Water polo at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament facts for kids

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Water polo at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament

Tournament details
Host country	Qatar
Dates	5–17 February
Teams	16 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	Aspire Dome (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Croatia (3rd title)
Runner-up	Italy
Third place	Spain
Fourth place	France
Tournament statistics
Matches	48
Goals scored	1163 (24.23 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Thomas Vernoux (34 goals)
Best player	Francesco Di Fulvio
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The men's water polo tournament at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships was a big event. It took place from February 5 to 17, 2024, in Doha, Qatar. This was the 21st time this men's water polo tournament had been held. The first one was in 1973.

Croatia won their third championship title. They beat Italy in an exciting final match.

How Teams Qualified for the Tournament

Sixteen teams from around the world competed in this tournament. Most of the teams that played in the 2023 World Championships also qualified for this event.

Some teams made a comeback. For example, Romania qualified for the first time in eleven years. Brazil also returned after not playing in 2023.

Tournament Schedule

The tournament had different rounds, starting with group games and leading up to the finals. All times listed were local to Doha, Qatar.

How Teams Were Grouped

The teams were put into groups for the first round of games. This process is called a "draw." The draw for this tournament happened on November 7, 2023. Teams were placed into different "pots" based on their rankings before the draw.

Seeding for the Draw

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Hungary  Greece  Spain  Serbia	Italy  France  Croatia  United States	Montenegro  Romania  Brazil  Australia	Japan  China  Kazakhstan  South Africa

Preliminary Round: Group Games

In the preliminary round, teams played against others in their group. The goal was to earn points and move on to the next stage.

Group A Standings

Group B Standings

Group C Standings

Group D Standings

Knockout Stage: The Road to the Final

After the group games, the top teams moved into the knockout stage. This meant that if a team lost, they were out of the running for the championship.

Championship Bracket

This bracket shows how teams competed for the top spots.

Playoffs

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

13 February

Spain

15

11 February

Montenegro

12

Montenegro

12

15 February

Romania

9

Spain

6

Italy

8

13 February

Greece

10

11 February

Italy

11

United States

12

17 February

Italy

13

Italy

11 (2)

Croatia (PSO)

11 (4)

13 February

Serbia

13

11 February

Croatia

15

Croatia

22

15 February

China

4

Croatia

11 (6)

France

11 (5)

Third place

13 February

17 February

Hungary

10

Spain

14

11 February

France

11

France

10

Australia

8

France

11

5th Place Bracket

Teams that didn't make it to the championship semifinals played in this bracket to determine places 5 through 8.

	5th–8th place semifinals				Fifth place game
	15 February
	Montenegro	10 (3)
					17 February
	Greece (PSO)	10 (4)
					Greece	15
	15 February
					Serbia	11
	Serbia	11
	Hungary	10
					Seventh place game
					17 February
					Montenegro	14 (2)
					Hungary (PSO)	14 (4)

9th Place Bracket

This bracket decided the rankings for teams finishing 9th to 12th.

	9th–12th place semifinals				Ninth place game
	13 February
	China	7
					15 February
	Romania	9
					Romania	9
	13 February
					United States	13
	Australia	10
	United States	16
					Eleventh place game
					15 February
					China	7
					Australia	17

13th Place Bracket

This bracket determined the final rankings for teams in places 13 through 16.

	13th–16th place semifinals				13th place game
	11 February
	South Africa	5
					13 February
	Brazil	18
					Brazil	11
	11 February
					Japan	22
	Japan	17
	Kazakhstan	4
					15th place game
					13 February
					South Africa	11
					Kazakhstan	10

Playoffs: Advancing to Quarterfinals

Teams that finished second and third in their groups played in the playoffs. Winners moved on to the quarterfinals.

Croatia vs. China

11 February 2024 12:00	Report	Croatia	22–4	China	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Sébastien Dervieux (FRA), Stanko Ivanovski (MNE)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 5–1, 6–1, 6–0
		Kharkov 4	Goals	four players 1

Australia vs. France

11 February 2024 16:00	Report	Australia	8–11	France	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Frank Ohme (GER), Andreia Stanojević (SRB)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 3–4, 1–2, 1–3
		Maksimović 2	Goals	Bouet 4

Montenegro vs. Romania

11 February 2024 17:30	Report	Montenegro	12–9	Romania	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: György Kun (HUN), Alessandro Severo (ITA)
		Score by quarters: 3–5, 4–1, 2–2, 3–1
		Averka, Perković 3	Goals	Fulea 3

USA vs. Italy

11 February 2024 19:00	Report	United States	12–13	Italy	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Xavi Buch (ESP), Michiel Zwart (NED)
		Score by quarters: 3–3, 1–3, 4–4, 4–3
		Daube 4	Goals	Di Fulvio, Fondelli 3

Quarterfinals: The Top Eight Teams Battle It Out

The winners from the playoffs joined the group winners in the quarterfinals. These matches decided which teams would play in the semifinals.

Spain vs. Montenegro

13 February 2024 16:00	Report	Spain	15–12	Montenegro	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), Andrej Franulović (CRO)
		Score by quarters: 5–2, 3–5, 5–0, 2–5
		Perrone 5	Goals	Mršić 4

Greece vs. Italy

13 February 2024 17:30	Report	Greece	10–11	Italy	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), Sébastien Dervieux (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 3–1, 2–5, 3–2, 2–3
		Genidounias 3	Goals	three players 2

Serbia vs. Croatia

13 February 2024 19:00	Report	Serbia	13–15	Croatia	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Georgios Stavridis (GRE), Frank Ohme (GER)
		Score by quarters: 4–4, 5–5, 1–2, 3–4
		S. Rašović 3	Goals	Fatović 4

Hungary vs. France

13 February 2024 20:30	Report	Hungary	10–11	France	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Xavi Buch (ESP), Darren Spiritosanto (USA)
		Score by quarters: 4–2, 3–1, 1–3, 2–5
		Zalánki 3	Goals	Vernoux 5

Semifinals: Who Plays for Gold?

The winners of the quarterfinals played in the semifinals. These matches decided which two teams would compete for the gold medal.

Spain vs. Italy

15 February 2024 16:00	Report	Spain	6–8	Italy	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Boris Margeta (SLO), György Kun (HUN)
		Score by quarters: 1–1, 1–3, 1–2, 3–2
		Larumbe, Munárriz 2	Goals	three players 2

Croatia vs. France

15 February 2024 17:30	Report	Croatia	17–16	France	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Michiel Zwart (NED), Zhang Liang (CHN)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 3–3, 3–1, 2–5  PSO: 6–5
		Fatović 3	Goals	Bouet 3

Bronze Medal Game

The teams that lost in the semifinals played for the bronze medal.

Spain vs. France

17 February 2024 11:30	Report	Spain	14–10	France	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: György Kun (HUN), Darren Spiritosanto (USA)
		Score by quarters: 4–1, 5–3, 2–2, 3–4
		Granados, Sanahuja 4	Goals	three players 2

Gold Medal Game

The two semifinal winners played in the final match for the gold medal.

Italy vs. Croatia

17 February 2024 17:30	Report	Italy	13–15	Croatia	Aspire Dome, Doha Referees: Frank Ohme (GER), Sébastien Dervieux (FRA)
		Score by quarters: 3–2, 2–3, 2–3, 4–3  PSO: 2–4
		Fondelli 5	Goals	Kharkov 4

Final Rankings

Here are the final standings for all the teams in the tournament.

Rank Team  Croatia  Italy  Spain 4  France 5  Greece 6  Serbia 7  Hungary 8  Montenegro 9  United States 10  Romania 11  Australia 12  China 13  Japan 14  Brazil 15  South Africa 16  Kazakhstan Qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics

2024 Men's Water Polo World Champions Croatia Third title

Tournament Statistics and Awards

After the tournament, special awards were given to top players.

Top Goal Scorers

These players scored the most goals during the competition.

Rank	Name	Goals	Shots	%
1	Thomas Vernoux	26	40	65
2	Andrea Fondelli	20	32	63
3	Francesco Di Fulvio	18	44	41
	Loren Fatović		36	50
	Gergő Zalánki		35	51
6	Vlad-Luca Georgescu	17	40	43
7	Álvaro Granados	16	34	47
8	Alexandre Bouet	15	31	48
	Yusuke Inaba		31	48
	Jerko Marinić Kragić		33	45

Special Awards

The best players were recognized with these awards on February 17, 2024.

All-Star Team
Goalkeeper	Marco Del Lungo
Centre Forward	Konstantinos Kakaris
Field player	Francesco Di Fulvio
	Álvaro Granados
	Konstantin Kharkov
	Thomas Vernoux
	Gergő Zalánki
Other Awards
Most Valuable Player	Francesco Di Fulvio
Best Goalkeeper	Marco Del Lungo