Water polo at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament

The 1973 Men's World Water Polo Championship was the first edition of the men's water polo tournament at the World Aquatics Championships, organised by the world governing body in aquatics, the FINA. The tournament was held from 1 to 9 September 1973, and was incorporated into the inaugural 1973 World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.[1]

Water polo at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament
Tournament details
Venue(s) Yugoslavia (in Belgrade host cities)
Dates1 – September
Teams16 (from 4 confederations)
Final positions
Champions Hungary (1st title)
Runner-up Soviet Union
Third place Yugoslavia
Fourth place Italy
Tournament statistics
Matches played64
Goals scored645 (10.08 per match)
Top scorer(s)Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Siniša Belamarić
(20 goals)
Next →

Participating teams edit

Americas Asia Europe Oceania
  Cuba
  Mexico
  United States
  Israel   Bulgaria
  Great Britain
  Greece
  Hungary
  Italy
  Netherlands
  Romania
  Soviet Union
  Spain
  West Germany
  Yugoslavia
  Australia

Groups formed edit

Preliminary round edit

Qualified for places 1–6 in a round robin group. (Group D)
Will play for places 7–12 in a round robin group. (Group E)
Will play for places 13–16 in a round robin group. (Group F)

Group A edit

Team Points G W D L GF GA Diff
1.   Soviet Union 10 5 5 0 0 41 14 +27
2.   Yugoslavia 8 5 4 0 1 35 22 +13
3.   Netherlands 6 5 3 0 2 26 19 +7
4.   Mexico 4 5 2 0 3 22 24 –2
5.   Australia 2 5 1 0 4 18 29 –11
6.   Great Britain 0 5 0 0 5 6 40 –34
  • 1 September 1973
Netherlands   5 – 3   Mexico
Yugoslavia   9 – 0   Great Britain
Soviet Union   9 – 3   Australia
  • 2 September 1973
Australia   4 – 1   Great Britain
Soviet Union   5 – 4   Netherlands
Yugoslavia   6 – 5   Mexico
  • 3 September 1973
Mexico   5 – 3   Australia
Soviet Union   14 – 1   Great Britain
Yugoslavia   8 – 5   Netherlands
  • 4 September 1973
Yugoslavia   10 – 6   Australia
Netherlands   8 – 1   Great Britain
Soviet Union   7 – 4   Mexico
  • 5 September 1973
Mexico   5 – 3   Great Britain
Netherlands   4 – 2   Australia
Soviet Union   6 – 2   Yugoslavia

Group B edit

Team Points G W D L GF GA Diff
1.   Hungary 8 4 4 0 0 36 11 +25
2.   Italy 6 4 3 0 1 25 14 +11
3.   Romania 4 4 2 0 2 30 18 +12
4.   Spain 2 4 1 0 3 20 25 –5
5.   Israel 0 4 0 0 4 6 49 –43
  • 1 September 1973
Spain   11 – 3   Israel
Italy   5 – 4   Romania
  • 2 September 1973
Romania   12 – 1   Israel
Hungary   7 – 3   Spain
  • 3 September 1973
Italy   5 – 2   Spain
Hungary   15 – 0   Israel
  • 4 September 1973
Hungary   6 – 4   Italy
Romania   10 – 4   Spain
  • 5 September 1973
Italy   11 – 2   Israel
Hungary   8 – 4   Romania

Group C edit

Team Points G W D L GF GA Diff
1.   Cuba 6 4 3 0 1 19 11 +8
2.   United States 5 4 2 1 1 18 17 +1
3.   West Germany 4 4 2 0 2 18 18 0
4.   Greece 3 4 1 1 2 16 19 –3
5.   Bulgaria 2 4 1 0 3 19 25 –6
  • 1 September 1973
West Germany   1 – 1   Greece
United States   4 – 3   Cuba
  • 2 September 1973
Cuba   7 – 2   Greece
Bulgaria   6 – 5   United States
  • 3 September 1973
United States   3 – 3   West Germany
Cuba   3 – 0   Bulgaria
  • 4 September 1973
Cuba   6 – 5   West Germany
Greece   8 – 5   Bulgaria
  • 5 September 1973
United States   6 – 5   Greece
West Germany   9 – 8   Bulgaria

Final round edit

13th – 16th places (Group F) edit

Team Points G W D L GF GA Diff
13.   Bulgaria 5 3 2 1 0 16 10 +6
14.   Australia 4 3 2 0 1 18 5 +13
15.   Great Britain 3 3 1 1 1 16 14 +2
16.   Israel 0 3 0 0 3 9 30 –21

Preliminary round results apply.

  • 6 September 1973
Bulgaria   3 – 2   Australia
Great Britain   10 – 5   Israel
  • 7 September 1973
Bulgaria   8 – 3   Israel
  • 8 September 1973
Bulgaria   5 – 5   Great Britain
Australia   12 – 1   Israel

7th – 12th places (Group E) edit

Team Points G W D L GF GA Diff
7.   Romania 9 5 4 1 0 35 21 +14
8.   Netherlands 8 5 4 0 1 31 18 +13
9.   Mexico 4 5 1 2 2 21 22 –1
10.   Spain 4 5 2 0 3 22 29 –7
11.   West Germany 3 5 1 1 3 19 27 –8
12.   Greece 2 5 0 2 3 17 28 –11

Preliminary round results apply.

  • 6 September 1973
Romania   11 – 6   Greece
Netherlands   5 – 4   Spain
West Germany   7 – 6   Mexico
  • 7 September 1973
Spain   6 – 5   West Germany
Mexico   4 – 4   Greece
Romania   6 – 5   Netherlands
  • 8 September 1973
Spain   5 – 4   Greece
Netherlands   9 – 3   West Germany
Romania   3 – 3   Mexico
  • 9 September 1973
Romania   5 – 3   West Germany
Mexico   5 – 3 '  Spain
Netherlands   7 – 2   Greece


1st – 6th places (Group D) edit

Team Points G W D L GF GA Diff
1.   Hungary 9 5 4 1 0 28 17 +11
2.   Soviet Union 8 5 4 0 1 30 16 +14
3.   Yugoslavia 5 5 2 1 2 23 22 +1
4.   Italy 4 5 2 0 3 22 25 –3
5.   United States 4 5 2 0 3 22 28 –6
6.   Cuba 0 5 0 0 5 15 32 –17

Preliminary round results apply.

  • 6 September 1973
Hungary   6 – 2   United States
Soviet Union   6 – 2   Italy
Yugoslavia   8 – 3   Cuba
  • 7 September 1973
Yugoslavia   6 – 5   United States
Italy   6 – 3   Cuba
Hungary   5 – 4   Soviet Union
  • 8 September 1973
United States   6 – 5   Italy
Hungary   3 – 3   Yugoslavia
Soviet Union   6 – 2   Cuba
  • 9 September 1973
Hungary   8 – 4   Cuba
Italy   5 – 4   Yugoslavia
Soviet Union   8 – 5   United States

Final ranking edit

Medalists edit

Gold Silver Bronze
  Hungary

Balazs Balla
András Bodnár
Gábor Csapó
Tibor Cservenyák
Tamás Faragó
István Görgényi
Zoltán Kásás
Ferenc Konrád
Endre Molnár
László Sárosi
István Szívós Jr.

Head coach:
Dezső Gyarmati

  Soviet Union

Anatoly Akimov
Aleksei Barkalov
Aleksandr Dreval
Andrey Frolov
Aleksandr Kabanov
Yuri Mityanin
Nuzgari Mshvenieradze
Leonid Osipov
Vitaly Romanchuk
Sergey Shevernyov
Vladimir Zhmudsky

Head coach:
Anatoly Blumental

  Yugoslavia

Siniša Belamarić
Ozren Bonačić
Milan Franković
Boško Lozica
Predrag Manojlović
Miloš Marković
Đorđe Perišić
Damir Polić
Ratko Rudić
Đuro Savinović
Nikola Stamenić

Head coach:
Ratko Rudić

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "HistoFINA – Water polo medalists and statistics" (PDF). fina.org. FINA. September 2019. p. 14. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.

External links edit