World League (water polo)

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The World League in Water Polo ( English : FINA Water Polo World League ) is a global competition for national teams founded in 2002 and organized by the World Swimming Federation FINA . In 2004, the championship was expanded to include a women's competition. The 2014 winners were the Serbian national water polo team for men and the USA for women.

history

The competition, modeled on the world league in volleyball, aims to bring the best national teams in the world together over a longer period of time at different locations and at the same time to advertise the sport, which is little known in many regions. The first men's world league competition was held in 2002 with eight teams, with Russia taking the title at the finals in Patras ( Greece ). The women followed in Long Beach ( USA ) in 2004 with a figure eight tournament, which brought the first success of the previous record winner USA.

Germany has been with both teams since 2005 and came third in the men's finals in Belgrade (then Serbia and Montenegro ), which is the only medal in this competition so far. In 2007 the men's world league final took place in Berlin and brought the host a fourth place in the second finals in the swimming and diving hall in the Europa Sportpark . Germany's women qualified for the final tournament for the first time in 2012 and finished sixth out of eight finalists in Changshu ( China ).

competition

Like the World Championships or the FINA World Cup, the competition enjoys full recognition by the World Swimming Federation. The annual winner is chosen at a final ( Super Final ) with participants from several continents, which since 2009 has consisted of eight teams. Since 2007, continental preliminary rounds have been played for both men and women to ensure that a final round with participants from different regions takes place and that the sport is represented worldwide. In 2008, a continental preliminary round tournament with teams from Africa was on the men's program for the first time.

There is no qualification for the world league; FINA invites the most important nations and would also allow other teams in Asia, Africa and America if interested. For cost reasons, the preliminary rounds are usually held in tournament form. For men, however, in the 2008/2009 season, after a four-year break, the European nations switched back to single games with back and forth fights analogous to the European Championship qualification in football.

In order to increase the attractiveness, some rules have been adjusted to make the games more spectacular and to score more goals. Each game started out over four quarters of nine minutes each, with a ten-minute break at halftime. In the event of a tie at the end of the game, victory is decided by free throws. The group stage begins in July each year with a round trip in groups. The games take place in different cities. The top three in each group play against each other in a semi-final. From these semi-finals, the three best teams will advance to the Super Finals in August. The team from the country that hosts the semi-finals and the super-finals automatically goes to the super-finals. The final winner will receive 100,000  $ .

Title holder

Men

  • 2002 - Russia
  • 2003 - Hungary
  • 2004 - Hungary
  • 2005 - Serbia and Montenegro
  • 2006 - Serbia and Montenegro
  • 2007 - Serbia
  • 2008 - Serbia
  • 2009 - Montenegro
  • 2010 - Serbia
  • 2011 - Serbia
  • 2012 - Croatia
  • 2013 - Serbia
  • 2014 - Serbia
  • 2015 - Serbia
  • 2016 - Serbia
  • 2017 - Serbia
  • 2018 - Montenegro
  • 2019 - Serbia

Women

  • 2004 - USA
  • 2005 - Greece
  • 2006 - USA
  • 2007 - USA
  • 2008 - Russia
  • 2009 - USA
  • 2010 - USA
  • 2011 - USA
  • 2012 - USA
  • 2013 - PR China
  • 2014 - USA
  • 2015 - USA
  • 2016 - USA
  • 2017 - USA
  • 2018 - USA

See also

Web links