The FINA Water Polo World League was an international
water polo
Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...
league organized by
FINA
FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...
, which plays annually, typically from winter through to June. League play featured continental tournaments for men and women, from which the top teams emerged to play in the championship tournament (the "Super Final") where the league champion team is crowned.
Men's league play began in 2002, to capitalize on increased worldwide popularity of water polo created by the 2000
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, especially in Europe, North America and Australia. The women’s league was added in 2004, based on growing interest in women's play.
In October 2022, FINA announced that the tournament would be replaced with the
FINA Water Polo World Cup
The FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup is an international water polo tournament, organized by FINA and featuring eight men's national teams. It was established in 1979, initially taking place on odd years. Since 2002 it is held every four years, in ...
and
FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup
The FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup is an international water polo competition contested by women's national water polo teams of the members of FINA, the aquatic sports' global governing body. The tournament was established in 1979 with an errat ...
from 2023 on.
Play format
Matches consisted of four eight-minute quarters, with a five-minute half-time break. Tie games were decided by an immediate
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...
. The game venues had television requirements to bring the sport to the biggest audience possible. Rule changes were made to provide more spectacular play and yield higher scores.
Preliminary rounds of play were organized by continent: Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The structure of continental play varied within the league. For example, for 2012, the Americas had a single tournament for each sex, Asia/Oceania has two tournaments for each sex on consecutive weekends, and Europe has six weekends of play for men and two for women.
FINA Water Polo World League 2012 Edition – Programme
published 27 February 2012; retrieved 20123 March 2012.
Men
Summary
Medal table
* matches played from Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
are separated from Serbia.
Participation details
;Legend
* – Champions
* – Runners-up
* – Third place
* – Fourth place
* – Quarterfinals
* — Did not enter qualifications
* — Did not qualify for the final tournament
* — Qualified but withdrew
* – Hosts
* † – ''Defunct team''
Women
Winners
Medal standings
Participation details
;Legend
* – Champions
* – Runners-up
* – Third place
* – Fourth place
* – Quarterfinals
* — Did not enter qualifications
* — Did not qualify for the final tournament
* — Qualified but withdrew
* – Hosts
See also
* List of water polo world medalists
This article contains lists of those nations that have won a water polo world medal, referring to any of the men's and women's tournament at the Olympic Games, men's and women's tournament at the FINA World Aquatics Championships, men's and women ...
* Major achievements in water polo by nation
This article contains lists of achievements in major senior-level international water polo tournaments according to first-place, second-place and third-place results obtained by teams representing different nations. The objective is not to create c ...
References
External links
FINA water polo official siteWater Polo page
of FINA's old website (2010 and earlier).
{{International water polo
Women's water polo competitions
W
Sports leagues disestablished in 2022