Water polo at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament

The 1973 Men's World Water Polo Championship was the first edition of the men's water polo tournament at the World Aquatics Championships, organised by the world governing body in aquatics, the FINA. The tournament was held from 1 to 9 September 1973, and was incorporated into the inaugural 1973 World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.^[1]

Water polo at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament

Tournament details
Venue(s)	Yugoslavia (in Belgrade host cities)
Dates	1 – September
Teams	16 (from 4 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Hungary (1st title)
Runner-up	Soviet Union
Third place	Yugoslavia
Fourth place	Italy
Tournament statistics
Matches played	64
Goals scored	645 (10.08 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Siniša Belamarić (20 goals)
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Participating teams

Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania
Cuba  Mexico  United States	Israel	Bulgaria  Great Britain  Greece  Hungary  Italy  Netherlands  Romania  Soviet Union  Spain  West Germany  Yugoslavia	Australia

Groups formed

GROUP A  Australia  Great Britain  Mexico  Netherlands  Soviet Union  Yugoslavia

GROUP B  Hungary  Israel  Italy  Spain  Romania

GROUP C  Bulgaria  Cuba  Greece  United States  West Germany

Preliminary round

	Qualified for places 1–6 in a round robin group. (Group D)
	Will play for places 7–12 in a round robin group. (Group E)
	Will play for places 13–16 in a round robin group. (Group F)

Group A

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Soviet Union	10	5	5	0	0	41	14	+27
2.	Yugoslavia	8	5	4	0	1	35	22	+13
3.	Netherlands	6	5	3	0	2	26	19	+7
4.	Mexico	4	5	2	0	3	22	24	–2
5.	Australia	2	5	1	0	4	18	29	–11
6.	Great Britain	0	5	0	0	5	6	40	–34

• 1 September 1973

Netherlands	5 – 3	Mexico
Yugoslavia	9 – 0	Great Britain
Soviet Union	9 – 3	Australia

• 2 September 1973

Australia	4 – 1	Great Britain
Soviet Union	5 – 4	Netherlands
Yugoslavia	6 – 5	Mexico

• 3 September 1973

Mexico	5 – 3	Australia
Soviet Union	14 – 1	Great Britain
Yugoslavia	8 – 5	Netherlands

• 4 September 1973

Yugoslavia	10 – 6	Australia
Netherlands	8 – 1	Great Britain
Soviet Union	7 – 4	Mexico

• 5 September 1973

Mexico	5 – 3	Great Britain
Netherlands	4 – 2	Australia
Soviet Union	6 – 2	Yugoslavia

Group B

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Hungary	8	4	4	0	0	36	11	+25
2.	Italy	6	4	3	0	1	25	14	+11
3.	Romania	4	4	2	0	2	30	18	+12
4.	Spain	2	4	1	0	3	20	25	–5
5.	Israel	0	4	0	0	4	6	49	–43

• 1 September 1973

Spain	11 – 3	Israel
Italy	5 – 4	Romania

• 2 September 1973

Romania	12 – 1	Israel
Hungary	7 – 3	Spain

• 3 September 1973

Italy	5 – 2	Spain
Hungary	15 – 0	Israel

• 4 September 1973

Hungary	6 – 4	Italy
Romania	10 – 4	Spain

• 5 September 1973

Italy	11 – 2	Israel
Hungary	8 – 4	Romania

Group C

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Cuba	6	4	3	0	1	19	11	+8
2.	United States	5	4	2	1	1	18	17	+1
3.	West Germany	4	4	2	0	2	18	18	0
4.	Greece	3	4	1	1	2	16	19	–3
5.	Bulgaria	2	4	1	0	3	19	25	–6

• 1 September 1973

West Germany	1 – 1	Greece
United States	4 – 3	Cuba

• 2 September 1973

Cuba	7 – 2	Greece
Bulgaria	6 – 5	United States

• 3 September 1973

United States	3 – 3	West Germany
Cuba	3 – 0	Bulgaria

• 4 September 1973

Cuba	6 – 5	West Germany
Greece	8 – 5	Bulgaria

• 5 September 1973

United States	6 – 5	Greece
West Germany	9 – 8	Bulgaria

Final round

13th – 16th places (Group F)

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
13.	Bulgaria	5	3	2	1	0	16	10	+6
14.	Australia	4	3	2	0	1	18	5	+13
15.	Great Britain	3	3	1	1	1	16	14	+2
16.	Israel	0	3	0	0	3	9	30	–21

Preliminary round results apply.

• 6 September 1973

Bulgaria	3 – 2	Australia
Great Britain	10 – 5	Israel

• 7 September 1973

Bulgaria	8 – 3	Israel

• 8 September 1973

Bulgaria	5 – 5	Great Britain
Australia	12 – 1	Israel

7th – 12th places (Group E)

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
7.	Romania	9	5	4	1	0	35	21	+14
8.	Netherlands	8	5	4	0	1	31	18	+13
9.	Mexico	4	5	1	2	2	21	22	–1
10.	Spain	4	5	2	0	3	22	29	–7
11.	West Germany	3	5	1	1	3	19	27	–8
12.	Greece	2	5	0	2	3	17	28	–11

Preliminary round results apply.

• 6 September 1973

Romania	11 – 6	Greece
Netherlands	5 – 4	Spain
West Germany	7 – 6	Mexico

• 7 September 1973

Spain	6 – 5	West Germany
Mexico	4 – 4	Greece
Romania	6 – 5	Netherlands

• 8 September 1973

Spain	5 – 4	Greece
Netherlands	9 – 3	West Germany
Romania	3 – 3	Mexico

• 9 September 1973

Romania	5 – 3	West Germany
Mexico	5 – 3	' Spain
Netherlands	7 – 2	Greece

1st – 6th places (Group D)

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Hungary	9	5	4	1	0	28	17	+11
2.	Soviet Union	8	5	4	0	1	30	16	+14
3.	Yugoslavia	5	5	2	1	2	23	22	+1
4.	Italy	4	5	2	0	3	22	25	–3
5.	United States	4	5	2	0	3	22	28	–6
6.	Cuba	0	5	0	0	5	15	32	–17

Preliminary round results apply.

• 6 September 1973

Hungary	6 – 2	United States
Soviet Union	6 – 2	Italy
Yugoslavia	8 – 3	Cuba

• 7 September 1973

Yugoslavia	6 – 5	United States
Italy	6 – 3	Cuba
Hungary	5 – 4	Soviet Union

• 8 September 1973

United States	6 – 5	Italy
Hungary	3 – 3	Yugoslavia
Soviet Union	6 – 2	Cuba

• 9 September 1973

Hungary	8 – 4	Cuba
Italy	5 – 4	Yugoslavia
Soviet Union	8 – 5	United States

Final ranking

RANK[1] TEAM  Hungary  Soviet Union  Yugoslavia 4.  Italy 5.  United States 6.  Cuba 7.  Romania 8.  Netherlands 9.  Mexico 10.  Spain 11.  West Germany 12.  Greece 13.  Bulgaria 14.  Australia 15.  Great Britain 16.  Israel

1973 FINA Men's World champions  Hungary First title Team roster [1] Balazs Balla, Andrá Bodner, Gabor Csapo, Tibor Czervengak, Tamas Farago, István Görgenyi, Zoltán Kasas, Ferenc Konrad, Endre Molnar, László Sarosi, István Szivos Jr. Head coach: Dezső Gyarmati

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Hungary Balazs Balla András Bodnár Gábor Csapó Tibor Cservenyák Tamás Faragó István Görgényi Zoltán Kásás Ferenc Konrád Endre Molnár László Sárosi István Szívós Jr. Head coach: Dezső Gyarmati	Soviet Union Anatoly Akimov Aleksei Barkalov Aleksandr Dreval Andrey Frolov Aleksandr Kabanov Yuri Mityanin Nuzgari Mshvenieradze Leonid Osipov Vitaly Romanchuk Sergey Shevernyov Vladimir Zhmudsky Head coach: Anatoly Blumental	Yugoslavia Siniša Belamarić Ozren Bonačić Milan Franković Boško Lozica Predrag Manojlović Miloš Marković Đorđe Perišić Damir Polić Ratko Rudić Đuro Savinović Nikola Stamenić Head coach: Ratko Rudić