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The Swiss Men’s National Team missed the qualification for the European Championships 2024 in Israel. The big surprise is not the result but how the team of interim coach Jovan Radojevic played against better-ranked teams like Romania and Slovenia.
We believed in the qualification, and we demonstrated against Slovenia and Romania that we could play with those teams. I’m very proud to be part of such a team.
Marko Milovanovic (Switzerland)
2024 EC Qualification Kranj
| Pos | Team | Pts | T | W | D | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Romania | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 |  Slovenia | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 |  Switzerland | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 |  Finland | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Radojevic took the challenge and only had two joint trainings to prepare his team. His most significant task was to get the team morale back high and the team to commit to a rather difficult mission. Not only was he able to create a unified team in a very short time, but he was also able to motivate important players like NLA Topscorer Robin Pleyer and center-back Simon Geiser (both Kreuzlingen) for a comeback in the national team.
Romania has a long water polo tradition. Center-forward legend Cosmin Radu (Florentia, Rijeka, Mladost) is the Vice-President of the Romanian Water Polo Federation and is responsible for developing the new generations.
9 - 192024 EC Qualification - Group D - Kranj
POB Kranj Switzerland - Romania |
We pushed ourselves and helped each other. Agaist Romania, we realized that a lot can be achieved with a strong team spirit.
Simon Geiser (Switzerland)
The game against Romania went as expected. The favorite team took the lead immediately with an 11 to 3 result at halftime. The Swiss team remained focused and played much better in the second half, as commented by Simon Geiser: “We pushed ourselves and helped each other. Agaist Romania, we realized that a lot can be achieved with a strong team spirit”.
The decisive game came against qualification host Slovenia. The team is formed by players competing in the Alpe Waterpolo League, mainly from clubs like Triglav Kranj, Ljubljana Slovan, or Calcit Water Polo. One of the significant advantages of Slovenian teams is the closeness to excellent water polo countries like Croatia or Italy.
The Slovenian team had discrete success in early 2000 and was regularly qualified in European Championships with essential names like Matej Nastran, who played in Partizan.
11 - 92024 EC Qualification - Group D - Kranj
POB Kranj Slovenia - Switzerland |
Switzerland started well into the game, despite missing many goal opportunities in the first quarter. The team built up their defensive play and could get back into the match with the result of 7 to 6 at the end of the third quarter.
I never saw such a motivated team. We let positive emotions guide us during the fight for place two in the group
Simon Geiser (Switzerland)
Captian Robin Player motivated the team during the last break, and the Swiss team was able to tie 9-9 with two minutes to play.
Simon Geiser commented: “I never saw such a motivated team. We let positive emotions guide us during the fight for place two in the group”.
Sixty-nine seconds before the end, a penalty shot was awarded to the home team after a two-on-one Slovenian counterattack. The Swiss tried to tie the game again after a time-out called by Radojevic, but Slovenia could defend and score the last goal for the 11 to 9 result.
That was the closest qualification round for Switzerland since LEN abandoned the qualification via the B-European Championship tournaments in favor of the new mode that we all know for other sports like football.
15 - 102024 EC Qualification - Group D - Kranj
POB Kranj Switzerland - Finland |
Switzerland was able to beat Finland, as expected in the last game. It’s still a significant win for the new LEN ranking and will help Switzerland start as 3rd force in the next qualification rounds.
Marco Milovanovic commented after the tournament: “It was a very emotional and challenging tournament. We did not start as a favorite, but we believed in the qualification, and we demonstrated against Slovenia and Romania that we could play with those teams. I’m very proud to be part of such a team. Coach Radojevic helped us to keep the hope for the qualification alive. We truly believed in it until the end. I was very disappointed after the loss against Slovenia in the game’s last minutes. Who knows what could have happened if a few plays had turned in our favor?”
What happens next in the head coach position?
Swiss Water Polo issued a job opening for the head coach position to replace Goran Sablic after being suspended.
It needs to be clarified if interim coach Jovan Radojevic, who demonstrated to be capable of preparing and guiding the team in a critical moment, will participate in the group of candidates.
Swiss Waterpolo posted the new job opening the day of the match against Romania and showed bad timing. They could have at least waited until the end of the qualification round, knowing that Radojevic might be interested.
Top Scorers 2024 Qualification Kranj
| Player | Age |  | Goals per Game |  |  |  | Appearances | Win Ratio | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joel Herzog | 28 | 1 | 0.33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Simon Geiser | 26 | 2 | 0.67 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Marko Milovanovic | 24 | 2 | 0.67 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Flurin Rickenbach | 21 | 2 | 1.00 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 50.00 |
| Nikola Milovanovic | 24 | 2 | 0.67 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Jonathan Melet | 25 | 2 | 0.67 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Noah Dudler | 24 | 2 | 1.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Philipp Herzog | 26 | 2 | 0.67 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Domonkos Szer | 23 | 8 | 2.67 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Robin Pleyer | 33 | 10 | 3.33 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33.33 |
