the Dutch women.
The European preliminaries will be played in ten rounds, following the below calendar from November 2018 to March 2019, before the first FINA/LEN Women's Water Polo World League - Europa Cup Final is held from March 29 - 31, 2019.
| Round |
Date |
Group A |
Group B |
| #1 | 3/11/2018 | RUS vs ESP GRE vs ISR |
- |
| #2 | 6/11/2018 | ESP vs ISR | HUN vs FRA NED vs ITA |
| #3 | 1/12/2018 | GRE vs RUS | - |
| #4 | 4/12/2018 | ISR vs RUS | ITA vs HUN FRA vs NED |
| #5 | 15/12/2018 | ESP vs GRE | - |
| #6 | 18/12/2018 | ESP vs RUS ISR vs GRE |
FRA vs ITA |
| #7 | 12/01/2019 | NED vs HUN | |
| #8 | 15/01/2019 | RUS vs GRE | FRA vs HUN ITA vs NED |
| #9 | 12/02/2019 | RUS vs ISR | ITA vs FRA HUN vs NED |
| #10 | 5/03/2019 | GRE vs ESP | HUN vs ITA NED vs FRA |
After the conclusion of the European preliminaries, the three (+1 depending on the host) best teams will be qualified for the Super Final (dates + city tbc). They will be joined by three (+1 depending on the host) other teams selected from the Inter- Continental Cup, which will be organised in Perth (AUS) from March 26-31.
The Netherlands is potentially the strongest team to beat in this preliminary phase as the Dutch women have grabbed last year's World League silver medal in Kunshan (CHN), losing the gold match to the USA.
2018 World League bronze medallists Russia and Spain (5th) are also strong contenders.
The Men's World League European preliminaries resumes on November 13.
You can follow the pool action and watch most games LIVE streamed on FINAtv.