2020 Women's European Water Polo Championship
The 2020 Women's European Water Polo Championship was the 18th edition of the major European water polo tournament for national teams. It was held at the Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, from 12 to 25 January 2020.
Spain defeated Russia 13–12 in the final to win their second title.
Host
announced the choice of Budapest as host for the competition on 9 July 2016. All the matches were played at the Danube Arena.| Budapest | |
| Danube Arena | |
| Capacity: 5,000 | |
Qualification
Twelve teams were allowed to the tournament. The qualification was as follows:- The host nation
- The best five teams from the 2018 European Championships
- Six teams from the qualifiers
| Event | Date | Location | Vacancies | Qualified |
| Host nation | 9 July 2016 | – | 1 | |
| 2018 European Championships | 14–27 July 2018 |  Barcelona | 5 | |
| Qualifiers | 25 April–26 October 2019 | Various | 6 |
Format
The twelve teams were split in two groups with six teams each. The first four teams of each group played each other in the quarterfinals in cross group format, the remaining teams played for places nine to twelve.Squads
Draw
The draw of the preliminary round's pools took place in Budapest on 22 October 2019.. The teams were drawn into two groups of six. The first batch included the best two teams of the previous edition; the teams ranked third and fourth were in the second batch, the fifth and the sixth in the third batch and the qualification winners in the fourth batch.| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
Play-offs winners |
With the play-offs winners determined on 26 October, the draw resulted in the following groups:
| Group A | Group B |
Preliminary round
All times are local.Group A
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Group B
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Knockout stage
Bracket
5th place bracketQuarterfinals
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5–8th place semifinals
----Semifinals
----Finals
Eleventh place game
Ninth place game
Seventh place game
Fifth place game
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
Final standing
| Rank | Team |
| 1 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 | |
| 9 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| 12 |
1 Spain qualified for the Olympics by finishing second in the 2019 World Championships.
Statistics and awards
Top goalscorers
Source:Top goalkeepers
Source:Awards
The awards were announced on 26 January 2020.| Award | Player |
| Most Valuable Player | |
| Best Goalkeeper | |
| Topscorer |