The men's tournament of water polo at the 2020 Summer Olympics at Tokyo, Japan began on 25 July and ended on 8 August 2021. It was held at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center. It was the 27th official appearance of the tournament, which was not held in 1896 and was a demonstration sport in 1904 but otherwise had been held at every Olympics.
On 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this pandemic, the games are played behind closed doors.
Serbia won their second consecutive gold medal after a finals win over Greece, while Hungary captured the bronze medal.
The medals for the competition were presented by Nenad Lalović, IOC Executive Board Member; Serbia and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Andrey Kryukov, Kazakhstan; FINA Bureau Member.
Qualification
Schedule The competition began on 25 July, and matches were held every other day. At each match time, two matches were played simultaneously (one from each group during preliminary round, two quarterfinals during that round, one main semifinal and one classification 5 to 8 semifinal during the semifinal round, and the two classification games on the final day) except for the bronze and gold medal matches.
Sun 25 Mon 26 Tue 27 Wed 28 Thu 29 Fri 30 Sat 31 Sun 1 Mon 2 Tue 3 Wed 4 Thu 5 Fri 6 Sat 7 Sun 8G G G G G ¼ ½ B F
Competition format The twelve teams were seeded into two groups for a preliminary round. The teams in each group played a round-robin. The top four teams in each group advanced to the knockout round while the fifth- and sixth- placed teams were eliminated. The fifth placed teams were ranked ninth and tenth based on win–loss record, then goal average; the sixth-placed teams were ranked eleventh and twelfth in the same way. The knockout round began with quarterfinals and the winners advanced to the semifinals, while the quarterfinal losers played in the fifth- to eighth- place classification. The two semifinal winners played in the gold medal match, while the two semifinal losers played in the bronze medal match.
Draw The draw took place on 21 February 2021 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Seeding The twelve teams in the men's tournament were drawn into two groups of six teams. The teams were seeded into six pots.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4Pot 5Pot 6 (hosts)
Final draw The hosts Japan was drawn into Group A, while the reigning Olympic champion Serbia was drawn into Group B.
Group A Group B 1 2 3 4 5 6
Referees The following 28 referees were selected for the tournament.
24 referees:
Germán Moller Nicola Johnson Marie-Claude Deslières Zhang Liang Nenad Periš Sébastien Dervieux Frank Ohme Georgios Stavridis György Kun Alessandro Severo Asumi Tsuzaki Viktor Salnichenko Stanko Ivanovski Michiel Zwart John Waldow Adrian Alexandrescu Arkadiy Voevodin Vojin Putniković Jeremy Cheng Dion Willis Xevi Buch Ursula Wengenroth Michael Goldenberg Daniel Daners
4 video assistant referees:
Mladen Rak Alexandr Margolin Alexandr Shershnev Jaume Teixido
Group stage The schedule was announced on 9 March 2021.
All times are local (UTC+9).
Group A
Group B
Knockout stage Bracket
Fifth place bracket
Quarterfinals
5–8th place semifinals
Semifinals
Seventh place game
Fifth place game
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
Final ranking
Rank Team456789101112
Medalists GoldSilverBronze Gojko Pijetlović (GK)Dušan Mandić (LH)Nikola DedovićSava RanđelovićStrahinja RašovićDuško PijetlovićĐorđe LazićMilan AleksićNikola JakšićFilip Filipović (C, LH)Andrija PrlainovićStefan MitrovićBranislav Mitrović (GK)Head coach: Dejan Savić Emmanouil Zerdevas (GK)Konstantinos GenidouniasDimitrios SkoumpakisMarios KapotsisIoannis Fountoulis (C)Alexandros PapanastasiouGeorgios DervisisStylianos ArgyropoulosKonstantinos MourikisChristodoulos KolomvosKonstantinos GkiouvetsisAngelos VlachopoulosKonstantinos Galanidis (GK)Head coach: Thodoris Vlachos Viktor Nagy (GK)Dániel AngyalKrisztián ManherczGergő Zalánki (LH)Márton Vámos (LH)Norbert HosnyánszkyMátyás PásztorSzilárd JansikBalázs ErdélyiDénes Varga (C)Tamás Mezei (LH)Balázs HáraiSoma Vogel (GK)Head coach: Tamás Märcz
Team statistics Goals for Rank Team Goalsfor Matchesplayed Goals forper match Shots % Finish 1 65 5 13.000 170 38.2% 10th 2 103 8 12.875 237 43.5% 1st 3 99 8 12.375 245 40.4% 5th 4 97 8 12.125 247 39.3% 2nd 5 94 8 11.750 247 38.1% 3rd 6 87 8 10.875 238 36.6% 4th 7 86 8 10.750 242 35.5% 7th 8 85 8 10.625 244 34.8% 6th 9 82 8 10.250 247 33.2% 8th 10 49 5 9.800 149 32.9% 9th 11 35 5 7.000 133 26.3% 11th 12 20 5 4.000 111 18.0% 12th Total 902 42 10.738 2510 35.9% Source: Official Results Book (page 99)
Goals against Rank Team Goalsagainst Matchesplayed Goals againstper match Shots % Finish 1 57 8 7.125 230 24.8% 2nd 2 58 8 7.250 223 26.0% 4th 3 60 8 7.500 237 25.3% 3rd 4 63 8 7.875 226 27.9% 7th 5 71 8 8.875 243 29.2% 1st 6 82 8 10.250 245 33.5% 5th 7 85 8 10.625 240 35.4% 6th 8 92 8 11.500 227 40.5% 8th 9 60 5 12.000 136 44.1% 9th 10 66 5 13.200 147 44.9% 10th 11 92 5 18.400 161 57.1% 11th 12 116 5 23.200 195 59.5% 12th Total 902 42 10.738 2510 35.9% Source: Official Results Book (pages 113, 117, 121, 125, 129, 133, 136, 139, 143, 146, 150, 154)
Goal difference Rank Team Goalsfor Goalsagainst Goaldiff. Matchesplayed Goals diff.per match Finish 1 97 57 40 8 5.000 2nd 2 94 60 34 8 4.250 3rd 3 103 71 32 8 4.000 1st 4 87 58 29 8 3.625 4th 5 86 63 23 8 2.875 7th 6 99 82 17 8 2.125 5th 7 85 85 0 8 0.000 6th 8 65 66 −1 5 −0.200 10th 9 82 92 −10 8 −1.250 8th 10 49 60 −11 5 −2.200 9th 11 35 92 −57 5 −11.400 11th 12 20 116 −96 5 −19.200 12th Total 902 902 0 42 0.000 Source: Official Results Book (pages 113, 117, 121, 125, 129, 133, 136, 139, 143, 146, 150, 154)
Saves Rank Team Saves Matchesplayed Savesper match Shots % Finish 1 89 8 11.125 160 55.6% 1st 2 88 8 11.000 170 51.8% 5th 3 87 8 10.875 145 60.0% 4th 4 83 8 10.375 168 49.4% 6th 5 79 8 9.875 136 58.1% 2nd 5 79 8 9.875 142 55.6% 7th 7 72 8 9.000 132 54.5% 3rd 8 70 8 8.750 162 43.2% 8th 9 43 5 8.600 109 39.4% 10th 10 41 5 8.200 101 40.6% 9th 11 30 5 6.000 146 20.5% 12th 12 28 5 5.600 120 23.3% 11th Total 789 42 9.393 1691 46.7% Source: Official Results Book (pages 113, 117, 121, 125, 129, 133, 136, 139, 143, 146, 150, 154)
Blocks Rank Team Blocks Matchesplayed Blocksper match Finish 1 46 8 5.750 2nd 1 46 8 5.750 3rd 3 45 8 5.625 1st 4 36 8 4.500 6th 5 31 8 3.875 7th 6 28 8 3.500 5th 7 26 8 3.250 4th 8 16 5 3.200 12th 9 25 8 3.125 8th 10 12 5 2.400 11th 11 10 5 2.000 10th 12 7 5 1.400 9th Total 328 42 3.905 Source: Official Results Book (page 99)
Rebounds Rank Team Rebounds Matchesplayed Reboundsper match Finish 1 59 8 7.375 3rd 1 59 8 7.375 4th 3 53 8 6.625 2nd 4 31 5 6.200 9th 5 48 8 6.000 1st 5 48 8 6.000 6th 7 44 8 5.500 5th 7 44 8 5.500 7th 9 40 8 5.000 8th 10 24 5 4.800 10th 11 22 5 4.400 11th 12 19 5 3.800 12th Total 491 42 5.845 Source: Official Results Book (page 99)
Steals Rank Team Steals Matchesplayed Stealsper match Finish 1 44 5 8.800 10th 2 65 8 8.125 7th 3 64 8 8.000 8th 4 49 8 6.125 4th 5 48 8 6.000 3rd 6 47 8 5.875 1st 7 46 8 5.750 5th 8 45 8 5.625 2nd 9 28 5 5.600 9th 9 28 5 5.600 11th 11 44 8 5.500 6th 12 15 5 3.000 12th Total 523 42 6.226 Source: Official Results Book (page 99)
Sprints won Rank Team Sprints won Matchesplayed Sprints wonper match Sprintscontested % Finish 1 25 8 3.125 32 78.1% 7th 2 24 8 3.000 32 75.0% 4th 3 14 5 2.800 20 70.0% 9th 4 22 8 2.750 32 68.8% 6th 5 19 8 2.375 32 59.4% 5th 6 17 8 2.125 32 53.1% 3rd 7 13 8 1.625 32 40.6% 2nd 8 11 8 1.375 32 34.4% 1st 9 10 8 1.250 32 31.3% 8th 10 5 5 1.000 20 25.0% 10th 11 4 5 0.800 20 20.0% 11th 11 4 5 0.800 20 20.0% 12th Total 168 42 2.000 336 50.0% Source: Official Results Book (page 99)
Turnovers Rank Team Turnovers Matchesplayed Turnoversper match Finish 1 14 5 2.800 10th 2 30 8 3.750 4th 3 31 8 3.875 5th 4 21 5 4.200 9th 5 37 8 4.625 2nd 6 38 8 4.750 8th 7 24 5 4.800 11th 8 40 8 5.000 1st 9 41 8 5.125 3rd 10 46 8 5.750 7th 11 48 8 6.000 6th 12 44 5 8.800 12th Total 414 42 4.929 Source: Official Results Book (page 99)
Exclusions with substitution Rank Team Exclusionswithsubstitution Matchesplayed Exclusionsw/substper match Finish 1 4 8 0.500 7th 1 4 8 0.500 8th 3 3 5 0.600 10th 4 5 5 1.000 11th 4 8 8 1.000 4th 6 6 5 1.200 9th 7 10 8 1.250 6th 8 11 8 1.375 1st 9 12 8 1.500 5th 10 13 8 1.625 3rd 11 9 5 1.800 12th 12 16 8 2.000 2nd Total 101 42 1.202 Source: Official Results Book (page 99)
Player statistics
Multiple medalists
Four-time Olympic medalist(s): 3 players : Filip Filipović, Duško Pijetlović, Andrija Prlainović
Three-time Olympic medalist(s): 4 players : Milan Aleksić, Dušan Mandić, Stefan Mitrović, Gojko Pijetlović (GK)
Leading goalscorers Rank Player Team Goals Matchesplayed Goalsper match Shots % 1 Aleksandar Ivović 23 8 2.875 43 53.5% 2 Luka Bukić 20 8 2.500 41 48.8% Krisztián Manhercz 8 2.500 44 45.5% 4 Alex Bowen 18 8 2.250 44 40.9% Álvaro Granados 8 2.250 52 34.6% 6 Francesco Di Fulvio 17 8 2.125 55 30.9% Konstantinos Genidounias 8 2.125 54 31.5% Dušan Mandić 8 2.125 36 47.2% 9 Filip Filipović 16 8 2.000 27 59.3% Ioannis Fountoulis 8 2.000 42 38.1% Maro Joković 8 2.000 37 43.2% Source: Official Results Book (page 109)
Saves leaders Rank Goalkeeper Team Saves Matchesplayed Savesper match Shots % 1 Branislav Mitrović 70 6 11.667 122 57.4% Emmanouil Zerdevas 7 10.000 122 57.4% 3 Marco Del Lungo 61 7 8.714 110 55.5% 4 Daniel López 60 6 10.000 109 55.0% 5 Marko Bijač 56 6 9.333 116 48.3% Viktor Nagy 7 8.000 103 54.4% 7 Drew Holland 52 5 10.400 111 46.8% 8 Slaven Kandić 41 5 8.200 92 44.6% 9 Katsuyuki Tanamura 36 4 9.000 93 38.7% 10 Ivan Marcelić 32 3 10.667 54 59.3% Source: Official Results Book (page 111)
Leading blockers Rank Player Team Blocks Matchesplayed Blocksper match 1 Filip Filipović 10 8 1.250 Krisztián Manhercz 8 1.250 3 Draško Brguljan 7 8 0.875 Francesco Di Fulvio 8 0.875 Gergő Zalánki 8 0.875 6 Luca Cupido 6 8 0.750 Georgios Dervisis 8 0.750 Gonzalo Echenique 8 0.750 Ioannis Fountoulis 8 0.750 Konstantinos Genidounias 8 0.750 Balázs Hárai 8 0.750 Maro Joković 8 0.750 Marios Kapotsis 8 0.750 Đorđe Lazić 8 0.750 Ross Stone 5 1.200 Marko Vavic 8 0.750 Angelos Vlachopoulos 8 0.750 Source: Official Results Book (pages 113, 117, 121, 125, 129, 133, 136, 139, 143, 146, 150, 154)
Leading rebounders Rank Player Team Rebounds Matchesplayed Reboundsper match 1 Álvaro Granados 12 8 1.500 Angelos Vlachopoulos 8 1.500 3 Alberto Munárriz 11 8 1.375 4 Filip Filipović 10 8 1.250 5 Draško Brguljan 9 8 1.125 Ioannis Fountoulis 8 1.125 7 Gonzalo Echenique 8 8 1.000 Loren Fatović 8 1.000 Konstantinos Genidounias 8 1.000 Aleksandar Ivović 8 1.000 Krisztián Manhercz 8 1.000 Nicholas Presciutti 8 1.000 Aleksa Ukropina 8 1.000 Dénes Varga 7 1.143 Source: Official Results Book (pages 113, 117, 121, 125, 129, 133, 136, 139, 143, 146, 150, 154)
Steals leaders Rank Player Team Steals Matchesplayed Stealsper match 1 Alessandro Velotto 13 8 1.625 2 Álvaro Granados 11 8 1.375 3 Draško Brguljan 10 8 1.250 Drew Holland (GK) 5 2.000 Aleksandar Ivović 8 1.250 Katsuyuki Tanamura (GK) 5 2.000 7 Vlado Popadić 9 8 1.125 Nicholas Presciutti 8 1.125 9 Balázs Erdélyi 8 8 1.000 Anthony Hrysanthos (GK) 3 2.667 Dušan Marković 5 1.600 Source: Official Results Book (pages 113, 117, 121, 125, 129, 133, 136, 139, 143, 146, 150, 154)
Leading sprinters Rank Sprinter Team Sprintswon Matchesplayed Sprints wonper match Sprintscontested % 1 Johnny Hooper 22 8 2.750 29 75.9% 2 Martin Famera 17 8 2.125 19 89.5% 3 Rhys Howden 14 5 2.800 19 73.7% 4 Luka Bukić 13 8 1.625 18 72.2% Francesco Di Fulvio 8 1.625 18 72.2% 6 Alexandros Papanastasiou 11 8 1.375 17 64.7% 7 Strahinja Rašović 8 8 1.000 19 42.1% 8 Draško Brguljan 7 8 0.875 20 35.0% Pietro Figlioli 7 1.000 8 87.5% 10 Krisztián Manhercz 6 8 0.750 11 54.5% Lovre Miloš 8 0.750 14 42.9% Source: Official Results Book (page 108)
Turnovers leaders