Head of the organizers, Renato Zivkovic, said at the opening press conference on Friday morning that since Split had earned the right to host the event in 2018, they had to overcome the impacts of the pandemic and now the ongoing war – but with the support of the Government, the city and their partners, they were able to deliver everything they had planned.
“Despite all these difficulties, we remained calm and solved the problems in the best possible way over the last six months, though this was very demanding. But now what matters is that we have 28 teams here, 92 matches to play in 15 days – two pools were constructed, the arena is decorated, and
everything is ready for the great show. I hope that everyone will enjoy the next two weeks.”
“I’ve been here for many events, handball championships, concerts, but for me, the Arena looks the most beautiful now, and it would be nice if the pool could stay forever,” said Milos Mracevic, speaking on behalf of LEN as Bureau Member and water polo liaison.
“We can’t wait for the start of the competition and pass the floor to the main stars of the event. On behalf of LEN President Antonio Silva and First
Vice-President Josip Varvodic, we are all grateful to the Croatian Water Polo Federation for what they have done in the last year and the enormous efforts they’ve put in to have a successful event in Split. I’m sure that in the end, everyone will leave with the most positive impressions.”
LEN Operational Manager Marco Birri highlighted that 34 broadcasters would have live coverage of the championships, and LEN also offers a free live stream of each game with on-site commentary.
“On our new platform, which is available through our website, we’ll feature even more content, while you may relive each and every goal scored in Split by visiting our livescoring site, where the goal clips will be featured almost immediately as the game progresses.”
The championships begin with the first two rounds of the women’s tournament on Saturday and Sunday, while the men’s tournament starts on Monday.
Ivica Tucak, coach of the Croatia men’s team, spoke at the press conference as well:
“We had the privilege to play a practice game with Serbia in this beautiful venue – congratulations to Renato and the entire organizing team who worked on this wonderful project. I’m sure we’ll have a fantastic championship here in Split. As for the team, everybody will give his absolute top to represent the country in the best possible way. We have ambitions, but we have a completely new team compared to Tokyo. Going through all the changes and forming a new team is never easy, and we also had to deal with injuries and sickness, so we’ll miss a couple of players. Still, we proved our strength at the World Championships and the warm-up tournaments, we have a lot to offer, and we have the same goal as always – that is, reaching the semis and playing in the medal round. It’s difficult to predict anything, but we are ready to play in this beautiful city, in front of our fans, show our best and go as far as we can.”
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