The great news for water polo players, coaches, and fans has come today from the headquarters of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in Lausanne.

FINA announced that the teams will play with 12-player rosters at the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year, while the 13th player will be in the stands and in the Olympic village as a substitution.

Two years ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) accepted shorter water polo rosters at the Olympic Games in Tokyo (11 players in the team). But, that decision has been changed.

This is the official correspondence from FINA to all National Federations about the rosters at the Olympic Games:

“Dear President,

We have the pleasure to send you this correspondence which includes the agreement reached by FINA with the IOC Sports Department related to the number of players included in both Men and Women Teams at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, namely:

We have the pleasure to send you this correspondence which includes the agreement reached by FINA with the IOC Sports Department related to the number of players included in both Men and Women Teams at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, namely:

1) A Game Protocol will be created for 13 players, consisting of twelve (12) athletes which will have an «Aa» Accreditation and one (1) Athlete which will have an «Ap» Accreditation. Athlete N° 1 is the first goalkeeper and athlete N° 13 is the second goalkeeper. The team can select between player No 1 or player No 13 as goalkeeper for each game, or select two goalkeepers and 10 field players.

2) On the team roster for a match there will only be 12 players at the time of the competition. The team can select 12 different players for each match (10 field players plus two goalkeepers or 11 field players and 1 goal keeper). The 13th athlete will be seated in the stands to be designated by FINA. All substitutions during the match will have to be made from the team of 12 athletes and the 13th player cannot be activated during a match. All medical replacements must only happen between matches.

3) All 13 players will have access to the Olympic Village. The first 12 players will have an «Aa» accreditation and will get a bed allocation. The goalkeeper N° 13 will have an «Ap» accreditation and will need to be accommodated within the overall NOC bed allocation (at Olympic Village or elsewhere).

As mentioned in point 2 above, all the replacements are to be made between the matches only, with the certificate to be issued by the FINA Medical Committee representative.

We remain at you disposal for any additional question you may have and take this opportunity to wish you great participation at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Water Polo Tournament.”