Greece men's national water polo team

{{Short description|Men's national water polo team representing Greece}}

{{Infobox national water polo team

| Name = Greece

| FINA code = GRE

| Nickname = Galanolefki (The Blue-white)
Ethniki (The National)

| Image = Flag of Greece.svg

| Image_size =

| Image_label =

| Association = Hellenic Swimming Federation

| Confederation = LEN

| Coach = Thodoris Vlachos

| Asst coach = Anastasios Schizas

| Captain = Konstantinos Genidounias

| Most caps =

| Top scorer = Ioannis Fountoulis

| Home venue =

| FINA ranking = 3

| FINA ranking date = 31 July 2023

| FINA highest = 1

| FINA highest year = 2021–2022

| FINA lowest = 16

| FINA lowest year = 2011

| First game =

| Biggest win =

| Biggest defeat =

| Olympics apps = 17

| Olympics first = 1920

| Olympics best = {{silver2}} (2020)

| 5-time Olympian = George Mavrotas (1984–2000)
Georgios Afroudakis (1996–2012)

| Olympics most medals =

| Olympics most titles =

| Olympics top scorer = Kyriakos Giannopoulos (44 goals, 1980–1992)

| Olympics most saves =

| Olympics top sprinter =

| Olympics flag bearer =

| World champ apps = 18

| World champ first = 1973

| World champ best = {{silver2}} (2023)

| World cup apps = 10

| World cup first = 1985

| World cup best = {{silver2}} (1997, 2025)

| World league apps = 7

| World league first = 2002

| World league best = {{bronze3}} (2004, 2006, 2016, 2020)

| Regional cup name = European Championship

| Regional cup apps = 19

| Regional cup first = 1970

| Regional cup best = 4th place (1999, 2016)

| 2ndRegional cup name = Mediterranean Games

| 2ndRegional cup apps = 8

| 2ndRegional cup first = 1951

| 2ndRegional cup best = {{silver2}} (2018)

| Website = {{URL | https://koe.org.gr | koe.org.gr }} {{In lang | el | link=yes }}

| Medaltemplates =

| Medaltemplates-expand = yes

| 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	{{gold1}}	{{silver2}}	{{bronze3}}	Total
class="wikitable" width=30% style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
align=left\|Olympic Games \| –	1	–	1
align=left\|World Championship \| –	1	3	4
align=left\|World Cup \| –	2	–	2
align=left\|World League \| –	–	4	4
align=left\|European Championship \| –	–	–	–
align=left\|Mediterranean Games \| –	1	4	5
Total	–	5	11	16

=Olympic Games=

Image:Med 2.png Silver medal:
2020

=World Championship=

Image:Med 2.png Silver medal:
2023
Image:Med 3.png Bronze medals:
2005, 2015, 2022

=World Cup=

Image:Med 2.png Silver medal:
1997, 2025

=World League=

Image:Med 3.png Bronze medals:
2004, 2006, 2016, 2020

=Mediterranean Games=

Image:Med 2.png Silver medal:
2018
Image:Med 3.png Bronze medals:
1951, 1991, 1993, 2013

Competitive record

=Olympic Games=

{{Main|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.{{Cite HistoFINA wp |pages=mnt |format=dmy }}

Year !width="100"\|Position
class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;font-size:90%;"
{{flagicon\|Belgium}} 1920	8th
{{flagicon\|France}} 1924	13th
{{flagicon\|Great Britain}} 1948	15th
{{flagicon\|Mexico}} 1968	14th
{{flagicon\|West Germany}} 1972	14th
{{flagicon\|Soviet Union}} 1980	10th
{{flagicon\|United States}} 1984	8th
{{flagicon\|South Korea}} 1988	9th
{{flagicon\|Spain}} 1992	10th
{{flagicon\|United States}} 1996	6th
{{flagicon\|Australia}} 2000	10th
style="background:#9acdff;" \|style="border: 3px solid red"\|{{flagicon\|Greece}} 2004	4th
{{flagicon\|China}} 2008	7th
{{flagicon\|UK}} 2012	9th
{{flagicon\|Brazil}} 2016	6th
bgcolor=silver \|{{flagicon\|Japan}} 2020	Image:Silver medal icon.svg
{{flagicon\|France}} 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. 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.[http://www.sport24.gr/Files/h-megalh-hmera-ths-ellhnikhs-ydatosfairishs.2948436.html Το χάλκινο μετάλλιο της Εθνικής ομάδας πόλο των ανδρών στο Παγκόσμιο Πρωτάθλημα του 2005 στο Μόντρεαλ] sport24.gr, 30 July 2014 (in Greek) 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.

{{multiple image

| width = 130

| footer = 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.

| image1 = Christos Afroudakis.JPG

| alt1 =

| caption1 =

| image2 = Manolis Mylonakis.JPG

| alt2 =

| caption2 =

}}

Year !width="100"\|Position
class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;font-size:90%;"
{{flagicon\|Yugoslavia}} 1973	12th
{{flagicon\|West Germany}} 1978	12th
{{flagicon\|Ecuador}} 1982	12th
{{flagicon\|Spain}} 1986	11th
{{flagicon\|Australia}} 1991	10th
{{flagicon\|Italy}} 1994	7th
{{flagicon\|Australia}} 1998	8th
{{flagicon\|Japan}} 2001	6th
style="background:#9acdff;" \|{{flagicon\|Spain}} 2003	4th
bgcolor=cc9966 \|{{flagicon\|Canada}} 2005	Image:Bronze medal icon.svg
{{flagicon\|Australia}} 2007	6th
{{flagicon\|Spain}} 2013	6th
bgcolor=cc9966 \|{{flagicon\|Russia}} 2015	Image:Bronze medal icon.svg
style="background:#9acdff;" \|{{flagicon\|Hungary}} 2017	4th
{{flagicon\|South Korea}} 2019	7th
bgcolor=cc9966 \|{{flagicon\|Hungary}} 2022	Image:Bronze medal icon.svg
bgcolor=silver \|{{Flagicon\|Japan}} 2023	Image:Silver medal icon.svg
{{flagicon\|Qatar}} 2024	5th
Total	18/21

=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.

Year !width="100"\|Position
class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;font-size:90%;"
{{flagicon\|West Germany}} 1985	8th
style="border: 3px solid red"\|{{flagicon\|Greece}} 1987	8th
style="border: 3px solid red"\|{{flagicon\|Greece}} 1993	7th
{{flagicon\|United States}} 1995	6th
bgcolor=silver \|style="border: 3px solid red"\|{{flagicon\|Greece}} 1997	Image:Silver medal icon.svg
{{flagicon\|Australia}} 1999	7th
{{flagicon\|FR Yugoslavia}} 2002	5th
{{flagicon\|Hungary}} 2006	7th
{{flagicon\|United States}} 2023	5th
bgcolor=silver \|{{flagicon\|Montenegro}} 2025	Image:Silver medal icon.svg
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.

Year !width="100"\|Position
class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;font-size:90%;"
style="background:#9acdff;" \|style="border: 3px solid red"\|{{flagicon\|Greece}} 2002	4th
{{flagicon\|United States}} 2003	5th
bgcolor=cc9966 \|{{flagicon\|United States}} 2004	Image:Bronze medal icon.svg
{{flagicon\|Serbia and Montenegro}} 2005	5th
bgcolor=cc9966 \|style="border: 3px solid red"\|{{flagicon\|Greece}} 2006	Image:Bronze medal icon.svg
{{flagicon\|Italy}} 2008	8th
bgcolor=cc9966 \|{{flagicon\|China}} 2016	Image:Bronze medal icon.svg
bgcolor=cc9966 \|{{flagicon\|Georgia}} 2020	Image:Bronze medal icon.svg
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 !width="100"\|Position
class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;font-size:90%;"
{{flagicon\|Spain}} 1970	10th
{{flagicon\|Bulgaria}} 1985	8th
{{flagicon\|West Germany}} 1989	11th
style="border: 3px solid red"\|{{flagicon\|Greece}} 1991	6th
{{flagicon\|Great Britain}} 1993	7th
{{flagicon\|Austria}} 1995	9th
{{flagicon\|Spain}} 1997	7th
style="background:#9acdff;" \|{{flagicon\|Italy}} 1999	4th
{{flagicon\|Hungary}} 2001	7th
{{flagicon\|Slovenia}} 2003	8th
{{flagicon\|Serbia}} 2006	6th
{{flagicon\|Spain}} 2008	11th
{{flagicon\|Croatia}} 2010	9th
{{flagicon\|Netherlands}} 2012	6th
\|{{flagicon\|Hungary}} 2014	6th
style="background:#9acdff;"	{{flagicon\|Serbia}} 2016	4th
{{flagicon\|Spain}} 2018	5th
\|{{flagicon\|Hungary}} 2020	7th
\|{{flagicon\|Croatia}} 2022	5th
\|{{flagicon\|Croatia}} 2024	5th
\|{{flagicon\|Serbia}} 2026	Qualified
Total	21/36

Team

=Current squad=

Roster for the 2025 World Cup.

The roster was announced on 4 January 2025.{{cite web |title=Η 15άδα για το Βουκουρέστι|url=https://koe.org.gr/article/i-15ada-gia-to-voukouesti-ti-deutera-anaxorei-i-apostoli|website=koe.org.gr}}

Head coach: Thodoris Vlachos

1 Emmanouil Zerdevas {{Tooltip|GK|Goalkeeper}}
2 Konstantinos Genidounias (c) {{Tooltip|D|Driver}}
3 Dimitrios Skoumpakis {{Tooltip|CB|Centre back}}
4 Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis {{Tooltip|D|Driver}}
5 Stylianos Argyropoulos {{Tooltip|D|Driver}}
6 Alexandros Papanastasiou {{Tooltip|D|Driver}}
7 Nikos Gillas {{Tooltip|W|Wing}}
8 Efstathios Kalogeropoulos {{Tooltip|W|Wing}}
9 Ioannis Alafragkis {{Tooltip|CB|Centre back}}
10 Konstantinos Kakaris {{Tooltip|CF|Centre forward}}
11 Dimitris Nikolaidis {{Tooltip|CF|Centre forward}}
12 Aristeidis Chalyvopoulos {{Tooltip|W|Wing}}
13 Panagiotis Tzortzatos {{Tooltip|GK|Goalkeeper}}
14 Dimitris Dimou {{Tooltip|W|Wing}}
15 Nikolaos Kourouvanis {{Tooltip|W|Wing}}

=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:

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:center;"

style="width: 15em" bgcolor="CC9966"|2005 World Championship
Bronze Medalists

valign="top"

|{{wp|GRE|name=GREECE}}

Georgios Reppas
Anastasios Schizas
Dimitrios Mazis
Emmanouil Mylonakis
Theodoros Chatzitheodorou
Argyris Theodoropoulos
Christos Afroudakis
Georgios Ntoskas
Georgios Afroudakis (c)
Stefanos-Petros Santa
Antonios Vlontakis
Manthos Voulgarakis
Nikolaos Deligiannis
[https://www.worldaquatics.com/competitions/771/11th-fina-world-championships-2005/results?disciplines=WP&event=fc9294c6-70b6-4f16-9179-929dedac0efc Water polo at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships - Final Standings - Games - Rosters] www.worldaquatics.com
Head coach
Alessandro Campagna

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:center;"

style="width: 15em" bgcolor="CC9966"|2015 World Championship
Bronze Medalists

valign="top"

|{{wp|GRE|name=GREECE}}

Konstantinos Flegkas
Emmanouil Mylonakis
Georgios Dervisis
Konstantinos Genidounias
Ioannis Fountoulis
Kyriakos Pontikeas
Christos Afroudakis (c)
Evangelos Delakas
Konstantinos Mourikis
Christodoulos Kolomvos
Alexandros Gounas
Angelos Vlachopoulos
Stefanos Galanopoulos
{{Cite web |url=https://waterpolo.sportresult.com/pdf/WCH2015/M47.pdf|title=Water polo at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships - 3rd place match: Greece - Italy 11-9 |website=waterpolo.sportresult.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112044341/https://waterpolo.sportresult.com/pdf/WCH2015/M47.pdf|archivedate=2023-11-12}}
Head coach
Thodoris Vlachos

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:center;"

style="width: 15em" bgcolor="CC9966"|2022 World Championship
Bronze Medalists

valign="top"

|{{wp|GRE|name=GREECE}}

Manos Zerdevas
Dinos Genidounias
Dimitris Skoumpakis
Stathis Kalogeropoulos
Yiannis Fountoulis (c)
Alexandros Papanastasiou
Giorgos Dervisis
Stelios Argyropoulos
Costas Gouvis
Costas Kakaris
Dimitris Nikolaidis
Angelos Vlachopoulos
Panagiotis Tzortzatos
{{Cite web |url=https://waterpolo.sportresult.com/pdf/WCH2022/M47.pdf|title=Water polo at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships - 3rd place match:: Greece - Croatia 9-7 |website=waterpolo.sportresult.com |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608172702/http://waterpolo.sportresult.com/pdf/WCH2022/M47.pdf|archivedate=2023-06-08}} waterpolo.sportresult.com
Head coach
Thodoris Vlachos

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:center;"

style="width: 15em" bgcolor=silver|2023 World Championship
Silver Medalists

valign="top"

|{{wp|GRE|name=GREECE}}

Manos Zerdevas
Dinos Genidounias
Dimitris Skoumpakis
Stathis Kalogeropoulos
Yiannis Fountoulis (c)
Alexandros Papanastasiou
Giorgos Dervisis
Stelios Argyropoulos
Dimitris Nikolaidis
Costas Kakaris
Ioannis Alafragkis
Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis
Panagiotis Tzortzatos
Nikolaos Gkillas
Aristeidis Chalyvopoulos
{{Cite web |url=https://waterpolo.sportresult.com/pdf/WCH2023/M48.pdf|title=Water polo at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships - Final: Hungary - Greece 14-13 (pen.) |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330070418/http://waterpolo.sportresult.com/pdf/WCH2023/M48.pdf|archivedate=2024-03-30}} waterpolo.sportresult.com
Head coach
Thodoris Vlachos

=Notable coaches=

File:Alessandro Campagna (2).JPG]]

{{flagicon|GRE}} Andreas Garyfallos
{{flagicon|ESP}} Josep Brasco Cata
{{flagicon|CRO}} Ivo Trumbić
{{flagicon|GRE}} Kyriakos Iosifidis
{{flagicon|CRO}} Mile Nakić
{{flagicon|GRE}} Giannis Giannouris
{{flagicon|ITA}} Alessandro Campagna
{{flagicon|SRB}} Dragan Andrić
{{flagicon|GRE}} Thodoris Vlachos

References

External links

{{Official website}} {{In lang | el | link=yes }}

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{{Greece men's water polo squad 2005 World Aquatics Championships}}

{{Greece men's water polo squad 2007 World Aquatics Championships}}

{{Greece men's water polo squad 2013 World Aquatics Championships}}

{{Greece men's water polo squad 2015 World Aquatics Championships}}

{{Greece men's water polo squad 2017 World Aquatics Championships}}

{{Greece men's water polo squad 2019 World Aquatics Championships}}

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Category:Men's national water polo teams

Category:Men's sport in Greece

Greece men's national water polo team

Honours

=Olympic Games=

=World Championship=

=World Cup=

=World League=

=Mediterranean Games=

Competitive record

=Olympic Games=

=World Championship=

=World Cup=

=World League=

=European Championship=

Team

=Current squad=

=World Championship medal-winning squads=

=Notable coaches=

See also

References

External links