Sports
more 2m fighting and goals from outside. “Dynamic” ones decreaseWaterpolo Development World
How did the new rules introduced by World Aquatics at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore change waterpolo? In particular, how have the world’s best men’s national teams developed their game on a 25 m field, with 28’’ of possession and 18’’ in man-up situation? So far, we have heard the opinions of coaches and players, however we need objective data in order to answer these questions correctly.
Yiannis Giannouris (foto FIN).
THE ANALYSIS. Today Yiannis Giannouris provides us with this data: as international coach, engineer and statistician – as well as a waterpolo historian, councillor of Waterpolo Development and co-founder of HaBaWaBa – Giannouris conducted an analysis based on statistics from the men’s waterpolo tournament at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore. He has compared these data first with the Fukuoka 2023 World Championships (where the game was played on a 30 m field with 30’’ of possession and 20’’ of man-up situation) and then with those of Paris 2024 Olympics (where the “old rules” were also in force) and Podgorica 2025 World Cup Super Final, a “transitional” tournament played on a 25 m field with 25’’ of possession and 15’’ in man-up. His analysis does not examine all the games, but only those which were decisive for rankings from 1st to 8th place, i.e., the 12 matches played between the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals of each tournament.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE GIANNOURIS’ ANALYSIS
EVOLUTION OF THE GAME. Giannouris’ analysis cannot be considered exhaustive – more competitions and more data will be needed for a definitive verdict – but it provides an initial snapshot of game under new rules. In this picture waterpolo has more shots, more goals and, above all, more exclusions, but where goals are mainly scored from the outside against a lined up defense or in man-up situations. All other kinds of scoring – on counterattacks, driving goals, on direct shots from 6 m, from the centerforward – are significantly decreased.
Italian center Bruni and Romanian defender Georgescu fighting at 2 m hole (ph. I. Derencsenyi – World Aquatics).
CENTERFORWARD. The evolution of the centerforward‘s role is particularly interesting: with the new rules, centers score less, but the overall increase of exclusions is exclusively due to an increase in the number of major fouls called at 2 meters. “This supports the emergence of a more static, contact-heavy style, with positional battles focused on the center”, Giannouris points out, while also noting that the centrality of the referee is further enhanced: “Faster possessions create more physical duels, especially at 2 meters, amplifying pressure on referees to distinguish legal contact from fouls”.
SUMMARY. In essence, Giannouris summarizes: “Overall, the compressed field size and accelerated possessions pushed teams toward exclusion-driven, structured attacks”.
While awaiting analysis of the women’s tournament and the next Belgrade 2026 European Championships, which will provide new data, these conclusions must serve as the starting point for a serious analysis of the evolution of waterpolo.
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