Courtesy: LEN Media
At its meeting in Amsterdam, the LEN Bureau allocated the 2022 edition of the European Water Polo Championships for the city of Split (Croatia). The Bureau approved the dates of several 2019 LEN events including the Champions Cup in artistic swimming which serves as an Olympic qualification meet.
The LEN Bureau held its regular autumn meeting in Amsterdam (NED) and with a unanimous decision the members awarded the hosting right of the 2022 European Water Polo Championships to the city of Split (CRO).
The event will return to Croatia 12 years after a successful tournament held in Zagreb 2010. The proposed venue is the Spaladium Arena, a state-of-the-art multipurpose facility which can accommodate 9,000 fans once the temporary pools will be set up inside. The Croatian hosts are convinced that besides the sport-loving people of Split and the country, fans among the tens of thousands of tourists visiting the region in the high season (July) will also attend the event and fill the seats of the arena day by day.
LEN President Paolo Barelli was happy to share some figures underlining the tremendous success of the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
“The viewing figures we received from EBU (European Broadcasting Union) show that the European Championships were a real hit of the summer, and not just swimming but our other disciplines also enjoyed TV audiences never seen before,” Barelli said. “The feedbacks we got from the member federations, athletes, coaches and officials were all praising the organizers so we cannot be grateful enough for Glasgow and Edinburgh for their outstanding efforts.”
The Bureau approved the 2019 budget as well as some key dates for the coming season. The European Artistic Swimming Champions Cup will be staged on 10-12 May, the host is to be named soon. This meet is going to serve as the continental qualification event for the Olympic Games, the top ranked team and duet shall earn a respective berth for Tokyo 2020.
The members also agreed to have six legs in the 2019 LEN Open Water Cup, one per month from March onwards (with the exception of July when the World Championships shall take place). The proposed schedule is as follows: Eilat (ISR, March), Madeira (POR, April), Brive la Gaillarde (FRA, May), Barcelona (ESP, June), Ohrid (MKD, 18 August), Copenhagen (DEN, 31 August).