2017 FINA World Water Polo Development Trophy

The 2017 FINA World Water Polo Development Trophy was the 6th edition of the tournament organized by FINA and reserved for national teams from emerging countries in the world of water polo. It ran from 17 to 22 October 2017 at the Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex in Gżira, Malta; eight teams from four continental confederations participated at the competition.^[1][2][3]

2017 FINA Water Polo Development Trophy

Tournament information
Sport	Water polo
Location	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex, Gżira
Dates	17 October 2017–22 October 2017
Host(s)	Malta
Venue(s)	1
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	Uruguay (1st title)
1st runners-up	Saudi Arabia
2nd runners-up	Austria
Tournament statistics
Top scorer(s)	Diego Villar (19 goals)
← 2015 2019 →

Uruguay won the 3rd place match, but was later awarded the Trophy due to the disqualification of both Malta and Iran during the gold-medal final.^[4]

Teams

CANA Africa	UANA Americas	AASF Asia	LEN Europe
Tunisia	Peru  Uruguay	Iran  Saudi Arabia  Singapore	Austria  Malta

Groups

Group A	Group B
Iran  Malta  Tunisia  Uruguay	Austria  Peru  Singapore  Saudi Arabia

Preliminary round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	3	0	0	37	24	+13	6	Quarterfinals		—			10–8
2	Malta	3	2	0	1	41	30	+11	4			8–12	—		19–9
3	Uruguay	3	1	0	2	31	31	0	2			8–15	9–14	—
4	Tunisia	3	0	0	3	26	36	−10	0					7–9	—

Source: FINA

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	3	3	0	0	31	17	+14	6	Quarterfinals		—	12–4
2	Austria	3	1	0	2	19	26	−7	2				—	7–5
3	Peru	3	1	0	2	28	28	0	2			8–9		—	15–12
4	Singapore	3	1	0	2	29	30	−1	2			5–10	9–8		—

Source: FINA

Knockout stage

All times are local (UTC+2; CEST)

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	Iran	10
	Singapore	4
					Iran	15
					Uruguay	7
	Austria	3
	Uruguay	9
									Iran	DQ
									Malta	DQ
	Saudi Arabia	10
	Tunisia	9
					Saudi Arabia	7
					Malta	18			3rd place match
	Malta	21
	Peru	6
									Uruguay	11
									Saudi Arabia	5

5th place bracket

	5–8th place classification				5th place match
	Singapore	8
	Austria	9
					Austria (pso)	13 (10)
					Tunisia	12 (10)
	Tunisia	8
	Peru	6
					7th place match
					Singapore	11 (8)
					Peru (pso)	13 (8)

Quarterfinals

20 October 2017 15:30	Report	Austria	3–9	Uruguay	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Zwart (NED), Balzan (MLT)
		Score by quarters: 1—2, 0—3, 0—1, 1—3
		1: Celebic, Lang, Gratzl	Goals	3: García, Brugnini 2: San Martín

20 October 2017 16:50	Report	Iran	10–4	Singapore	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Montagne (URU), Al-Jabri (KSA)
		Score by quarters: 2—1, 2—0, 4—1, 2—2
		4: Almasi 2: Yazdankhah	Goals	2: Chiam, Zhen Wei

20 October 2017 18:10	Report	Saudi Arabia	10–9	Tunisia	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Korolev (AUT), Guerra (PER)
		Score by quarters: 4—3, 3—1, 2—2, 1—3
		2: Al-Aryani, Al-Daughter	Goals	4: Chouikha 2: Ghomrasni, Ben Hajkhlifa

20 October 2017 19:30	Report	Malta	21–6	Peru	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Spiegel (GER), Cheng (SGP)
		Score by quarters: 5—1, 5—2, 5—1, 6—2
		10: S. Camilleri 3: D. Zammit	Goals	2: Pastor, N. Villar, D. Villar

Semifinals

21 October 2017 18:10	Report	Iran	15–7	Uruguay	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Spiegel (GER), Korolev (AUT)
		Score by quarters: 2—3, 4—0, 5—3, 4—1
		3: Keyhani, Almasi 2:Khanbanan, Yazdankhah	Goals	4: San Martín 2: García

21 October 2017 19:30	Report	Saudi Arabia	7–18	Malta	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Zwart (NED), Cheng (SGP)
		Score by quarters: 2—4, 1—4, 2—4, 2—6
		3: Gamal 2: Al-Aryani	Goals	4: J.Camilleri, D. Zammit 3: Cousin

5th to 8th place

21 October 2017 15:30	Report	Tunisia	8–6	Peru	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Balzan (MLT), Montagne (URU)
		Score by quarters: 2—1, 3—3, 2—1, 1—1
		3: Ghomrasni, Ben Hajkhlifa	Goals	2: Grandez, Morales

21 October 2017 16:50	Report	Singapore	8–9	Austria	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Al-Jabry (KSA), Jenhani (TUN)
		Score by quarters: 1—1, 2—3, 3—2, 2—3
		3:Wei Loong 2: Chiam	Goals	Vidović, Ribić, Gratzl

Finals

7th place

22 October 2017 09:30	Report	Singapore	11–13 (PSO) (PSO)	Peru	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Jenhani (TUN), Al-Jabry (KSA)
		Score by quarters: 3—2, 3—3, 2—1, 0—2  PSO: 3—5
		2: Chow, Wei Loong, Zhen Wei	Goals	3: D. Villar

5th place

22 October 2017 10:50	Report	Austria	13–12 (PSO) (PSO)	Tunisia	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Cheng (SGP), Guerra (PER)
		Score by quarters: 2—3, 1—1, 3—2, 4—4  PSO: 3—2
		3: Gratzl 2: Celebic, Todorović	Goals	4: Ghomrasni, Chouikha

3rd place

22 October 2017 12:10	Report	Uruguay	11–5	Saudi Arabia	Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex (Gżira) Referees: Balzan (MLT), Korolev (AUT)
		Score by quarters: 4—1, 1—1, 2—2, 4—1
		4: Brugnini 2: García, San Martín	Goals	2: Olayan

Gold-medal match

The final match of the competition between Malta and Iran was abandoned with 33 seconds in the match, with the host team leading 8–6.

The referees had excluded two Maltese and five Iranian players because of a series of altercations erupted after Malta scored the last goal, but the verbal fights increased between the players who were already outside the pool. Although there was no physical violence involved, all of the remaining players in the game rushed out of the water to support their teammates.

The referees decided to cancel the game and refer the incidents to the FINA technical committee under the relevant disciplinary rules. Both finalists were disqualified, thus awarding the Trophy to Uruguay, winner of the 3rd place final.^[4][5][6][7]

Awards

2017 FINA World Water Polo Development Trophy
Uruguay 1st title

• Top Scorer: Diego Villar (19 goals)^[4]
• Most Valuable Player: Santiago San Martín^[4]
• Best Goalkeeper: Alfonso Rodríguez^[4]

Final standings

Rank[1]	Team
	Uruguay
	Saudi Arabia
	Austria
4	Tunisia
5	Peru
6	Singapore
DQ	Iran
	Malta