# Greece men's national water polo team

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 | – | 1 | – | 1 |
| World League | – | – | 4 | 4 |
| European Championship | – | – | – | – |
| Mediterranean Games | – | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Total | – | 4 | 11 | 15 |

### Olympic Games

* Silver medal:
** 2020

### World Championship

* Silver medal:
** 2023
* Bronze medals:
** 2005, 2015, 2022

### World Cup

* Silver medal:
** 1997

### World League

* Bronze medals:
** 2004, 2006, 2016, 2020

### Mediterranean Games

* Silver medal:
** 2018
* Bronze medals:
** 1951, 1991, 1993, 2013

## Competitive record
### Olympic Games

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.
| 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. 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. 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.
| 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 |
| 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 | Position |
| 1985 | 8th |
| 1987 | 8th |
| 1993 | 7th |
| 1995 | 6th |
| 1997 | |
| 1999 | 7th |
| 2002 | 5th |
| 2006 | 7th |
| 2023 | 5th |
| 2025 | Qualified |
| 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 | 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 Cup.
The roster was announced on 4 January 2025.
Head coach: Thodoris Vlachos
* 1 Emmanouil Zerdevas GK
* 2 Konstantinos Genidounias (c) D
* 3 Dimitrios Skoumpakis CB
* 4 Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis D
* 5 Stylianos Argyropoulos D
* 6 Alexandros Papanastasiou D
* 7 Nikos Gillas W
* 8 Efstathios Kalogeropoulos W
* 9 Ioannis Alafragkis CB
* 10 Konstantinos Kakaris CF
* 11 Dimitris Nikolaidis CF
* 12 Aristeidis Chalyvopoulos W
* 13 Panagiotis Tzortzatos GK
* 14 Dimitris Dimou W
* 15 Nikolaos Kourouvanis W

### 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:
* 2005 World Championship Bronze Medalists
* GREECEGeorgios 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 Head coach Alessandro Campagna
* 2015 World Championship Bronze Medalists
* GREECEKonstantinos 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 Head coach Thodoris Vlachos
* 2022 World Championship Bronze Medalists
* GREECEManos 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 Head coach Thodoris Vlachos
* 2023 World Championship Silver Medalists
* GREECEManos 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 Head coach Thodoris Vlachos

### Notable coaches

* Andreas Garyfallos
* Josep Brasco Cata
* Ivo Trumbić
* Kyriakos Iosifidis
* Mile Nakić
* Giannis Giannouris
* Alessandro Campagna
* Dragan Andrić
* Thodoris Vlachos