The water polo dream team of the last two decades (2000-2020) has no less than three Hungarian players — at least according to specialty webportal Total Waterpolo . For those less familiar with sport, the magnitude of the achievement is elevated by the fact that a water polo team has but seven players. The three Hungarian athletes included in the team are left side players Dénes Varga and Tamás Kásás, with Tibor Benedek on the right side. Other nations that made it into the dream team are three times Olympic medalists Vladimir Vujasinović and Filip Filipović from Serbia, Spanish center forward Ivan Perez and Croatian goalkeeper Josip Pavić. This theoretical dream team captain is Tibor Benedek, who sadly is no longer a living legend, having had passed away from an incurable disease this July at the age of 47. Benedek, born July 12, 1972 in Budapest, the son of a prominent stage actor, was member of the Hungarian water polo team that won three gold medals in a row at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. He was also the head coach of the men’s national polo team from 2013 to 2016. He is ranked second on the all-time Olympic water polo scoring list with 65 goals and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2016.
Title image: Total Waterpolo men’s dream team 2000-2020. (source: total-waterpolo.com)
