After Croatia's young water polo players won gold at the U16 World Championship, a shock followed, the official protocol did not include the playing of 'Lijepa naša'. The Croatian Water Polo Federation intervened.
While Croatia celebrates its new world champions, the U16 water polo team that won the gold medal in Zagreb, an incredible controversy regarding the organization of the tournament itself has come to the forefront. Namely, the world governing body, World Aquatics, had not planned for the Croatian anthem to be played during the final ceremony protocol at all.
After the young national team members were awarded their gold medals and the winning trophy, the playing of 'Lijepa naša' was not on the schedule. This oversight prompted an immediate and strong reaction from the Croatian Water Polo Federation (HVS).
From HVS, they firmly stated that Croatia, as world champion, simply must have its anthem played at the end of the competition. Their intervention bore fruit, and 'Lijepa naša' was indeed played, allowing the young water polo players to celebrate the title as it should be, to the sounds of the national anthem in front of the home crowd.
However, the protocol controversies do not end there. Sports news reports that the official announcers were not allowed to introduce the teams by their names throughout the entire championship. In the final match against Spain, played on August 9, 2026, it was not announced that Croatia and Spain were playing. Instead, the teams were introduced as 'Whites' and 'Blues'.
This unusual practice also applied to the official World Aquatics live streams, where commentators were also instructed to use only the jersey color designations. An additional inconsistency is the fact that during the last two days of the championship, before the matches, no national anthems were played at all.
Despite the organizational oversights, the sporting achievement is unquestionable. Croatia 'walked through' the tournament, which was held in Zagreb from August 3 to 9, and a significant role in winning the gold was played by four players from Dubrovnik's Jug Adriatic osiguranje: Luko Vezilić, Roko Koncul, Petar Lončarić, and Vlaho Rajčević.
On this occasion, the Dubrovnik-Neretva County Prefect, Blaž Pezo, sent them a congratulatory message on August 10, 2026. "Our boys 'walked through' the group stage and at every step of the tournament showed and proved why Croatia is the cradle of water polo," said Prefect Pezo, adding that all of Croatia had reason to celebrate, and that having such a quartet from his county is "everything, but certainly not a small thing."
He also extended congratulations to head coach Bruno Sabioni and the entire Croatian Water Polo Federation.
