23rd European Championship – Seville (Spain) 1997
The hottest championship
After the cold Sheffield ’93 and slightly warmer Vienna ’95, the European Championship in the capital of Andalusia is still remembered as a competition with the highest air temperatures, very often around 40 degrees. This is not unusual for this part of Spain.
The best Manuel Estiarte
The great El Manel or Manuel Estiarte, whose real name is Manel Estiarte, was the top scorer in this competition for the last time in a European Championship. With 18 goals, he became the top scorer of the European Championship for the sixth time, setting a record.
The “Golden Goal”
The “Golden Goal” rule was still in effect and also decided a medal. In the match for third place, Russia and Croatia met. The score was tied after both the 4th quarter (6:6) and overtime (twice 3 minutes, 7:7), and then the game was played until the first team scored a goal. It was Russia that scored (8:7) and won the bronze medal.
European Champions 1997 (men) – Hungary: Zoltan Kosz, Frank Toth, Zsolt Varga, Tamas Märcz, Tamas Kasas, Attila Vari, Gergely Kiss, Rajmund Fodor, Tibor Benedek, Balazs Vincze, Barnabas Steinmetz, Tamas Molnar, Zsolt Nemeth, Zoltan Kovacs, Bulcsu Szekely
European Champions 1997 (women) – Italy: Francesca Conti, Martina Miceli, Carmela Alluci, Stefania Lariucci, Milena Virzi, Monica Vaillant, Antonella Di Giacinto, Cristina Consoli, Giusi Malato, Aleandra Araujo, Maddalena Musumeci, Melania Grego, Daniela Lavorini, Cinzia Ragusa, Silvia Moriconi
24th European Championship – Florence (Italy) 1999
Independence of water polo
For the first time in history, water polo was separated from the European Aquatics Championships, so that all the attention of one competition was devoted to our sport alone. The men played in Florence, the beautiful capital of the province of Tuscany, and the women in the nearby city of Prato.
Batistuta at the pool
The stands were well filled throughout the championship, but never so well and with so much fanfare, journalists, and TV teams from all over Italy as one evening when Gabriel Batistuta, the famous Argentine footballer who played for Italian first division team Fiorentina, came to watch the match.
European Champions 1999 (men) – Hungary: Zoltan Kosz, Frank Toth, Zsolt Varga, Tamas Märcz, Tamas Kasas, Attila Vari, Gergely Kiss, Rajmund Fodor, Balazs Vincze, Barnabas Steinmetz, Tamas Molnar, Csaba Kiss, Peter Biros, Zoltan Kovacs, Bulcsu Szekely
European Champions 1999 (women) – Italy: Francesca Conti, Martina Miceli, Carmela Alluci, Tania Truden Baianova, Gabriella Sciolti, Monica Valliant, tania Di Mario, Cristina Consoli, Giusi Malato, Alexandra Araujo, Maddaena Musumeci, Melania Grego, Silvioa Bosurgi, Martina Schiavon, Silvia Moriconi
