The 19th FINA World Championships in Fukuoka has been postponed again and will be held in 2023, accroding to the latest information.
In the last few weeks, there have been a lot of unofficial about the moving of the World Championships, originally scheduled for summer 2021, but postponed to 2022 (May 13 – 29) after the Olympic Games were rescheduled.
The new wave of the coronavirus pandemic hit the whole planet. There have been a lot of new coronavirus cases in Japan,too. The latest report says that there have been 44.638 new cases in Japan today.
The current circumstances don’t give many chances that the Championships can be held in four months.
Total Waterpolo’s sources from FINA confirmed that the Championships had been rescheduled to July 2023.
FINA hasn’t issued any official information, yet, but it’s expected that it will happen soon.
The new postponement of the Fukuoka championships causes the moving of the next FINA World Championships in Doha, which is scheduled for November 2023. It’s most likely that the Championships in Doha will be staged in January 2024.
Water polo tournament in Fukuoka
After the Tokyo Games, the list of the participating teams at the Championships in Fukuoka is almost complete. The Olympic Games were one of the qualifying tournaments.
Teams can earn the World Championships berths through the World League, the Olympic Games or the World Cup and continental qualifications or championships.
The qualification formulas for men’s and women’s World Championships are the same.
Participating teams
– Host
– The best two (2) teams from the preceding year’s World League if they are not already qualified as the host nation.
– The best four (4) teams from the preceding World Cup or Olympic Games if they are not already qualified as the host nation or from the World League
– Nine (9) teams from the five (5) continents (continental qualifications or continental championships), if they are not qualified as the host nation, from the World League or the Olympic Games/World Cup. The nine teams will be selected according to the following formula: a) Europe – 3, b) Americas – 2, c) Asia – 2, d) Africa – 1, e) Oceania – 1.
Japan qualified as a host. The first qualification competition was the 2020 World League The male national teams of Montenegro and the USA secured their spots at the 2022 Worlds as the winner and the runner-up in the WL. The female teams of the USA and Hungary booked the tickets for Fukuoka through the World League.
Serbia, Greece, Hungary, Spain (men), Spain, Russia, Australia, and the Netherlands (women) qualified based on the results at the Olympic Games, which are a qualification tournament for Championships that come after an Olympic year
The European qualification tournament was the 2020 European Championships. In the following months, it will be known which teams will represent the other continents.
So far, ten male and ten female teams have qualified for the Fukuoka Championships.
Qualified teams, men
Host: Japan.
World League: Montenegro (1st place in the World League), USA (2nd).
Olympic Games: Serbia (1st). Greece (2nd), Hungary (3rd), Spain (4th).
European Championships: Croatia (4th), Italy (6th), Russia (8th).
The remaining six spots will be filled by the teams qualified from continental competitions of Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
Qualified teams, women
Host: Japan
World League: USA (1st), Hungary (2nd).
Olympic Games: Spain (2nd), Russia (4th), Australia (5th), Netherlands (6th).
European Championships: Italy (5th), Greece (6th), France (7th).
The remaining six spots will be filled by the teams qualified from continental competitions of Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
The USA, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, and Japan will have teams both at men’s and women’s tournaments in Fukuoka, but this list will be probably extended until the end of the qualifications.
