Courtesy: FINA
The city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and the Royal Dutch Swimming Federation will host the FINA Men’s Water Polo Olympic Games Qualification Tournament from February 14-21, 2021, at the Zwemcentrum Rotterdam.
Twelve squads representing Brazil, Canada, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia and Turkey will compete next week, all hoping to secure one of the three remaining spots for the Men’s Olympic Games Water Polo Tournament in Tokyo this summer.
The participating teams were selected through Continental Qualification Tournaments or Continental Championships.
The groups’ composition for Rotterdam splits as follows:
GROUP A: Georgia, Turkey, Canada, Brazil, Montenegro, Greece
GROUP B: Croatia, Netherlands, France, Russia, Germany, Romania
The competition’s schedule unfold as follows:
DAY 1 – February 14
GAME #1 – 13:00: GEO v GRE
GAME #2 – 14:30: CAN v BRA
GAME #6 – 16:00 NED v GER
GAME #3 – 17:30 TUR v MNE
GAME #4 – 19:00 CRO v ROU
GAME #5 – 20:30 FRA v RUS
DAY 2 – February 15
GAME #7 – 13:00: ROU v RUS
GAME #8 – 14:30: GER v FRA
GAME #10 – 16:00: GRE v BRA
GAME #11 – 17:30: MNE v CAN
GAME #9 – 19:00: CRO v NED
GAME #12 – 20:30: GEO v TUR
DAY 3 – February 16
GAME #13 – 13:00: BRA v MNE
GAME #14 – 14:30: TUR v GRE
GAME #15 – 16:00: CAN v GEO
GAME #16 – 17:30: RUS v GER
GAME #17 – 19:00: NED v ROU
GAME #18 – 20:30 FRA v CRO
DAY 4 – February 17
GAME #19 – 13:00: ROU v GER
GAME #20 – 14:30: CRO v RUS
GAME #22 – 16:00: GRE v MNE
GAME #23 – 17:30: GEO v BRA
GAME #21 – 19:00: NED v FRA
GAME #24 – 20:30: TUR v CAN
DAY 5 – February 18
GAME #25 – 13:00: MNE v GEO
GAME #26 – 14:30: CAN v GRE
GAME #27 – 16:00: BRA v TUR
GAME #28 – 17:30: FRA v ROU
GAME #29 – 19:00: RUS v NED
GAME #30 – 20:30: CRO v GER
DAY 6 – February 19
GAME #31 – 14:00: 1A v 4B
GAME #32 – 16:00: 2A v 3B
GAME #33 – 18:00: A v 2B
GAME #34 – 20:00: 4A v 1B
DAY 7 – February 20
GAME #35 – 14:00: L31 v L33
GAME #37 – 16:00: L32 v L34
GAME #36 – 18:00: W31 v W33
GAME #38 – 20:00: W32 v W34
DAY 8 – February 21
GAME #39 – 10:00: L35 v L36
GAME #40 – 12:00: W35 v W 36
GAME #41 – 14:00: L37 v L38
GAME #42 – 16:00: W37 v W38
The three best teams (gold, silver, bronze medallists) will secure a berth for the Olympic Games and join the already qualified nine teams, namely: Serbia (FINA Water Polo World League 2019 winner), Italy and Spain (18th FINA World Championships winner and runner-up), USA (Pan American Games 2019), Australia (Oceania), Hungary (European Championships 2020), South Africa (Africa), Kazakhstan (Asia), Japan (host).
A total of 12 men teams will be competing in Tokyo.
The tournament in Rotterdam will be held under strict sanitary measures, implemented and monitored by FINA, so that the health and safety of all participants can be ensured.
All matches will be broadcast live on FINAtv and will also be available on replay, while the live scores will be displayed here. Daily news reports will be published on FINA website and photos / videos can be found on FINA social media channels.