The draw for the water polo tournament at the 19th FINA World Championships in Budapest will be held on April 12.
The qualifications haven’t been finished yet, so the list of the participating team still isn’t complete (the qualifications of the Zone America have to be played).
But, the website vlv.hu has published that the pots for the men’s draw have been determined.
Qualified teams, men
Host: Hungary
World League: Montenegro (1st place in the World League), USA (2nd).
Olympic Games: Serbia (1st). Greece (2nd), Spain (4th), Croatia (5th)
European Championships: Italy (6th), Russia (8th), Germany (9th).
Australia and Oceania: Australia
Africa: South Africa
Asia: Kazakhstan and Japan
Two more teams will qualify from Zone America. Peru, Brazil, Canada Argentina and Colombia will play the qualifications.
Pots for the draw
Line 1: Serbia, Greece, Hungary, Spain (the semifinalist of the Olympic Games)
Line 2: Montenegro, USA ( the finalists of the World League), Croatia and America Qualifier 1
Line 3: Italy, Russia, Australia, America Qualifier 2
Line 4: South Africa, Kazakhstan, Japan, Germany.
To remind, FINA has allowed Russians to compete as neutral teams. Therefore, as things stand now, Russia will play at the World Championships.
The water polo tournament starts on June 20 (the first round of the male tournament is on June 21) and will be played in four cities – Sopron, Debrecen, Szeged, Budapest. The cross-over round, quarterfinals, semifinals will be played in Szeged and Budapest. The matches for the final standings will take place in Budapest (July 2 for the female tournament and July 3 for the men’s competition).
Qualified teams, women
Host: Hungary
World League: USA (1st), Russia (3rd).
Olympic Games: Spain (2nd), Australia (5th), Netherlands (6th), Canada (7th)
European Championships: Italy (5th), Greece (6th), France (7th).
Asia: 2 teams
America: 2 teams
Australia: 1 team
Africa: 1 team.
