“It’s going to be a very intense, competitive, and interesting season that we’re all excited about,” said Pere Robert, President of the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation (RFEN) Water Polo Section. It’s not a promise; it’s a reality. The presentation of the leagues in the honors division, beginning on the 16th for men and the 30th for women, held this Thursday at Club Natació Barcelona headquarters, served as the kickoff for a full couple of months, in the wake of a World Cup at Fukuoka-23, which featured silver for the Spanish women’s team and bronze for the boys. At stake is the hegemony of CN Sabadell, with 20 titles won since 2000, and CN Atlètic Barceloneta, with 18 consecutive titles.
Precisely Miki Oca and David Martn, their respective coaches, took part in an event in the front row that brought together the majority of the teams, with prominent and already legendary internationals such as Maica Garca or Felipe Perrone, with the President of the RFEN, Fernando Carpena, and with famous ones like Manel Estiarte. Due to scheduling issues, Alejandro Blanco, President of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), was unable to attend, but he said a few words. The 2023–24 Division of Honor will have a new scoring system (in the event of a tie, there will be penalties of two points for the winner and one for the loser), and the playoffs will be extended with a VAR.
As for the leagues, making the season very busy, there is the Women’s Supercup (CN Sabadell-CN Mataró) on October 11th and the Men’s Supercup (CN Atlètic Barceloneta-CN Sabadell) on October 12th; the teams’ European Cup was added in January in Netanya (Israel); the World Cup in Doha (Qatar) in February; the King’s Cup from April 12–14; and the Queen’s Cup from May 3-5. Also, the five women’s and six women’s teams that compete in European competitions and, of course, the highlight of next summer’s Olympic Games in Paris (France).
“We are in an Olympic year, in a very exciting season,” stressed Carpena, who explained: “The Spanish leagues are number one in the world.” Women invested.”Now there are 11. Clubs that didn’t have women’s water polo are already in the honors section.”
Maica Garca (CN Sabadell) and Alberto Munárriz (CN Atlètic Barceloneta) received their trophies as Best Players last season 2022–23, in which Martina Terré (CN Sant Andreu) and Unai Aguirre (CN Atlètic Barceloneta) were awarded Best Goalkeeper, while Rita Keszthelyi (CN Mataró) and Adrià Delgado (CN Teresa) won the Top Scorer award.
The first sustainable league
Aiming for greater visibility has been added, with a particular focus on achieving the sustainable event seal awarded by the water polo leagues. Without going any further, the presentation took place under the roof of a gabled courtyard full of photovoltaic panels.
“We are the first sustainable league in Spain,” stressed Bernat Antrás, President of CN Barcelona and host, who announced that the Escollera swimming pool, the oldest in Spain, will be restored for the jumps next Easter. The Director of Sustainability at the COE, Manuel Parga, stressed with good reason that sport is sustainable from an “environmental, social, and economic” point of view.
