This evening at the World Aquatics interim office in Budapest, preliminary round groups for the water polo tournaments at the 2025 World Championships were drawn.
Men’s Draw
Serbia, the reigning Olympic Champions, will face off with Italy, the reigning World Championship silver medalists, in Group A. Romania and South Africa round out the first competition group.
The Group B team with the hottest hand is Spain, who is fresh off a World Cup title in April. They will look to beat Hungary, the 2023 World Champions, as well as Japan and Australia to continue their win streak.
Singapore, the home team for this championship, will face the three western hemisphere giants (Canada, United States, and Brazil) in Group C. Of the four, the U.S. boasts the best recent track record, earning bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In Group D, Croatia will be the team to beat, as they were the 2024 Doha World Champions and the Olympic silver medalists. To advance on, it will have to take on regional rivals Greece and Montenegro as well as China.
Group A
- Serbia
- Italy
- Romania
- South Africa
Group B
- Spain
- Hungary
- Japan
- Australia
Group C
- United States
- Brazil
- Canada
- Singapore
Group D
- Croatia
- Greece
- China
- Montenegro
Women’s Draw
In Group A, Olympic silver medalist team Australia will look to fend off regional foes New Zealand and Singapore as well as Italy.
For the American Women, who claimed the 2024 World Championships gold, the fight to defend their title will start in Group B. They’ll have to face The Netherlands, the 2023 World Champions, as well as Argentina and China.
After going head-to-head in the World Cup Final in April (with Greece coming out on top), Greece and Hungary will get a re-match in Group C. Japan and Croatia will join the pair in the first round play-off.
Finally, in Group D, all eyes will be on Spain. The Spanish women boast the most recent Olympic gold medal, and even though they suffered two upset losses at the World Cup last month, they’re still heavy favorites to advance. Western European rivals France and Great Britain were also drawn into Group D, as was South Africa.
Group A
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Italy
- Singapore
Group B
- United States
- Netherlands
- China
- Argentina
Group C
- Hungary
- Greece
- Croatia
- Japan
Group D
- Spain
- Great Britain
- South Africa
- France
The draw ceremony was hosted by World Aquatics President Captain Husain Al-Musallam and Singapore 2025 Co-Chair Mark Chay. Athletes Laura Ester Ramos of Spain and Filip Filipovic of Serbia hosted alongside Al-Musallam and Chay.
Women’s competition in Singapore will begin on July 11, while men’s will start the following day. Over the first week, group competition will occur round-robin style before some crossover matches. The competition will advance to quarterfinals and then semifinals. The women’s and men’s tournament will conclude on July 23 and 24, respectively, with gold medal matches.
I think the men’s Group C is going to be one of the easier, for sure!
Mens group is strange. One of group B should have been in Group C.
They need to stop giving host country teams automatic high seeds.