Spain won the two-week 2020 European Women's Water Polo Championship, defeating Russia in a close 13-12.

Going into the final quarter of the match held in the Danube Arena, Budapest, both sides were drawing 10-10. 

Spain managed to edge past their opponents to go-ahead to 13-10, but Russia was fighting to the last and Ekaterina Prokofyeva and Alena Serzhantova made it 13-12 with just 22 seconds left of the match. 

With four goals during the final, Spain's María del Carmen García Godoy was the teams highest scorer of the match.

This was Spain's second European Water Polo Championships gold. The last time they were European Champions was in 2014.

Swimming World Magazine reports that the Spanish Head Coach Miguel Oca said: “I don’t know how we did it.” He added: “The girls were fantastic. Even when we were trailing they didn’t stop coming on.”

Russia, who qualified for the final after winning a penalty shoot-out against defending champions The Netherlands also qualified for the Olympics as a result of reaching the top two.

This is because Spain had already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after their performance at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju where they claimed the silver medal.

After the final, Swimming World Magazine reports that Russian assistant coach Andrei Belofastov said: “Coming here our goal was to enter the semi-finals and secure the berth for Tokyo.”

The coach was happy with the team's performance saying: “We did a good job, we are satisfied.” He added: “Before the championships, we would have signed for the finals without hesitation.”

Elsewhere at the championships, the hosts Hungary defeated the Netherlands 10-8 to win the bronze medal and Italy claimed fifth place after they won against Greece, 7-5.