Greece men's national water polo team

Greece

Nickname(s)	Galanolefki (The Blue-white) Ethniki (The National)
Association	Hellenic Swimming Federation
Confederation	LEN (Europe)
Head coach	Thodoris Vlachos
Asst coach	Dimitris Kravaritis
Captain	Christos Afroudakis
FINA code	GRE
Olympic Games
Appearances	15 (first in 1920)
Best result	4th place (2004)
World Championships
Appearances	13 (first in 1973)
Best result	03 ! (2005, 2015)
World League
Appearances	7 (first in 2002)
Best result	03 ! (2004, 2006)
World Cup
Appearances	8 (first in 1985)
Best result	02 ! (1997)
European Championship
Appearances	15 (first in 1970)
Best result	4th place (1999)
Mediterranean Games
Appearances	8 (first in 1951)
Best result	03 ! (1951, 1991, 1993, 2013)

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 success being the two bronze medals won at the World Championship in 2005 and 2015. The Greeks have also won a silver medal at the World Cup in 1997 and two more bronze medals at the World League in 2004 and 2006.

Moreover, they have closely missed a medal in the 2004 Olympic Games, the 2003 World Championship and the 1999 European Championship, ending up in the 4th place in all three 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.

Palmarès

Competition	01 !	02 !	03 !	Total
Olympic Games	–	–	–	–
World Championship	–	–	2	2
World League	–	–	2	2
World Cup	–	1	–	1
European Championship	–	–	–	–
Mediterranean Games	–	–	4	4
Total	–	1	8	9

World Championship

• Bronze medals (2):
  • 2005, 2015

World Cup

• Silver medal (1):
  • 1997

World League

• Bronze medals (2):
  • 2004, 2006

Mediterranean Games

• Bronze medals (4):
  • 1951, 1991, 1993, 2013

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Greece has participated 15 times at the Olympic Games, always present in the tournament since 1980. Their best result is the 4th place at the 2004 Olympics inn Athens, after losing 5–6 to Russia in the bronze medal game. The Greeks have secured a quarter-finals' presence in six occasions.

Year	Position
1920	5th
1924	First round
1948	First round
1964	7th
1968	14th
1972	14th
1980	10th
1984	8th
1988	9th
1992	10th
1996	6th
2000	10th
2004	4th
2008	7th
2012	9th
Total	15/26

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 the 6th place being their lowest position from 2001 and on.

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
Total	13/16

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 two bronze medals so far in 2004 and 2006.

Year	Position
2002	4th
2003	5th
2004
2005	5th
2006
2008	8th
Total	6/14

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
Total	8/15

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 presence being a 4th place in 1999 in Florence.

Year	Position
1970	10th
1985	8th
1989	11th
1991	6th
1993	7th
1995	9th
1997	7th
1999	4th
2001	7th
2003	7th
2006	6th
2008	11th
2010	9th
2012	6th
2014	6th
Total	15/31

Team

Current squad

The following is the bronze medal-winning Greek roster in the men's water polo tournament of the 2015 World Championship.

• 

  Giannis Fountoulis

• 

  Konstantinos Mourikis

• 

  Christodoulos Kolomvos

• 

  Angelos Vlachopoulos

• 

  Vangelis Delakas

• 

  Kostas Genidounias

Konstantinos Flegkas

Stefanos Galanopoulos

№	Name	Pos.	Height	Date of birth	Club
01 !1	Flegkas, KonstantinosKonstantinos Flegkas	GK	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	000000001988-07-17-000017 July 1988	Ydraikos
02 !2	Mylonakis, EmmanouilEmmanouil Mylonakis	D	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	000000001985-04-09-00009 April 1985	Olympiacos WPC
03 !3	Dervisis, GiorgosGiorgos Dervisis	D	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	000000001994-10-30-000030 October 1994	Olympiacos WPC
04 !4	Genidounias, KonstantinosKonstantinos Genidounias	D	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)	000000001993-05-03-00003 May 1993	Olympiacos WPC
05 !5	Fountoulis, IoannisIoannis Fountoulis	D	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	000000001988-05-25-000025 May 1988	Olympiacos WPC
06 !6	Pontikeas, KyriakosKyriakos Pontikeas	CB	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	000000001991-05-09-00009 May 1991	Olympiacos WPC
07 !7	Afroudakis, ChristosChristos Afroudakis	D	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	000000001984-05-23-000023 May 1984	NO Vouliagmeni
08 !8	Delakas, EvagelosEvagelos Delakas	CB	1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)	000000001985-02-08-00008 February 1985	Olympiacos WPC
09 !9	Mourikis, KonstantinosKonstantinos Mourikis	CF	1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)	000000001988-07-11-000011 July 1988	Olympiacos WPC
10	Kolomvos, ChristodoulosChristodoulos Kolomvos	CF	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	000000001988-10-26-000026 October 1988	Olympiacos WPC
11	Gounas, AlexandrosAlexandros Gounas	D	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)	000000001989-10-03-00003 October 1989	Olympiacos WPC
12	Vlachopoulos, AngelosAngelos Vlachopoulos	D	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	000000001991-09-28-000028 September 1991	Olympiacos WPC
13	Galanopoulos, StefanosStefanos Galanopoulos	GK	1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)	000000001993-02-22-000022 February 1993	Olympiacos WPC

Head coach: Thodoris Vlachos

World Championship medal-winning squads

The following are the bronze medal-winning Greek rosters in the men's water polo tournaments of the 2005 and the 2015 World Championships:

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.

2005 World Championship Bronze Medalists

GREECE Georgios Reppas Anastasios Schizas Dimitrios Mazis Emmanouil Mylonakis Theodoros Chatzitheodorou Argyris Theodoropoulos Christos Afroudakis Georgios Ntoskas Georgios Afroudakis Stefanos-Petros Santa Antonios Vlontakis Manthos Voulgarakis Nikolaos Deligiannis Head Coach Alessandro Campagna

2015 World Championship Bronze Medalists

GREECE Konstantinos Flegkas Emmanouil Mylonakis Georgios Dervisis Konstantinos Genidounias Ioannis Fountoulis Kyriakos Pontikeas Christos Afroudakis Evangelos Delakas Konstantinos Mourikis Christodoulos Kolomvos Alexandros Gounas Angelos Vlachopoulos Stefanos Galanopoulos Head Coach Thodoris Vlachos

Notable coaches

Alessandro Campagna

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

External links

• Hellenic Swimming Federation