This is a list of world champions in women's water polo since the inaugural official edition in 1986.

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 1986 Women's World Water Polo Championship was the first edition of the women's water polo tournament at the World Aquatics Championships, organized by the world governing body in aquatics, the FINA.

As of 2025, women's water polo teams from seven countries won all 18 tournaments.

Greece is the current world champion. United States is the most successful country in women's water polo tournament at the World Aquatics Championships, with eight gold medals.

Legend

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

Champion 1986 1991 1994 1998 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2022 2023 2024 2025 Total C 1 D C C 2 D C C 2 D C C 2 D C C 2 D C 1 D C C C C C C C C 8 Champion 1986 1991 1994 1998 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2022 2023 2024 2025 Total

Team statistics

Results

Olympic and world champions (teams)

Player statistics

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

Legend – Host team

+ Top 10 oldest female world champions in water polo Player Age ofwinning gold Women's team Date of birth Date ofwinning gold 1 Antiopi Melidoni FP 2 Monica Vaillant FP 3 Sabrina van der Sloot FP 4 Kaleigh Gilchrist FP 5 Kyriaki Liosi FP 6 Carmela Allucci FP 7 Krisztina Zantleitner FP 8 Georgia Lara FP 9 Heather Petri FP 10 Mercédesz Stieber FP Player Age ofwinning gold Women's team Date of birth Date ofwinning gold

+ Top 10 youngest female world champions in water polo Player Age ofwinning gold Women's team Date of birth Date ofwinning gold 1 Maddie Musselman FP 2 Nefeli Anna Krassa FP 3 Eszter Tomaskovics FP 4 Paige Hauschild FP 5 Emily Ausmus FP 6 Noémi Tóth FP 7 Makenzie Fischer FP 8 Aria Fischer FP 9 Gabrielle Domanic FP 10 Karin Kuipers FP Player Age ofwinning gold Women'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 are three female athletes who won five gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships.

Legend * – Host team

+ Female athletes who won five gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships Year Player Date of birth Height Women's team World titles Age offirst/last 2024 Rachel Fattal FP 2015–2017–2019–2022, 2024 21/30 Maddie Musselman FP 17/25 Maggie Steffens FP 22/30 Year Player Date of birth Height Women's team World titles Age offirst/last

There are three female athletes who won four gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships.

Legend * – Host team

+ Female athletes who won four gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships Year Player Date of birth Height Women's team World titles Age offirst/last 2024 Kaleigh Gilchrist FP 2015, 2019–2022, 2024 23/31 Ashleigh Johnson GK 20/29 Amanda Longan GK 2017–2019–2022, 2024 20/27 Year Player Date of birth Height Women's team World titles Age offirst/last

There are eight female athletes who won three gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships.

Legend * – Host team

+ Female athletes who won three gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships Year Player Date of birth Height Women's team World titles Age offirst/last 2009 Heather Petri FP 2003, 2007–2009 25/31 Brenda Villa FP 23/29 2015 Kami Craig FP 2007–2009, 2015 19/28 2019 Makenzie Fischer FP 2015–2017–2019 18/22 Kiley Neushul FP 22/26 Melissa Seidemann FP 25/29 Alys Williams FP 21/25 2024 Jordan Raney FP 2017, 2022, 2024 21/27 Year Player Date of birth Height Women's team World titles Age offirst/last

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

Legend * – Host team

+ Female athletes who won two gold medals in water polo at the World Aquatics Championships Year Player Date of birth Height Women's team World titles Age offirst/last 2001 Carmela Allucci FP 1998–2001 27/31 Alexandra Araújo FP 25/29 Cristina Consoli FP Francesca Conti GK 25/29 Melania Grego FP 24/28 Giusi Malato FP 26/30 Martina Miceli FP 24/27 Maddalena Musumeci FP 21/25 Monica Vaillant FP 30/33 2005 Mercédesz Stieber FP 1994, 2005 20/30 2007 Natalie Golda FP 2003, 2007 21/25 Ericka Lorenz FP 22/26 2009 Elizabeth Armstrong GK 2007–2009 24/26 Alison Gregorka FP 21/24 Brittany Hayes FP 22/24 Jaime Komer (Hipp) GK 25/27 Moriah van Norman FP 22/25 Lauren Wenger FP 23/25 Elsie Windes FP 21/24 2019 Aria Fischer FP 2017–2019 18/20 Paige Hauschild FP 17/19 2022 Stephania Haralabidis FP 2019–2022 24/27 2024 Denise Mammolito FP 2022, 2024 23/25 Ryann Neushul FP 22/24 Tara Prentice FP 24/26 Bayley Weber FP 22/23 Year Player Date of birth Height Women'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 Women's team World title Age Note Three sisters Neushul Kiley Neushul FP 2015–2017–2019 22–24–26 Jamie Neushul FP 2017 22 Two sisters ina tournament Ryann Neushul FP 2022, 2024 22, 24 Two sisters Meloncelli Megan Meloncelli 1986 Two sisters ina tournament Wendy Meloncelli Steffens Jessica Steffens FP 2009 22 Maggie Steffens FP 2015–2017–2019–2022, 2024 22–24–26–29, 30 Fischer Makenzie Fischer FP 2015 18 2017–2019 20–22 Two sisters ina tournament Aria Fischer FP 18–20 Rogge Bente Rogge FP 2023 25 Two sisters ina tournament Lieke Rogge FP 22

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 three coaches who led women's national water polo teams to win two or more gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships.

American Adam Krikorian led the United States women's national team to win six gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. His compatriot Guy Baker guided the United States women's national team to two gold medals in 2003 and 2007.

Italian Pierluigi Formiconi coached the Italy women's national team to two consecutive gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships in 1998 and 2001.

Legend * – Host team

+ Head coaches who led women's national teams to wintwo or more gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships Head coach Nationality Birth Age Women's team World titles Total 1 Adam Krikorian 35, 41–47, 49 2009, 2015–2017–2019–2022, 2024 6 2 Pierluigi Formiconi 49–53 1998–2001 2 Guy Baker 2003, 2007 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.

Only one water polo player won a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships and then guided a women's national water polo team to the world title as a head coach.

Tamás Faragó of Hungary won a gold medal at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships. Thirty-two years later, he coached the Hungary women's national team to the world title in 2005.

Legend * – Host team

Person Birth Height Player Head coach Totaltitles Age Men's team Title Age Women's team Title 1 Tamás Faragó 21 FP 1973 52 2005 2

Olympic and world champions (coaches)

Champions by tournament 2019 (United States, 6th title) Edition of women's tournament: 14th Host city: Gwangju, South Korea Number of participating teams: 16 Competition format: Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches Champion: (6th title; 1st place in preliminary A group)

+ Results Match Round Date Capcolor Opponent Result Goalsfor Goalsagainst Goalsdiff. Match 1/6 Preliminary round – Group A Blue Won 22 3 19 Match 2/6 Preliminary round – Group A White Won 12 9 3 Match 3/6 Preliminary round – Group A Blue Won 26 1 25 Match 4/6 Quarter-finals White Won 15 5 10 Match 5/6 Semi-finals White Won 7 2 5 Match 6/6 Gold medal match White Won 11 6 5 Total Matches played: 6 • Wins: 6 • Ties: 0 • Defeats: 0 • Win %: 100% 93 26 67 Source: Official Results Books (PDF): 2019 (Women's Competition Schedule, Women's Round Summary).

Head coach: Adam Krikorian (4th title as head coach) Assistant coach: Daniel Klatt

+ Roster CapNo. Player Height Weight Date of birth Age ofwinning gold member 1 Amanda Longan GK R 2 Maddie Musselman D R 3 Melissa Seidemann CB R 4 Rachel Fattal D R 5 Paige Hauschild D R 6 Maggie Steffens (C) D R 7 Stephania Haralabidis D R 8 Kiley Neushul D R 9 Aria Fischer CF R 10 Kaleigh Gilchrist D R 11 Makenzie Fischer CB R 12 Alys Williams CB R 13 Ashleigh Johnson GK R Average Coach Adam Krikorian Note: Aria Fischer and Makenzie Fischer are sisters. Sources: Official Results Books (PDF): 2019 (Team Roster – United States ); ISHOF.

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 Amanda Longan GK 6 66 34.4% 1 2 Maddie Musselman D 6 92 47.9% 13 23 56.5% 1 3 1 0 1 0.0% 1 3 Melissa Seidemann CB 6 88 45.8% 6 11 54.5% 6 3 2 2 4 Rachel Fattal D 6 119 62.0% 6 16 37.5% 3 1 3 6 7 9 77.8% 3 1 5 Paige Hauschild D 6 85 44.3% 7 11 63.6% 4 3 1 1 7 1 1 6 Maggie Steffens (C) D 6 139 72.4% 7 18 38.9% 6 11 4 3 7 Stephania Haralabidis D 6 87 45.3% 12 19 63.2% 2 7 3 7 8 87.5% 3 8 Kiley Neushul D 6 123 64.1% 10 18 55.6% 6 6 4 2 2 5 40.0% 3 9 Aria Fischer CF 6 95 49.5% 10 21 47.6% 11 3 3 2 0 1 0.0% 2 10 Kaleigh Gilchrist D 6 109 56.8% 8 16 50.0% 7 2 2 4 11 Makenzie Fischer CB 6 116 60.4% 10 22 45.5% 3 4 3 8 12 Alys Williams CB 6 99 51.6% 4 12 33.3% 3 2 2 3 6 1 13 Ashleigh Johnson GK 6 126 65.6% 0 2 0.0% 2 8 Team 9 Total 6 192 100% 93 189 49.2% 63 54 25 17 16 24 66.7% 42 0 3 1 Against 26 132 19.7% 109 34 17 17 8 24 33.3% 52 0 5 5

CapNo. Player Saves/Shots Saves Shots % 1 Amanda Longan GK 16 27 59.3% 13 Ashleigh Johnson GK 43 58 74.1% Total 59 85 69.4% Source: Official Results Books (PDF): 2019 (Cumulative Statistics – United States, p. 3).

2017 (United States, 5th title) Edition of women's tournament: 13th Host city: Budapest, Hungary Number of participating teams: 16 Competition format: Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches Champion: (5th title; 1st place in preliminary B group)

+ Results Match Round Date Capcolor Opponent Result Goalsfor Goalsagainst Goalsdiff. Match 1/6 Preliminary round – Group B Blue Won 24 2 22 Match 2/6 Preliminary round – Group B White Won 12 8 4 Match 3/6 Preliminary round – Group B Blue Won 22 7 15 Match 4/6 Quarter-finals White Won 7 5 2 Match 5/6 Semi-finals Blue Won 14 9 5 Match 6/6 Gold medal match White Won 13 6 7 Total Matches played: 6 • Wins: 6 • Ties: 0 • Defeats: 0 • Win %: 100% 92 37 55 Source: Official Results Books (PDF): 2017 (Women's Competition Schedule, Women's Round Summary).

Head coach: Adam Krikorian (3rd title as head coach) Assistant coaches: Chris Oeding, Ethan Damato