Courtesy: FINA
Eight water polo squads representing the five continents are set to dispute the FINA Water Polo World Cup 2018 title in Surgut, Siberia, Russia, from Tuesday September 4 to Sunday September 9.
Elite national teams from Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, South Africa and the U.S. will be testing a set of innovative rules proposed by the FINA TWPC for discussion. See proposed rule changes here.
The format of the competition however remains unchanged: There are two pools for the round robin stage, and a standard play-off chart for the finals.
The groups’ composition for the tournament is as follows:
Competition Schedule
Day 1: Sept. 4, 2018
Match #1. 14:30 NZL – USA
Match #2. 16:00 AUS – CHN
Match #3. 17:30 RSA – CAN
Match #4. 19:00 ESP – RUS
21:00 Opening Ceremony
Day 2: Sept. 5, 2018
Match #5. 15:00 ESP – CHN
Match #6. 16:30 NZL – CAN
Match #8. 18:00 RSA – USA
Match #7. 19:30 AUS – RUS
Day 3: Sept. 6, 2018
Match #9. 15:00 NZL – RSA
Match #10. 16:30 AUS – ESP
Match #11. 18:00 USA – CAN
Match #12. 19:30 CHN – RUS
Day 4: Sept. 7, 2018, Quarterfinals
Match #13. 15:00 2A – 3B
Match #14. 16:30 3A – 2B
Match #15. 18:00 1A – 4B
Match #16. 19:30 4A – 1B
Day 5: Sept. 8, 2018, Semifinals
Match #17. 15:00 L13 – L16
Match #18. 16:30 L14 – L15
Match #19. 18:00 W13 – W16
Match #20. 19:30 W14 – W15
Day 6: Sept. 9, 2018, Finals
Match #21. 15:00 L17 – L18 (7 – 8 places)
Match #22. 16:30 W17 – W18 (5 – 6 places)
Match #23. 18:00 L19 – L20 (3 – 4 places)
Match #24. 19:30 W19 – W20 (1 – 2 places)
You can read a preview of the event with an overview of all the participating teams here.
The FINA Women’s Water Polo World Cup was foundered in 1979 and kicked off in Merced, USA and is held every four years. Defending World Cup champions USA, also current Olympic and World champions, will be the team to beat in this competition, while Spain and China are amongst the other strong contenders in Surgut.
The final ranking of the 2014 edition of the World Cup was:
1. USA, 2. AUS, 3. ESP, 4. CHN, 5. HUN, 6. RUS, 7. RSA, 8. SGP
The competition venue in the Russian city is an indoor aquatics centre including a 50m pools, a 25m warm-up pool and many facilities for different activities and disciplines.
The capacity of the pool tribunes is about 500 spectators to which an extra 250 seats will be added for the World Cup needs.
Daily detailed game reports and the results will be available on FINA website.
The FINA Men’s Water Polo World Cup 2018 will kick-off next week on Tuesday September 11 in Berlin, Germany.