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)
The quarterfinals of the men’s water polo tournament in Singapore have concluded, leaving four countries in the tournament. Greece, Spain, Serbia, and Hungary all have spots in the semifinal on July 22.
Defending world champions and #1-ranked Croatia fell at the hands of #3 Hungary. Going in this was anticipated to be a close match-up, but the Hungarians had a commanding lead by the end of the second quarter. Krisztian Manhercz, Hungary’s team captain, led his team to a successful quarterfinal berth with a game-leading four points. Manhercz was awarded player of the match for his efforts.
With the #1 knocked out, #2 Spain is now the highest-ranked team. The defending World Cup champions knocked out #8 Montenegro en route to a semifinal berth. After trading the lead several times throughout the first quarter, the Spaniards turned up the heat. Bernat Sanahuja scored three goals in the second quarter alone and made six points out of ten attempts overall. The final score was 14-5.
#5 Serbia, the 3x defending Olympic Champions, bounced back from a small upset against #7 Italy by beating the U.S 14-9. Serbia had four multi-point scorers, including player of the match Nemanja Vico. The U.S., meanwhile, departs competition as the only remaining non-European country. They will still be in the #5-8 competition beginning the 22.
Finally, in a battle between #4 Greece and #7 Italy, it was the Greeks who came out on top 17-11. Greece’s goalkeeper, Panagiotis Tzortzatos, had an exceptional 16 saves.
The semifinal will pit Greece and Spain against each other as well as Serbia and Hungary. The four losing teams in the quarterfinal will have their own round of semifinals for the #5-8 rank. Italy will face Montenegro, while the U.S. will play against Croatia.
