Sport Water Polo Continent all (International) | Founded 2002 | |
Most recent
champion(s) Men's: Serbia (10th title)
Women's: United States (10th title) Most titles Men's: Serbia (10 titles)
Women's: United States (10 titles) | ||
The FINA Water Polo World League is an international water polo league organized by FINA, which plays annually, typically from winter through to June. League play features continental tournaments for men and women, from which the top teams emerge to play in the championship tournament (the "Super Final") where the league champion team is crowned. Men's league play began in 2002, to capitalize on increased worldwide popularity of water polo created by the 2000 Olympic Games, especially in Europe, North America and Australia. The women’s league was added in 2004, based on growing interest in women's play.
Contents
Play format
Matches consist of four eight-minute quarters, with a five-minute half-time break. Tie games are decided by an immediate penalty shootout. The game venues have television requirements to bring the sport to the biggest audience possible. Rule changes were made to provide more spectacular play and yield higher scores.
Preliminary rounds of play are organized by continent: Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Europe. The structure of continental play varies within the league. For example, for 2012, the Americas has a single tournament for each sex, Asia/Oceania has 2 tournaments for each sex on consecutive weekends, and Europe has 6 weekends of play for men and 2 for women.
Men
Men's medal standings
* includes matches played as Serbia and Montenegro.
Statistic
Participation details
After 2015 World League
Women
Women's medal standings
Statistic
Participation details