The national water polo teams of Russia and Belarus are permitted to participate in international competitions, according to a decision by World Aquatics. From next year, they will be allowed to play under neutral status during the events, without any other association with their country.
World Aquatics hasn’t issued any public statement regarding this topic yet, but the official confirmation came from European Aquatics.
“The European Aquatics Bureau has been informed on 5th November that the World Aquatics (AQUA) Bureau has approved changes to the Guidelines for Athlete Participation in World Aquatics Events During Periods of Conflict.
Neutral Athletes are now eligible to participate in all water polo competitions and team events, in addition to individual events. Furthermore, the AQUA Guidelines have now been extended to all Continental-level events, in addition to any World Aquatics event or qualifying competition for the World Championships and/or the Olympic Games, across all disciplines and age categories.
This decision will apply immediately.”, European Aquatics announced today.
Doors of World Cup are open for two nations
The next major water polo tournament will be the European Championships that will take place in Belgrade (men) and Funchal (women) in January and February. The teams from Russia and Belarus didn’t qualify for the Europeans, as they weren’t allowed to take part in the qualifications.
However, since World Aquatics lifted the ban, both nations can participate in the World Cup Division 2, scheduled to take place in April. The top two teams from Division 2 and the top six from Division 1 will qualify for the World Cup Final, which will be held in Sidney (for both men and women) from July 20-26. The hosts of the tournaments in Divisions 1 and 2 haven’t been announced yet.
The three male and three male and female teams from the World Cup Finals will qualify for the 2027 World Championships in Budapest. The Olympic champions (Serbia for the men and Spain for the women) and the reigning World Champions (Spain for the men and Greece for the women) have already qualified for the 2027 Worlds.
Besides, the teams of Russia and Belarus will be able to participate in the age-group championships (or qualifications) next summer.
Russia was suspended following the beginning of the war in Ukraine early in 2022.
The female team of Russia hasn’t played an official game since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where it won 4th place. The Russian men’s team has not participated in international competitions since the Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Rotterdam in February 2021. The Russians finished in 4th place and didn’t qualify for the 2021 Olympic Games.
The return of the Russian women’s team is expected to increase the number of contenders for medals at major competitions. The men’s team has not won a medal at major competitions since 2004, when it took bronze at the Olympic Games. Still, it remains to be seen whether they have made any progress in the last few years.
