Water polo at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament

The men's water polo tournament at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships was held from 21 June to 3 July 2022 in Budapest, Hungary. This was the 19th time that the men's water polo tournament has been played since the first edition in 1973.^[1]

Water polo at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament

Tournament details
Venue(s)	Hungary (in Budapest, Szeged, Debrecen, Sopron host cities)
Dates	21 June – 3 July
Teams	16 (from 5 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Spain (3rd title)
Runners-up	Italy
Third place	Greece
Fourth place	Croatia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	43
Goals scored	962 (22.37 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Alex Bowen (21 goals)
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Spain won their third title with a win over Italy, while Greece beat Croatia to win the bronze medal.^[2][3]

Qualification

Event	Dates	Hosts	Quota	Qualifier(s)
Host nation	—		1	Hungary
2020 FINA World League	26 June – 1 July 2020	Tbilisi	2	Montenegro  United States
2020 Summer Olympics	25 July – 8 August 2020	Tokyo	4	Serbia  Greece  Spain  Croatia
2020 Men's European Water Polo Championship	14–26 January 2020	Budapest	2	Italy  Russia  Germany
2022 Intercontinental Cup (Americas qualifier)	7–13 March 2022	Lima	2	Canada  Brazil
Asian selection	—		2	Kazakhstan  Japan
African selection			1	South Africa
Oceanian selection			1	Australia
Wild card[4]			1	Georgia
Total			16

Russia was excluded due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[5]

Draw

The draw was held on 12 April 2022.^[4][6]

Seeding

The pots were determined as follow.^[7]

• Pot 1: the 4 semifinalists of the 2020 Summer Olympics
• Pot 2: the 2 finalists of the World League, Europe Qualifier 1 and America Qualifier 1
• Pot 3: Europe Qualifier 2, Europe Qualifier 3, Oceania Qualifier 1, America Qualifier 2
• Pot 4: Africa Qualifier 1, Asia Qualifier 1, Asia Qualifier 2, Europe Qualifier 4.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Serbia  Greece  Hungary  Spain	Montenegro  United States  Croatia  Canada	Brazil  Italy  Germany  Australia	South Africa  Kazakhstan  Japan  Georgia

The draw resulted in the following groups:

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Hungary	Greece	Spain	Serbia
Montenegro	Croatia	Canada	United States
Brazil	Germany	Italy	Australia
Georgia	Japan	South Africa	Kazakhstan

Preliminary round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hungary (H)	3	3	0	0	50	28	+22	6	Quarterfinals
2	Montenegro	3	2	0	1	38	26	+12	4	Playoffs
3	Georgia	3	1	0	2	37	38	−1	2
4	Brazil	3	0	0	3	21	54	−33	0

Source: Sportresult
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) Goal difference.
(H) Hosts

21 June 2022 19:30	Report	Brazil	10–14	Georgia	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Maro Savinović (CRO), Dion Willis (RSA)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 3–3, 3–6, 2–3
		Freitas 4	Goals	Sarić, Vapenski 4

21 June 2022 21:00	Report	Montenegro	8–12	Hungary	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Michael Goldenberg (USA), Frank Ohme (GER)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 1–3, 2–3, 2–3
		Petković 4	Goals	Zalánki 4

---

23 June 2022 19:30	Report	Georgia	9–10	Montenegro	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Pascal Bouchez (FRA), Maro Savinović (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 1–4, 3–0, 3–4, 2–2
		Vasić 5	Goals	Đurđić 4

23 June 2022 21:00	Report	Hungary	20–6	Brazil	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Andrew Carney (AUS), Frank Ohme (GER)
		Score by quarters: 7–1, 4–2, 3–1, 6–2
		three players 3	Goals	Real 2

---

25 June 2022 19:30	Report	Brazil	5–20	Montenegro	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Andrew Carney (AUS), Frank Ohme (GER)
		Score by quarters: 0–4, 2–6, 0–7, 3–3
		five players 1	Goals	three players 3

25 June 2022 21:00	Report	Hungary	18–14	Georgia	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Dion Willis (RSA), Pascal Bouchez (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 7–3, 4–5, 4–3
		Manhercz, Zalánki 4	Goals	Shushiashvili, Vapenski 3

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Greece	3	2	1	0	42	23	+19	5[a]	Quarterfinals
2	Croatia	3	2	1	0	42	30	+12	5[a]	Playoffs
3	Japan	3	1	0	2	32	50	−18	2
4	Germany	3	0	0	3	28	41	−13	0

Source: Sportresult
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) Goal difference.
Notes:

1. Greece 8–8 Croatia

21 June 2022 18:00	Report	Germany	11–12	Japan	Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen Referees: Ivan Raković (SRB), Adil Aimbetov (KAZ)
		Score by quarters: 2–5, 2–3, 2–3, 5–1
		Schütze 3	Goals	Inaba 5

21 June 2022 19:30	Report	Greece	8–8	Croatia	Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), David Gómez (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 4–1, 1–4, 2–1, 1–2
		Vlachopoulos 4	Goals	Kharkov 3

---

23 June 2022 18:00	Report	Croatia	13–9	Germany	Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), Ivan Raković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 4–1, 4–1, 2–2, 3–5
		Bašić, Krapić 3	Goals	Küppers 3

23 June 2022 19:30	Report	Japan	7–18	Greece	Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen Referees: Adil Aimbetov (KAZ), Michael Goldenberg (USA)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 2–4, 2–5, 2–6
		three players 2	Goals	Argyropoulos 6

---

25 June 2022 18:00	Report	Japan	13–21	Croatia	Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen Referees: Michael Goldenberg (USA), David Gómez (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 3–4, 6–3, 2–7, 2–7
		Inaba 5	Goals	Kharkov, Krapić 5

25 June 2022 19:30	Report	Greece	16–8	Germany	Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen Referees: Harvey Hinds (CUR), Ivan Raković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 4–1, 5–1, 4–2, 3–4
		Genidounias 5	Goals	Božić 2

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	2	2	0	0	42	14	+28	4	Quarterfinals
2	Italy	2	1	0	1	34	18	+16	2	Playoffs
3	South Africa	2	0	0	2	6	50	−44	0
4	Canada[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

Source: Sportresult
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) Goal difference.
Notes:

1. On 24 June, the Canadian team withdrew from the tournament after multiple positive COVID-19 cases amongst the team.^[8][9]

21 June 2022 18:00	Report	South Africa	4–22	Italy	Sopron Lőver Pool, Sopron Referees: Radu Matache (ROU), Wallop Jirathornwattana (THA)
		Score by quarters: 1–3, 1–1, 0–7, 2–11
		four players 1	Goals	Fondelli 4

---

23 June 2022 18:00	Report	Spain	28–2	South Africa	Sopron Lőver Pool, Sopron Referees: Wallop Jirathornwattana (THA), Agustin Pinski (ARG)
		Score by quarters: 7–1, 7–0, 6–1, 8–0
		Granados 6	Goals	Cronje, Howard 1

---

25 June 2022 18:00	Report	Italy	12–14	Spain	Sopron Lőver Pool, Sopron Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Michiel Zwart (NED)
		Score by quarters: 4–5, 6–3, 2–2, 0–4
		Di Somma 3	Goals	Granados 3

---

21 June 2022 (Annulled)[note 1] 19:30	Report	Canada	2–19	Spain	Sopron Lover Pool, Sopron Referees: György Kun (HUN), Agustin Pinski (ARG)
		Score by quarters: 0–2, 2–7, 0–6, 0–4
		Constantin-Bicari, D'Souza 1	Goals	Perrone 5

---

Cancelled[note 2]	Italy	–	Canada

Cancelled	Canada	–	South Africa

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Serbia	3	3	0	0	45	21	+24	6	Quarterfinals
2	United States	3	2	0	1	44	30	+14	4	Playoffs
3	Australia	3	1	0	2	24	24	0	2
4	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	3	11	49	−38	0

Source: Sportresult
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) Goal difference.

21 June 2022 18:00	Report	Australia	10–4	Kazakhstan	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Veselin Mišković (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 1–0, 3–0, 3–2, 3–2
		Pavillard, Power 3	Goals	Shmider 3

21 June 2022 19:30	Report	United States	13–17	Serbia	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 5–5, 2–3, 3–3, 3–6
		Bowen 4	Goals	Mandić 4

---

23 June 2022 18:00	Report	Serbia	6–5	Australia	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Raffaele Colombo (ITA), David Gómez (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 2–2, 2–2, 1–0
		Lukić, Mandić 2	Goals	Edwards, Power 2

23 June 2022 19:30	Report	Kazakhstan	4–17	United States	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Veselin Mišković (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 1–7, 2–3, 1–2, 0–5
		Shakenov 2	Goals	Irving 4

---

25 June 2022 18:00	Report	Kazakhstan	3–22	Serbia	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Raffaele Colombo (ITA), Fabio Toffoli (BRA)
		Score by quarters: 0–4, 1–8, 0–5, 2–5
		Vuksanović 3	Goals	S. Rašović 6

25 June 2022 19:30	Report	United States	14–9	Australia	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Veselin Mišković (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 4–2, 4–2, 4–3, 2–2
		Irving 4	Goals	three players 2

Knockout stage

Bracket

Championship bracket

Playoffs

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

29 June

Hungary

10

27 June

Italy

11

Italy

17

1 July

Australia

6

Italy

11

Greece

10

29 June

Greece

16

27 June

United States

11

South Africa

2

3 July

United States

24

Italy

9 (5)

Spain (PSO)

9 (6)

29 June

Spain

7

27 June

Montenegro

6

Montenegro

10

1 July

Japan

9

Spain

10

Croatia

5

Third place

29 June

3 July

Serbia

12

Greece

9

27 June

Croatia

14

Croatia

7

Georgia

7

Croatia

13

5th place bracket

	5th–8th place semifinals				Fifth place game
	1 July
	Hungary	11 (4)
					3 July
	United States (PSO)	11 (5)
					United States	10
	1 July
					Serbia	13
	Montenegro	7
	Serbia	10
					Seventh place game
					3 July
					Hungary	8
					Montenegro	6

9th place bracket

	9th–12th place semifinals				Ninth place game
	29 June
	Japan	15
					1 July
	Australia	7
					Japan	16
	29 June
					Georgia	15
	Georgia	20
	South Africa	7
					Eleventh place game
					1 July
					Australia	19
					South Africa	4

13th place bracket

	13th–15th place semifinals				13th place game
	27 June
	Brazil	9
					29 June
	Germany	10
					Germany	16
					Kazakhstan	7

Playoffs

27 June 2022 14:00	Report	Montenegro	10–9	Japan	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Michael Goldenberg (USA), Michiel Zwart (NED)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 2–5, 3–2, 2–1
		Perković 3	Goals	Takata 2

---

27 June 2022 15:30	Report	Georgia	7–13	Croatia	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), György Kun (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 2–3, 2–4, 0–3, 3–3
		Vapenski, Vasić 2	Goals	Kharkov 4

---

27 June 2022 17:00	Report	Italy	17–6	Australia	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Frank Ohme (GER), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 4–0, 3–3, 4–1, 6–2
		Cannella, Del Lungo 3	Goals	Edwards 3

---

27 June 2022 18:30	Report	South Africa	2–24	United States	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Adil Aimbetov (KAZ), Andrew Carney (AUS)
		Score by quarters: 0–6, 0–6, 0–5, 2–7
		Stone, Swanepoel 1	Goals	Dodd 6

Quarterfinals

29 June 2022 13:00	Report	Greece	16–11	United States	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), Frank Ohme (GER)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 4–6, 3–0, 6–4
		Argyropoulos 5	Goals	three players 3

---

29 June 2022 16:00	Report	Serbia	12–14	Croatia	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), György Kun (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 3–4, 5–5, 3–4
		Mandić 4	Goals	four players 2

---

29 June 2022 19:30	Report	Spain	7–6	Montenegro	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Michael Goldenberg (USA), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 2–1, 3–2, 1–2, 1–1
		Mallarach 2	Goals	Đurđić 2

---

29 June 2022 21:00	Report	Hungary	10–11	Italy	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), David Gómez (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 2–4, 1–2, 4–3
		Vámos 3	Goals	Di Fulvio 4

13–15th place semifinals

27 June 2022 17:00	Report	Brazil	9–10	Germany	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Radu Matache (ROU), Levan Bertishvili (GEO)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 3–2, 3–3, 1–3
		Coutinho 3	Goals	Küppers, Strelezkij 3

9–12th place semifinals

29 June 2022 17:00	Report	Japan	15–7	Australia	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Ivan Raković (SRB), Veselin Mišković (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 5–2, 5–2, 3–1
		Date 4	Goals	seven players 1

---

29 June 2022 18:30	Report	Georgia	20–7	South Africa	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Radu Matache (ROU), Anbar Anbar (KUW)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 5–1, 7–2, 5–3
		three players 3	Goals	Olver 2

5–8th place semifinals

1 July 2022 14:30	Report	Montenegro	7–10	Serbia	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), David Gómez (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 2–2, 2–3, 2–3, 1–2
		Đurđić 3	Goals	Jakšić, S. Rašović 3

---

1 July 2022 21:00	Report	Hungary	15–16 (PSO)	United States	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Maro Savinović (CRO), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 4–3, 2–2, 2–3, 3–3  PSO: 4–5
		Manhercz, Nagy 3	Goals	Daube 3

Semifinals

1 July 2022 16:00	Report	Italy	11–10	Greece	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Michael Goldenberg (USA), Michiel Zwart (NED)
		Score by quarters: 4–2, 2–3, 1–1, 4–4
		Dolce 3	Goals	Vlachopoulos 3

---

1 July 2022 19:30	Report	Spain	10–5	Croatia	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Frank Ohme (GER)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 4–2, 0–0, 3–0
		Granados 4	Goals	Bukić 2

13th place game

29 June 2022 15:30	Report	Germany	16–7	Kazakhstan	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Agustin Pinski (ARG)
		Score by quarters: 4–2, 4–2, 3–1, 5–2
		Küppers 4	Goals	Shakenov 3

Eleventh place game

1 July 2022 17:00	Report	Australia	19–4	South Africa	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Levan Berishvili (GEO), Agustin Pinski (ARG)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 6–0, 4–1, 6–1
		Pavillard 5	Goals	Swanepoel 2

Ninth place game

1 July 2022 18:30	Report	Japan	16–15	Georgia	Szeged Tiszavirág Pool, Szeged Referees: Veselin Mišković (MNE), Ivan Raković (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 3–5, 7–4, 2–2, 4–4
		Adachi 5	Goals	Bitadze, Vapenski 4

Seventh place game

3 July 2022 13:00	Report	Hungary	8–6	Montenegro	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Levan Bertishvili (GEO), David Gómez (ESP)
		Score by quarters: 1–0, 4–2, 2–1, 1–3
		Nagy, Zalánki 2	Goals	three players 2

Fifth place game

3 July 2022 17:00	Report	United States	10–13	Serbia	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: György Kun (HUN), Raffaele Colombo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 3–5, 1–3, 3–2
		Bowen 4	Goals	S. Rašović 4

Third place game

3 July 2022 14:30	Report	Greece	9–7	Croatia	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Frank Ohme (GER), Michiel Zwart (NED)
		Score by quarters: 1–0, 4–3, 3–2, 1–2
		Kakaris 3	Goals	Bukić 2

Final

3 July 2022 20:00	Report	Italy	14–15 (PSO)	Spain	Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium, Budapest Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Georgios Stavridis (GRE)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 0–3, 3–2, 3–1  PSO: 5–6
		Cannella 2	Goals	Granados 4

Final ranking

Rank[1] Team  Spain  Italy  Greece 4  Croatia 5  Serbia 6  United States 7  Hungary 8  Montenegro 9  Japan 10  Georgia 11  Australia 12  South Africa 13  Germany 14  Kazakhstan 15  Brazil 16  Canada

2022 Men's Water Polo World Champions Spain Third title Team roster: Unai Aguirre, Alberto Munarriz, Álvaro Granados, Bernat Sanahuja, Miguel de Toro, Marc Larumbe, Martin Famera, Sergi Cabanas, Roger Tahull, Felipe Perrone (c), Blai Mallarach, Alejandro Bustos, Eduardo Lorrio[11] Head coach: David Martin

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Spain [12] Unai Aguirre Alberto Munarriz Álvaro Granados Bernat Sanahuja Miguel de Toro Marc Larumbe Martin Famera Sergi Cabanas Roger Tahull Felipe Perrone (c) Blai Mallarach Alejandro Bustos Eduardo Lorrio Head coach: David Martin	Italy [13] Marco Del Lungo (c) Francesco Di Fulvio Luca Damonte Matteo Iocchi Gratta Andrea Fondelli Giacomo Cannella Luca Marziali Gonzalo Echenique Nicholas Presciutti Lorenzo Bruni Edoardo Di Somma Vincenzo Dolce Gianmarco Nicosia Head coach: Alessandro Campagna	Greece [14] Manos Zerdevas Dinos Genidounias Dimitris Skoumpakis Stathis Kalogeropoulos Yiannis Fountoulis (c) Alexandros Papanastasiou Giorgos Dervisis Stelios Argyropoulos Costas Gouvis Costas Kakaris Dimitris Nikolaidis Angelos Vlachopoulos Panagiotis Tzortzatos Head coach: Thodoris Vlachos

Awards and statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Goals[15]	Shots	%
1	Alexander Bowen	21	43	49
2	Álvaro Granados	18	38	37
3	Boris Vapenski	17	47	36
	Strahinja Rašović		36	47
5	Konstantin Kharkov	16	42	38
	Gergő Zalánki		29	55
	Yusuke Inaba		47	34
8	Stylianos Argyropoulos	15	30	50
	Angelos Vlachopoulos
10	Francesco Di Fulvio	14	34	41
	Dušan Mandić		32	44
	Ben Hallock		26	54

Awards

The awards were announced on 3 July 2022.^[2]

Position	Player
Goalkeeper	Unai Aguirre
Field player	Konstantin Kharkov
	Konstantinos Kakaris
	Francesco Di Fulvio
	Strahinja Rašović
	Álvaro Granados
	Alex Bowen
Most Valuable Goalkeeper	Unai Aguirre
Most Valuable Player in Final	Felipe Perrone

Notes

1. The Canadian national team later withdrew, so the result of the match was canceled and annulled afterward.
2. The match, originally scheduled for 23 June 2022, was postponed due to health concerns.^[10]