2025 Men’s Water Polo World Cup – Final
- April 11-13, 2025
- Podgorica, Montenegro
- Championship Central
For a second straight Water Polo World Cup final, the Spanish men came out on top.
Bypassing classifications thanks to their first-place performance in the Division 1 Tournament, Spain came out swinging in the quarterfinal round. The Spaniards set a new single-match scoring record as they defeated Germany 22-9. They kept the heat on the following day, defeating 2024 World Champion team Croatia 19-14.
The final game against Greece proved the most challenging and dramatic of Spain’s five-game win streak this season. The two Mediterranean countries traded the lead throughout the game with Spain taking the lead with a couple minutes to go. Spain’s goalie, Unai Aguirre, intercepted a shot and scored a length-of-the-pool goal. After an interaction with Greek player Dimitrios Nikolaidis, both players were given red cards for the rest of the game. Even without a goalie, the Spaniards maintained their lead to win 16-14.
Alvaro Granados won the most valuable player of the tournament by scoring a total of 17 points in three games, including three successful penalty shots in the final against Greece. The Barcelona native led his country to a repeat victory following the team’s 2023 World Cup gold medal in Los Angeles.
The Greeks had an outstanding showing in their own right, breezing past Japan 20-10 in the quarterfinals and coming back in the second half of the semifinals to beat Hungary. It marks an improvement from their 5th place standing at both the 2024 World Championships and Olympics and from their 3rd place effort in the Division 1 tournament. Stylianos Argyropoulos earned high scorer for the country, making five goals in the final to keep Spain on its toes.
The bronze medal match, between Hungary and Croatia, came down to a penalty shootout after tying 14-14 in regular time. The Hungarians had the edge in the shootout, 4-1, to earn themselves a bronze medal.
Spain, Greece, and Hungary all punched their tickets to the World Championships in Singapore this summer.
Notably absent from the tournament were the reigning Olympic gold and bronze medalists, Serbia and the United States. Both teams failed to make it to the World Cup final, but they are still headed to Singapore based on their Olympic performance.
2025 Men’s Water Polo World Cup Final Ranking
- Spain
- Greece
- Hungary
- Croatia
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Germany
- Japan
