2018 FINA Men's Water Polo World League

The 2018 FINA Men's Water Polo World League is the 17th edition of the annual men's international water polo tournament. It will be played between November 2017 and June 2018 and opened to all men's water polo national teams. After participating in a preliminary round, eight teams qualify to play in a final tournament, called the Super Final from 18–23 June 2018.^[1] The top two teams also automatically qualify for the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships in 2019.

2018 FINA Men's Water Polo World League
League	FINA Water Polo World League
Sport	Water Polo
Duration	14 November 2017 to 23 June 2018
Super Final
Finals champions	Montenegro (2nd title)
Runners-up	Hungary

In the world league, there are specific rules that do not allow matches to end in a draw. If teams are level at the end of the 4th quarter of any world league match, the match will be decided by a penalty shootout. Teams earn points in the standings in group matches as follows:

• Match won in normal time – 3 points
• Match won in shootout – 2 points
• Match lost in shootout – 1 point
• Match lost in normal time – 0 points

Preliminary rounds

European Preliminaries

• November 14, 2017 – April 10, 2018

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Montenegro	4	3	0	0	1	40	21	+19	9	Super Final		—	11–8	13–2
2	Serbia	4	3	0	0	1	41	25	+16	9			7–4	—	12–3
3	Romania	4	0	0	0	4	16	51	−35	0			4–12	7–14	—

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	4	4	0	0	0	58	25	+33	12	Super Final		—	14–4	14–8
2	Russia	4	1	1	0	2	37	51	−14	5			9–17	—	16–12
3	Germany	4	0	0	1	3	32	51	−19	1			4–13	8–8 (3–4)	—

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hungary	4	3	0	1	0	45	25	+20	10	Host Super Final		—	9–8	13–1
2	Spain	4	2	1	0	1	39	28	+11	8	Super Final		10–10 (5–3)	—	9–5
3	Netherlands	4	0	0	0	4	16	47	−31	0			6–13	4–12	—

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.

Inter-Continental Cup

• April 3–8, 2018, Auckland, New Zealand
• All times are New Zealand Standard Time (UTC+12:00)

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	3	3	0	0	0	52	21	+31	9	Super Final		—		15–8
2	Kazakhstan	3	1	1	0	1	24	38	−14	5			6–21	—	10–9	8–8 (4–1)
3	Canada	3	1	0	0	2	27	28	−1	3					—
4	Argentina	3	0	0	1	2	18	34	−16	1			7–16		3–10	—
5	New Zealand 2[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0[b]			0–20	7–15	9–20	3–18	—

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.
Notes:

1. New Zealand was represented by 2nd team
2. Matches of New Zealand 2 are not counted in the competition

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	4	4	0	0	0	62	18	+44	12	Super Final		—				18–3
2	Japan	4	3	0	0	1	62	31	+31	9			10–12	—			18–5
3	New Zealand (H)	4	2	0	0	2	38	52	−14	6			3–18	10–18	—		15–9
4	China	4	1	0	0	3	26	45	−19	3			2–14	4–16	7–10	—	13–5
5	Saudi Arabia	4	0	0	0	4	22	64	−42	0							—

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.
(H) Host

Final round

9th Place

8 April 2018 11:20	New Zealand  2[a]	10–11[b]	Saudi Arabia	Auckland, New Zealand
	Score by quarters: 2–4, 3–2, 2–2, 3–3

1. New Zealand was represented by 2nd team
2. Match is not counted in the competition

7th Place

8 April 2018 12:40	Argentina	6–5	China	Auckland, New Zealand
	Score by quarters: 1–1, 0–2, 0–1, 5–1

5th Place

8 April 2018 14:00	Canada	12–6	New Zealand	Auckland, New Zealand
	Score by quarters: 1–1, 4–0, 2–2, 5–3

3rd Place

8 April 2018 15:20	Kazakhstan	7–12	Japan	Auckland, New Zealand
	Score by quarters: 1–4, 1–3, 2–3, 3–2

1st Place

8 April 2018 19:40	Australia	6–9	United States	Auckland, New Zealand
	Score by quarters: 2–3, 1–1, 2–3, 1–2

Final ranking

Qualified to Super Final

Rank	Team
	United States
	Australia
	Japan
4	Kazakhstan
5	Canada
6	New Zealand
7	Argentina
8	China
9	Saudi Arabia

Super Final

• June 18–23, 2018, Danube Arena, Budapest, Hungary
• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00)

Qualified teams

Africa	Americas	Asia	Europe	Oceania
—	United States	Japan  Kazakhstan	Croatia  Hungary (re-Host)  Montenegro  Russia (Host)  Spain	Australia

Seeding

Group A	Group B
Australia (2nd ICC)  Montenegro (1st Europe Group A)  Japan (3rd ICC)  Hungary (1st Europe Group C) (re-Host)	United States (1st ICC)  Croatia (1st Europe Group B)  Kazakhstan (4th ICC)  Russia (Host)  Spain (Replaced Russia)

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Montenegro	3	3	0	0	0	36	25	+11	9	Quarterfinals
2	Hungary (H)	3	2	0	0	1	35	24	+11	6
3	Australia	3	1	0	0	2	24	29	−5	3
4	Japan	3	0	0	0	3	22	39	−17	0

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.
(H) Host

18 June 2018 16:45	Montenegro	14–8	Japan	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 4–1, 3–4, 5–2, 2–1

18 June 2018 20:00	Australia	5–12	Hungary	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 1–3, 1–1, 2–5, 1–3

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19 June 2018 15:15	Australia	11–7	Japan	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 4–1, 2–2, 2–1, 3–3

19 June 2018 18:15	Montenegro	12–9	Hungary	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 3–2, 3–5, 3–2, 3–0

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20 June 2018 16:45	Montenegro	10–8	Australia	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 3–2, 3–2, 3–2, 1–2

20 June 2018 20:00	Japan	7–14	Hungary	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 1–5, 2–3, 2–3, 2–3

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	0	0	30	20	+10	9	Quarterfinals
2	Spain	3	1	1	0	1	26	20	+6	5
3	Croatia	3	1	0	1	1	34	25	+9	4
4	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	0	3	12	37	−25	0

Source: FINA
Rules for classification: Only goals scored in regular time are counted.

18 June 2018 15:15	Croatia	15–5	Kazakhstan	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 3–1, 3–1, 4–3, 5–0

18 June 2018 18:15	United States	8–6	Spain	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 2–3, 3–1, 1–1, 2–1

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19 June 2018 16:45	Croatia	10–13	Spain	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 4–4, 1–3, 3–2, 1–0  PSO: 1–4

19 June 2018 19:45	United States	11–4	Kazakhstan	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 2–0, 3–2, 3–0, 3–2

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20 June 2018 15:15	Croatia	10–11	United States	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 1–2, 2–5, 5–4, 2–0

20 June 2018 18:15	Kazakhstan	3–11	Spain	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 0–2, 1–2, 0–4, 2–3

Knockout stage

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	21 June 2018
	Hungary (pen.)	6 (4)
					22 June 2018
	Croatia	6 (2)
					Hungary	11
	21 June 2018
					Japan	9
	Japan	11
									23 June 2018
	United States	10
									Hungary	9 (2)
	21 June 2018
									Montenegro (pen.)	9 (4)
	Australia	4
					22 June 2018
	Spain	9
					Spain	8
	21 June 2018
					Montenegro	10			Third place
	Montenegro	14
									23 June 2018
	Kazakhstan	6
									Japan	7
									Spain	12

5th–8th Places

	Semifinals				Fifth place
	22 June 2018
	Croatia	10
					23 June 2018
	United States	7
					Croatia	10
	22 June 2018
					Australia	8
	Australia	15
	Kazakhstan	11
					Seventh place
					23 June 2018
					United States	9
					Kazakhstan	3

Quarterfinals

21 June 2018 15:15	Montenegro	14–6	Kazakhstan	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 5–2, 2–2, 5–1, 2–1

21 June 2018 16:45	Australia	4–9	Spain	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 2–1, 0–1, 0–2, 2–5

21 June 2018 18:15	Hungary	10–8	Croatia	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 1–1, 1–1, 3–2, 1–2  PSO: 4–2

21 June 2018 19:45	Japan	11–10	United States	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 2–3, 4–3, 2–1, 3–3

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5th–8th Semifinals

22 June 2018 15:15	Croatia	10–7	United States	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 3–2, 0–1, 3–1, 4–3

22 June 2018 16:45	Australia	15–11	Kazakhstan	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 4–1, 5–4, 4–2, 2–4

Semifinals

22 June 2018 18:15	Hungary	11–9	Japan	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 2–1, 0–4, 7–3, 2–1

22 June 2018 19:45	Spain	8–10	Montenegro	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 2–3, 2–2, 1–3, 3–2

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Seventh place

23 June 2018 15:15	United States	9–3	Kazakhstan	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 4–0, 0–1, 3–1, 2–1

Fifth place

23 June 2018 16:45	Croatia	10–8	Australia	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 3–2, 2–2, 4–3, 1–1

Third place

23 June 2018 18:15	Japan	7–12	Spain	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 2–4, 3–3, 2–1, 0–4

Final

23 June 2018 19:45	Hungary	11–13	Montenegro	Budapest, Hungary
	Score by quarters: 2–2, 4–2, 2–3, 1–2  PSO: 2–4

Final ranking

Rank[1] Team  Montenegro  Hungary  Spain 4  Japan 5  Croatia 6  Australia 7  United States 8  Kazakhstan

2018 FINA Men's Water Polo World League champions  Montenegro Second title

Awards

MVP	Highest Scorer	Best Goalkeeper	Best Young Player
Márton Vámos	Aleksandar Ivović Mlađan Janović Inada Yosuke (14 goals)	Viktor Nagy	Đuro Radović

References

1. "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. p. 40. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.

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