Hello European Aquatics family,
September saw European Aquatics convene for its annual Congress, as well as the highly successful DEI and Integrity Forum. Regular news from our departments is also included.
Read more below...
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Major decisions made at EA 2025 Congress in Tbilisi including agreement to relocate HQ to Belgrade |
The European Aquatics Congress convened for their annual meeting. A number of key decisions were made, which are outlined below: The European Aquatics 2025 Congress in Tbilisi approved a relocation agreement to move the federation’s headquarters from Nyon in Switzerland to Belgrade. The switch to the Serbian capital will be dependent on the Serbian Parliament passing a law to make the move legally possible. An Extraordinary Congress will subsequently be held to approve the final detailed contract.
Delegates were informed that EA will co-ordinate timetables for European Championship events in 2026 and 2028 with European Athletics and European Gymnastics with the long-term ambition to have the Championships in a joint location by 2030.
It was noted that Water Polo had made an historic agreement to sell media rights for the Men’s Water Polo Champions’ League competition starting from the 2024-2025 season.
Liam Tancock, Emma Garcia and Oliver Dingley were present as chair, vice-chair and secrertary of the Athletes Committee, and they were in attendance as the entire committee was formally elected.
In other important agenda items, delegates approved the 2024 financial and audit report. The 2025 financial estimate and outlook for the three following years until 2028 were presented, showing that EA has financial stability and potential for growth.
Congress also approved Bureau proposals to make amendments to the Constitution regarding the possibility of opening new legal entities for European Aquatics as well as changes to its Integrity Unit and Integrity Code.
Congress heard progress reports from the hosts of upcoming major events (Lublin 2025, Belgrade 2026 and Funchal 2026) as well as an overview of the calendar of events coming up next year.
Congress also elected two new Honorary Members: Hortensia Graupera and Alfonso Wucherpfennig – both from Spain – for their long and dedicated service to the respective sports of artistic swimming and swimming.
Finally, Congress received a detailed and engaging report from the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA), represented by a delegation led by its President Ram Barakai, as they looked ahead to ongoing collaboration with EA. |
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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Integrity Forum |
The European Aquatics Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and Integrity Forum took place the day prior to the Congress. Below are the resolutions:
The first session, titled Waves of Impact, included presentations from a number of parties from across the sporting sector, with a particular focus on diversity in both aquatics and sport more broadly.
The second session was on the topic of integrity, and included speakers from the Aquatics Integrity Unit, and the European Aquatics Bureau - with workshops given on proper integrity procedures with an example athlete complaint.
The third and final session was entitled Athlete Forum: Special Olympic Voices. This centred around European Aquatics' partnership with the Special Olympics, and the difference the event makes to athletes and spectators alike.
The Waves of Change forum concluded with an awards ceremony in which 31 national federations were recognised on stage for signing the DEI Statement. |
Knowledge Sharing Meetings |
European Aquatics organised several meetings, open to all members of the delegates attending the Congress, to share best practices and common experiences. Below are the key details:
A number of European Aquatics staff facilitated discussions surrounding the organisation of events, the key requirements required and the opportunity to count on the support of EA and other partners to make events cost effective, attractive to fans and sustainable in impact.
The Medical Committee, represented by Wessel Zimmermann, then shared their strategic plan for 2025-2030, which will focus on open water swimming and high diving research as well as injury registration protocols in 2025 and 2026.
Oriol Serra from sponsor partner Fluidra shared some insights into technical advances in pool technology, while Rebecca Bunn from the European Broadcasting Union, and Drew Barrand from Aquatics GB, discussed the challenges but above all, the opportunities around broadcasting aquatic sports in a way that allows for all year-round storytelling and maximising multi-channel distribution. |
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From 12 - 14 September 2025 the Intermediate Certification Course for the WP Delegates and Referees 2025/2026 were organised in Belgrade (SRB). More than 260 Referees and Delegates had opportunity to attend the Course onsite and online.
In front of almost 100 attendants onsite, the latest instructions and recommendations related to the duties and responsibilities of the Delegates and applications of the WP Rules and specific situations were given to the Referees from Mr. Andy Hoepelman, Ms. Stavroula Kozompoli, Mr. Boris Margeta and Mr. Dejan Perisic. All attendants had the opportunity to learn about psychological part of preparation for their duties from Mr. Nikolaos Stavropoulos.
The new competition season started with implementation of the completed certification of jury table Officials at the games. In season 2025/2026 all WP Technical Officials (Referees, Delegates, Jury table Officials) are certified according to the level of the competition.
At the beginning of the season, we have more than 550 Jury table Officials which passed education process of European Aquatics and received adequate certification level to officiate at the EA Water Polo competitions 2025/2026.
From the beginning of the season the Water Polo Technical Officials area at the EA website is fully renewed and now all necessary information about the referees (list by country and by the quality groups ranking), delegates and jury table Officials are available via the following link. |
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European Aquatics Academy |
Officials Courses:
AS Technical Controllers Course: September 13-14 and 20-21, 2025: online – 183 participants (great success in this event with several participants and good quality; thanks to TASC).
International Conference for Swimming Coaches: September 19-21, 2025, Warsaw. Non-Polish participants: 81 registered coaches (30 in-person). Polish participants: 328 registered coaches (90 in-person). Thanks to Polish Federation and WA Sport.
Officials Clinics: Water polo: September 12-14 2025: Belgrade (great success of this event with 258 participants and good quality; thanks to WP team);
Athletes Webinar: Social media and personal branding of athletes (in cooperation with Media Team), 17th September, 156 participants. |
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Italy's Fabio Dalu and Monaco's Lisa Pou were crowned respective men's and women's European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup 2025 champions following the fifth leg of the competition in Razanac, Croatia.
Following five legs of intense racing over several months, and a number of different individual winners, the pair won out and rounded off an incredibly successful series, with hundreds of athletes involved across Protaras, Setubal, Paris, Barcelona and Razanac.
Information Bulletins for Short Course Swimming Championships and its Masters’ edition were released, with a site visit in Poland held in September.
Masters Championships registrations were very encouraging, surpassing the participation level of 2023 within less than 3 weeks of opening. |
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As mentioned above, the European Aquatics Athletes Committee were formally elected at the European Aquatics Congress. Liam Tancock (chair), Emma Garcia (vice-chair) and Oliver Dingley (secretary), were all present.
The full committee is below:
Swimming - Liam Tancock - M - GBR- Bureau Liason Artistic Swimming - Emma Garcia - F - ESP - Vice Chairman Diving - Oliver Dingley - M - IRL - Secretary Swimming - Simona Rushton - F - CZE - Member Open Water Swimming - Caroline Jouisse - F - FRA - Member Open Water Swimming - Kristof Rasovszky - M - HUN - Member Water Polo - Simone van de Kraats - F - NED - Member Water Polo - Andrija Prlainovic - M - SRB - Member Artistic Swimming - Renaud Barral - M - BEL - Member Swimming - Emina (Edhem) Pasukan - F - BIH - Member |
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Spain’s Iris Tio Casas was honoured at the European Aquatics Congress 2025 dinner in Tbilisi for being the best-performing European woman athlete at this year’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
The 22-year-old artistic swimmer from Barcelona, who won three golds and three bronzes during the competition in July, received her award from Britain’s three-times backstroke world champion Liam Tancock, chair of the EA Athletes Committee.
This award is part of a new initiative to bring athletes into the heart of EA Congress gatherings.
Tio Casas thus contributed six of Spain’s total of nine medals at the Championships, more than any other nation, helping them to finish third in the medals table. |
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On 17 September 2025, European Aquatics hosted its second Athlete Media Webinar, bringing together athletes and experts to explore how personal image, storytelling, and digital presence can play a defining role in modern sport. Following the success of the inaugural event in February, the latest session attracted strong interest from across the continent, with nearly 200 registrations.
The event included comments from European Aquatics President, Antonio Silva, broadcaster Nick Hope, European Aquatics Director of Communications, Nick Davies, and European Aquatics Head of Social Media, Andreas Georgiou.
The workshops included tips for growing an athlete's brand, dealing with the media, how to balance training, competition, and media commitments, and the power of engaging content.
The event concluded with an extended Q&A session, giving participants the opportunity to put their own questions to the panel. |
Coming up in October:
European Aquatics Academy
Officials Clinics: OW: October 26th, 2025: online. AS: October 17–19th, 2025: Tbilisi
· NATIONAL FEDERATIONS |
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Rue de la Morache 9
Nyon
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Switzerland
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