This is a list of world champions in men's water polo since the inaugural official edition in 1973.

Abbreviations # Ordering by name or by tournament Cap No. Cap number Rk Rank (C) Captain L/R Handedness Ref Reference Pos Playing position FP Field player GK Goalkeeper CB Center back CF Center forward D Driver ISHOF International Swimming Hall of Fame p. page pp. pages

History The 1973 Men's World Water Polo Championship was the first edition of the men's water polo tournament at the World Aquatics Championships, organized by the world governing body in aquatics, the FINA.

As of 2025, men's water polo teams from eight European countries won all 22 tournaments.

Spain is current world champion.

Legend

– Debut – Champion – Winning streak (winning three or more world championships in a row) – Hosts † – Defunct team

Champion 1973 1975 1978 1982 1986 1991 1994 1998 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2022 2023 2024 2025 Total Part of Yugoslavia† D C C C 3 C C C C 4 D C C C C 4 Part of Yugoslavia†, then of FR Yugoslavia†, and Serbia and Montenegro† D C C 2 † Part of Yugoslavia† D C Defunct 1 † D C C Defunct 2 D C C C C 4 † D C C Defunct 2 Champion 1973 1975 1978 1982 1986 1991 1994 1998 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2022 2023 2024 2025 (22)

Team statistics

Results

Olympic and world champions (teams)

Player statistics

Age records The following tables show the oldest and youngest male world champions in water polo.

Legend – Host team

+ Top 10 oldest male world champions in water polo Player Age ofwinning gold Men's team Date of birth Date ofwinning gold 1 Felipe Perrone FP 2 Josip Vrlić FP 3 Luka Lončar FP 4 Felipe Perrone FP 5 Dénes Varga FP 6 Manuel Estiarte FP 7 Zdeslav Vrdoljak FP 8 Amaurys Pérez FP 9 Pietro Figlioli FP 10 Ivan Krapić FP Player Age ofwinning gold Men's team Date of birth Date ofwinning gold

+ Top 10 youngest male world champions in water polo Player Age ofwinning gold Men's team Date of birth Date ofwinning gold 1 Guillermo Molina FP 2 Mirko Vičević FP 3 Nikola Jakšić FP 4 Aleksey Vdovin FP 5 Biel Gomila FP 6 Maro Joković FP 7 Dubravko Šimenc FP 8 Unai Aguirre GK 9 Erik Molnár FP 10 Vince Vigvári FP Player Age ofwinning gold Men's team Date of birth Date ofwinning gold

Multiple gold medalists The following tables are pre-sorted by date of receiving the last gold medal (in ascending order), date of receiving the first gold medal (in ascending order), name of the player (in ascending order), respectively.

There is only one male athlete who won three gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships.

Legend * – Host team

+ Male athletes who won three gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships Year Player Date of birth Height Men's team World titles Age offirst/last 2015 Slobodan Nikić FP 2005 22/32 FP 2009, 2015

There are forty six male athletes who won two gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships.

Legend * – Host team

+ Male athletes who won two gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships Year Player Date of birth Height Men's team World titles Age offirst/last 1982 Aleksandr Kabanov FP 1975, 1982 27/34 1991 Perica Bukić FP 1986–1991 20/24 Igor Milanović FP 20/25 Dubravko Šimenc FP 19/24 Anto Vasović FP Mirko Vičević FP 18/22 2001 Daniel Ballart FP 1998–2001 24/28 Salvador Gómez FP 29/33 Gustavo Marcos FP 25/28 Iván Moro FP 23/26 Sergi Pedrerol FP 28/31 Iván Pérez FP 26/30 Jesús Rollán GK 29/33 Carles Sanz FP 22/26 2009 Vanja Udovičić FP 2005 22/26 FP 2009 2013 Norbert Madaras FP 2003, 2013 23/33 2015 Milan Aleksić FP 2009, 2015 23/29 Filip Filipović FP 22/28 Živko Gocić FP 26/32 Stefan Mitrović FP 21/27 Duško Pijetlović FP 24/30 Gojko Pijetlović GK 25/32 Andrija Prlainović FP 22/28 2017 Andro Bušlje FP 2007, 2017 21/31 Maro Joković FP 19/29 2019 Matteo Aicardi FP 2011, 2019 25/33 Niccolò Figari FP 23/31 Pietro Figlioli FP 27/35 2023 Márton Vámos FP 2013, 2023 21/31 Dénes Varga FP 26/36 2024 Marko Bijač GK 2017, 2024 26/33 Loren Fatović FP 20/27 Ivan Krapić FP 28/35 Luka Lončar FP 30/36 Ante Vukičević FP 24/30 2025 Unai Aguirre GK 2022, 2025 19/23 Alejandro Bustos FP 25/28 Sergi Cabañas FP 26/29 Miguel de Toro FP 28/31 Álvaro Granados FP 23/26 Marc Larumbe FP 28/31 Eduardo Lorrio GK 28/31 Alberto Munárriz FP 28/31 Felipe Perrone FP 36/39 Bernat Sanahuja FP 21/24 Roger Tahull FP 25/28 Year Player Date of birth Height Men's team World titles Age offirst/last

Olympic and world champions (players)

World champion families The following tables are pre-sorted by date of receiving the gold medal (in ascending order), name of the player (in ascending order), respectively.

Legend * – Host team

Relationship Family Player Date of birth Height Men's team WorldTitle Age Note Two brothers Porzio Francesco Porzio FP 1994* 28 Two brothers ina tournament Pino Porzio FP 27 Moro Iván Moro FP 1998 23 2001 26 Two brothers ina tournament Daniel Moro FP 27 Varga Tamás Varga FP 2003 28 Two brothers ina tournament Zsolt Varga FP 25 Pijetlović Duško Pijetlović FP 2009, 2015 24, 30 Two brothers ina tournament Gojko Pijetlović GK 25, 32 Decker Ádám Decker FP 2013 29 Two brothers ina tournament Attila Decker GK 25 Varga Dániel Varga FP 2013 29 Two brothers ina tournament Dénes Varga FP 2013, 2023 26, 36 Relationship Family Player Date of birth Height Men's team WorldTitle Age Note

Relationship Family Player Date of birth Height Men's team WorldTitle Age Father and son Kásás Zoltán Kásás FP 1973 26 Tamás Kásás FP 2003 27 Szívós István Szívós Jr. FP 1973 25 Márton Szívós FP 2013 31 Sukno Goran Sukno FP 1986 27 Sandro Sukno FP 2017 27

Coach statistics

Most successful coaches

The following table is pre-sorted by number of gold medals (in descending order), date of winning the last gold medal (in ascending order), name of the coach (in ascending order), respectively.

There are four coaches who led men's national water polo teams to win two or more gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships.

Ratko Rudić led three men's national water polo teams to win gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. He guided Yugoslavia men's national team to a gold medal in 1986, Italy men's national team to a gold medal in 1994, and Croatia men's national team to a gold medal in 2007, making him the first and only coach to lead three different men's national water polo teams to the world titles.

Spaniard Juan Jané coached the Spain men's national team to two consecutive gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships in 1998 and 2001.

Alessandro Campagna and Ivica Tucak are other coaches who led men's national water polo teams to win two gold medals. Under Campagna's leadership, the Italy men's national team won two world titles in 2011 and 2019. Tucak guided Croatia men's national team to win gold medals in 2017 and 2024.

Legend * – Host team

+ Head coaches who led men's national teams to wintwo or more gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships Head coach Nationality Birth Age Men's team World titles Total 1 Ratko Rudić 38 1986 3 46 1994 58 2007 2 Juan Jané 44–48 1998–2001 2 Alessandro Campagna 48, 56 2011, 2019 2 Ivica Tucak 47, 54 2017, 2024 2

Champions as coach and player

The following table is pre-sorted by number of gold medals (in descending order), date of winning the last gold medal (in ascending order), name of the person (in ascending order), respectively.

Three water polo players won gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships and then guided men's national water polo teams to the world titles as head coaches.

Tibor Benedek of Hungary won a gold medal at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships. Ten years later, he coached the Hungary men's national team to the world title in 2013.

Italian Alessandro Campagna won a gold medal at the 1994 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, coached by Ratko Rudić. As a head coach, he led Italy men's national team to win two gold in 2011 and 2019.

Dejan Savić, representing Serbia and Montenegro, won a gold medal in 2005. He then guided Serbia men's national team to the world title in 2015.

Legend * – Host team

Person Birth Height Player Head coach Totaltitles Age Men's team Title Age Men's team Title 1 Alessandro Campagna 31 FP 1994* 48, 56 2011, 2019 3 2 Tibor Benedek 31 D 2003 41 2013 2 Dejan Savić 30 CB 2005 40 2015 2

Olympic and world champions (coaches)

Champions by tournament 2019 (Italy, 4th title) Edition of men's tournament: 18th Host city: Gwangju, South Korea Number of participating teams: 16 Competition format: Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches Champion: (4th title; 1st place in preliminary D group)

+ Results Match Round Date Capcolor Opponent Result Goalsfor Goalsagainst Goalsdiff. Match 1/6 Preliminary round – Group D Blue Won 14 5 9 Match 2/6 Preliminary round – Group D Blue Won 9 7 2 Match 3/6 Preliminary round – Group D Blue Won 8 7 1 Match 4/6 Quarter-finals White Won 7 6 1 Match 5/6 Semi-finals Blue Won 12 10 2 Match 6/6 Gold medal match Blue Won 10 5 5 Total Matches played: 6 • Wins: 6 • Ties: 0 • Defeats: 0 • Win %: 100% 60 40 20 Source: Official Results Books (PDF): 2019 (Men's Competition Schedule, Men's Round Summary).

Head coach: Alessandro Campagna (2nd title as head coach) Assistant coaches: Amedeo Pomilio, Alessandro Duspiva

+ Roster CapNo. Player Height Weight Date of birth Age ofwinning gold member 1 Marco Del Lungo GK R 2 Francesco Di Fulvio D R 3 Stefano Luongo FP R 4 Pietro Figlioli (C) D R 5 Edoardo Di Somma FP 6 Alessandro Velotto CB R 7 Vincenzo Renzuto FP R 8 Gonzalo Echenique FP L 9 Niccolò Figari CB R 10 Michaël Bodegas CF R 11 Matteo Aicardi CF R 12 Vincenzo Dolce FP R 13 Gianmarco Nicosia GK R Average Coach Alessandro Campagna 2019 Sources: Official Results Books (PDF): 2019 (Team Roster – Italy ); ISHOF: "Honorees by Country".

Abbreviation

MP – Matches played Min – Minutes G – Goals Sh – Shots TF – Turnover fouls ST – Steals RB – Rebounds BL – Blocked shots SP – Sprints 20S – 20 seconds exclusion DE – Double exclusion Pen – Penalty EX – Exclusion

+ Statistics CapNo. Player Minutes played Goals/Shots Sprints Personal fouls % % Won % 1 Marco Del Lungo GK 6 192 100% 5 5 1 2 Francesco Di Fulvio D 6 154 80.2% 10 39 25.6% 7 3 3 2 4 4 100% 5 1 3 Stefano Luongo FP 6 136 70.8% 11 29 37.9% 6 2 6 3 2 3 66.7% 4 1 4 Pietro Figlioli (C) D 6 139 72.4% 9 35 25.7% 5 2 5 3 13 14 92.9% 3 1 5 Edoardo Di Somma FP 6 51 26.6% 0 6 0.0% 2 1 2 1 7 1 2 6 Alessandro Velotto CB 6 116 60.4% 5 12 41.7% 3 4 5 1 3 3 100% 13 2 7 Vincenzo Renzuto FP 6 101 52.6% 3 9 33.3% 1 4 7 1 1 8 Gonzalo Echenique FP 5 111 57.8% 5 16 31.3% 3 3 5 4 2 1 9 Niccolò Figari CB 6 80 41.7% 4 8 50.0% 1 2 2 2 9 1 2 10 Michaël Bodegas CF 6 92 47.9% 5 10 50.0% 9 3 2 6 11 Matteo Aicardi CF 6 105 54.7% 5 20 25.0% 14 1 1 3 3 12 Vincenzo Dolce FP 6 64 33.3% 3 6 50.0% 7 1 1 6 13 Gianmarco Nicosia GK 6 0 0.0% Team 5 Total 6 192 100% 60 190 31.6% 63 31 35 21 22 24 91.7% 65 1 6 8 Against 40 165 24.2% 69 25 37 19 2 24 8.3% 75 1 4 7

CapNo. Player Saves/Shots Saves Shots % 1 Marco Del Lungo GK 67 107 62.6% 13 Gianmarco Nicosia GK Total 67 107 62.6% Source: Official Results Books (PDF): 2019 (Cumulative Statistics – Italy, p. 3).

2017 (Croatia, 2nd title) Edition of men's tournament: 17th Host city: Budapest, Hungary Number of participating teams: 16 Competition format: Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches Champion: (2nd title; 1st place in preliminary D group)

+ Results Match Round Date Capcolor Opponent Result Goalsfor Goalsagainst Goalsdiff. Match 1/6 Preliminary round – Group D Blue Won 12 7 5 Match 2/6 Preliminary round – Group D Blue Won 10 8 2 Match 3/6 Preliminary round – Group D Blue Won 16 6 10 Match 4/6 Quarter-finals White Won 12 9 3 Match 5/6 Semi-finals Blue Won 12 11 1 Match 6/6 Gold medal match Blue Won 8 6 2 Total Matches played: 6 • Wins: 6 • Ties: 0 • Defeats: 0 • Win %: 100% 70 47 23