Croatia water polo team to meet fans in Sydney at Croatian Club Punchbowl

Croatia water polo team to meet fans in Sydney (Photos: Sime Eskinja/HVS)

12 December 2019 – The Croatia water polo team will play a series of matches in Australia next week. Croatia and Australia will meet in a a three-match series in Sydney in December. 

The series will kick off at Sutherland Leisure Centre on 17 December. Croatia and Australia will then play at Drummoyne Pool on 19 December, and at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on 21 December.

Fans will have the chance to meet the players at a special function to be held at the Croatian Club Punchbowl on Friday, 20 December. 

The function, held in conjunction with Croatian Club Punchbowl and The Croatian Project, will give the players the opportunity to meet and greet their fans down under. 

Tickets for the function are available on-line through The Croatian Project here.

Croatia will face an Australian team coached by former Croatian international Elvis Fatovic, who says his team is looking forward to meeting the two-time world champions. 

“Croatia are the only team to win a competition medal at every World Championships for the last six years,” said Fatovic, whose son Loren is a rising star of the Croatian team. “They are an extremely fast team and it will be a great opportunity for Australians to see our team playing against the best in the world.”

(Photo: HVS)

Fatovic had an illustrious career as a player in Croatia, playing for the Jug and Mladost clubs. With Mladost he won the Croatian Championship and Cup in 1993 and with Jug he won 5 Croatian Championships and 6 Croatian Cups. Two times he led Jug in winning European Championships in 2001 and in 2006, while in 2000 he also won LEN Europa Cup.

For the Croatian national team he played 128 times and won a silver medal in the 2003 European Championships. He was also the assistant coach of the Croatian national team from 2005 to 2012. In 2013 he was appointed head coach of Australia.

The matches in Sydney are being used as build-up for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.