Malta …….14
Slovenia….13
(3-4), (5-4), (3-3), (3-2)
European Aquatics European Championships 2026, Belgrade Serbia
The Malta national water polo team secured a historic 13th-place finish at the 2026 European Championships after topping the 13th–16th place play-off group with maximum points, finishing ahead of Slovakia, Israel, and Slovenia.
Three wins from three matches in the classification round confirmed Malta’s final ranking, marking the nation’s best-ever result at the European Championships since their first participation in 2016 which ironically was held also in Belgrade.
Malta approached the decisive match with the right mentality despite ongoing speculation following a Times of Malta report alleging that some players may have been directly or indirectly involved in attempts to manipulate the outcome of the opening match against Montenegro, and possibly the subsequent encounter against France.
Slovenia had their natural left hander Troppan missing as he was red carded for brutality in the game against Israel. On the other hand Malta had Camilleri and Nageev on fire scoring 8 goals between them; 5 for the Russian born and a hat-trick of goals for the Neptunes player.
Malta opened the scoring through Igor Nagaev, who converted from the first man-up opportunity of the match to give his side a 1–0 lead. After Slovenia equalised, Liam Galea restored Malta’s advantage with a powerful effort from outside the attacking area to make it 2–1. Stevie Camilleri then struck from close range to extend the lead to 3–1. Slovenia responded strongly, however, scoring three unanswered goals to turn the match around and move into a 4–3 lead.
The second quarter began with Liam Galea once again finding the net to bring Malta level at 4–4. After Slovenia edged ahead once more, Stevie Camilleri capitalised on a man-up situation to score his second goal of the match, restoring parity at 5–5.
Ivan Nagaev then stepped up, firing home from beyond the seven-metre mark to give Malta the lead for the first time in the match. Alec Fenech quickly followed with a goal on the counter-attack, extending Malta’s advantage to 7–6.
After Malta conceded two goals, Liam Galea responded from position 3 in a man-up situation to bring the score level once again at 8–8.
The third quarter opened with Matthew Zammit scoring from close range on the rebound after Nikolai Zammit struck the post, putting Malta ahead 9–8. Stevie Camilleri then converted his eighth penalty of the tournament to restore Malta’s one-goal advantage at 10–9. Goalkeeper Nicholas Grixti, who had replaced Jake Tanti, was unable to prevent Stromajer from equalising shortly afterwards. Ivan Nagaev once again put Malta in front, scoring from a man-up situation to make it 11–10, but Slovenia responded before the end of the quarter to leave the score tied at 11–11.
At the start of the final quarter, coach Milan Cirovic reinstated Jake Tanti between the posts. Fuelled by renewed energy, Malta surged back into control, opening a two-goal lead through strikes from Ivan Nagaev and Liam Galea to make it 13–11. Nagaev added another with a sharp finish to extend the lead to 14–12. Slovenia managed another late goal, but Malta held firm to secure a narrow 14–13 victory.
Photos: Aniko Kovacs/ European Aquatics
Final 13-16 Classification:
Malta………9 points
Slovenia ..3 points
Israel……..2 points (still one game to play)
Slovakia….1 point (still one game to play)
Malta: J.Tanti, I. Nagaev (5), L. Galea (4), B. Plumpton, B. Cachia, M. Zammit (1), S. Camilleri (3), J. Cutajar, N. Zammit, D. Zammit, A. Fenech (1), N. Grixti, E. Schembri, J. Bonavia.
Slovenia: BETON Jure, STEFANOVIC Vukasin, KADIVEC Jasa (C), CANC Matija Bernard, SANTAK Miha, LIPNIK Marcel, STROMAJER Nace, PAUNOVIC Aleksander, FICUR Gasper, CERAR Aleksander, POTOCNIK Enej, BULAJIC Milan, MILETIC Nikola, STROMAJER Bine.
