The 22nd edition of the World Aquatics Championships (FINA World Championships earlier) will be held in Singapore in 2025.
Initially, Kazan (Russia) was awarded the organization of the event. Still, due to well-known political circumstances and the war in Ukraine, the host was changed.
Today, World Aquatics (former FINA) announced that the World Aquatics Championships would be staged in Singapore.
The event in this island country will be the third consecutive World Aquatics Championships to take place in Asia. Before the Championships in Singapore, two Worlds will be held – in Fukuoka this year and in Doha in the winter of 2024.
The dates of the Championships in Singapore are yet to be defined.
“World Aquatics could not be happier to know that the hosting of our main event for 2025 is in such good hands, thanks to the team here in Singapore,” said World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam at today’s host city announcement, held in Singapore. “Singapore has everything we hope to share with our athletes: world-class facilities, proven experience of hosting events of the highest quality and a comprehensive approach to aquatic sports that runs from elite level to the community. With a back-to-back-to-back trio of World Aquatics Championships in Asia – following Fukuoka this year and Doha in 2024 – the continent is demonstrating exceptional commitment and ability when it comes to welcoming the world’s best aquatic athletes.”(Quote source – World Aquatics’ Press Release)
Husain Al-Musallam Photo by Ng Chrong Meng/World Aquatics
Singapore has demonstrated its excellence in hosting top-level sports events, including holding World Cups in five of the six aquatics sports and the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships, the World Aquatics underlined in its announcement.
Singapore has never hosted a big water polo event (like World Cup), but one intercontinental water polo tournament was held in this country. It was the FINA Challengers’ Cup for men in 2019 when Singapore won gold ahead of Austria, Indonesia, Ireland, Philippines… The FINA Challengers’ Cup (the Development Cup earlier) was an event held eight times between 2007 and 2021 and was intended for developing national water polo teams.
Several stars of aquatic sports attended today’s host city announcement. Among them was Felipe Perrone, the captain of the reigning water polo world champion Spain. The winner of the 2018 Total Player Award was the MVP of the final at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest.
Over 2,500 athletes are expected to participate in the World Aquatics Championships 2025, representing World Aquatics’ 209 national member federations. Competition venues include the Singapore Sports Hub, a world-class complex that includes the National Stadium, the Singapore Indoor Stadium and the OCBC Aquatic Centre. The OCBC Aquatic Centre features two 50m pools and a diving facility, the World Aquatics said, among other things.
Singapore Sports Hub Photo: World Aquatics
“As you might expect from an island nation, Singapore has a proud tradition of aquatic sports. Our whole community is excited about the opportunities that will come from bringing the world’s best aquatics athletes to Singapore: from the teams that have represented us with honour at the Olympic Games and the World Aquatics Championships to the young people training in our clubs,” said Singapore Swimming Association President Mark Chay.(Quote source – World Aquatics’ Press Release)
The competition in Singapore will be the sixth FINA World Championships earlier, and today World Aquatics Championships in Asia, after 2001 (Fukuoka, Japan), 2011 (Shanghai, China), 2019 (Gwangju, South Korea), 2023 (Fukuoka, Japan), and 2024 (Doha, Qatar).
After “the Asian tour”, the World Aquatics Championships will return to Europe. The 23rd edition will take place in Budapest in 2027. The capital of Hungary was the host of the Worlds in 2017 and 2022. The water polo tournament at the 2022 Championships was staged in four cities. The group stage was played in Budapest, Szeged, Debrecen and Sopron. The matches of the knockout stage took place in Budapest.
