2025 World Championships – Water Polo
- July 11-24, 2025
- OSBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Sports Hub, Singapore
- Tournament Central
- 2024 Olympic Champions: Spain (women), Serbia (men)
- 2024 World Champions: United States (women), Croatia (men)
- 2025 World Cup Champions: Greece (women), Spain (men)
Welcome to the second day of competition in Singapore and the first day of men’s water polo. Today, the first of several days of intra-group play began.
The most unexpected result of the first day came from a Balkan face-off in Group D. #4 Greece, the silver medalists at the 2025 World Cup, fell to #8 Montenegro 10-9. The Montenegrin men attacked the first quarter, scoring 5 goals and even blocking a penalty goal shot by Greece. They never lost their lead.
Group D’s other game, #1 Croatia versus #19 China, was less competitive. The reigning world champions, Croatia handily took down their opponents 25-6.
The 2024 Olympic Champions, #5 Serbia, breezed past #25 South Africa to win their first game of the tournament 27-3. The country’s most famous current player, 3x Olympic champion Dusan Mandic, led the team in scoring with six points, including three of the first five.
#12 Japan faced a tough first-round match-up against #2 Spain, the 2025 World Cup Champions. They played a respectable game and kept it close, with Spain winning 22-16. For this game, the Spanish opted to sit out veteran icon Felipe Perrone, who is retiring at the end of the Championships.
The #6 United States came out of its first day with a win against its northern neighbor, taking down #13 Canada 18-9 in Group C. Both Group C games ended in identical scores, as #10 Brazil defeated #38 Singapore on their home turf 18-9.
Though #14 Romania got off to an exciting start against #9 Italy, leading 2-1 after the first quarter, Italy came back hard in the rest of the game to win 17-5. Notably, the Italian women also had a comeback against a lower ranked team, New Zealand, in their first round of play yesterday.
Finally, #3 Hungary opened up their tournament in strong form with an 18-6 showing against #11 Australia.
Group Standings Through 7/12 (Points)
Group A
#1 Serbia — 3
#1 Italy — 3
#3 Romania — 0
#3 South Africa — 0
Group B
#1 Hungary — 3
#1 Spain — 3
#3 Japan — 0
#3 Australia — 0
Group C
#1 Brazil — 3
#1 United States — 3
#3 Canada — 0
#3 Singapore — 0
Group D
#1 Croatia — 3
#1 Montenegro — 3
#3 Greece — 0
#3 China — 0
This really isn’t that big of an upset