Water Polo Australia<\/a> will host both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s World Aquatics World Cup Finals, as preparations build towards the LA 2028 Olympic Games in two years. The top eight men\u2019s and women\u2019s international teams are confirmed to battle it out for the sport\u2019s most prestigious titles at Sydney Olympic Park from 22-26 July 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\nWater Polo Australia CEO, Tim Welsford, said: \u201cThis is a once-in-a-generation moment for Australian sporting fans, who would traditionally follow our national teams in an Olympic year, to fill the stands green and gold and cheer on our Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers and Aussie Sharks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup Finals on home soil is the chance to witness the\u00a0 best water polo nations go head-to-head, and a rare opportunity to celebrate our Australian athletes as they compete in a pool that means so much to our sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t miss the opportunity to get your tickets, bring your voice, wear green and gold, and help us put on a memorable show as momentum grows towards the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ord Minnett Aussie Stingers captured the heart of the nation when they recently claimed a silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They are set to come up against current Olympic champions Spain as well as Sydney 2000 rivals USA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Ord Minnett Aussie Sharks defied the odds in Paris when they delivered emphatic wins over current Olympic champions Serbia and water polo giants, Hungary, reaching the quarter finals where they lost in an agonising penalty shoot out.<\/p>\n
The Ord Minnett Aussie Sharks and Aussie Stingers have their spots confirmed as the host nation. Following the completion of the World Cup Division 1 and 2 tournaments, the remaining seven men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams have now qualified.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the men\u2019s division, current World Champions Spain will be the favourites in the pool, coming into the event with confidence from winning the World Aquatics World Cup Division 1 tournament. European powerhouses Italy, Greece and Hungary will loom as threats for the World Cup titles in July.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the women\u2019s side, Spain will again be favourites as the defending Olympic champions and recent winners of the World Aquatics World Cup Division 1 tournament.\u00a0 The United States of America women\u2019s water polo team will also be one to watch, highly regarded as one of the most successful teams winning three consecutive Olympic gold medals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tickets are now on sale to local and international water polo fans via the OzTix portal: https:\/\/tickets.oztix.com.au\/outlet\/event\/ef858247-d2dd-42a8-a184-6ec74fd9315b<\/a><\/p>\n2026 World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup Finals Teams<\/p>\n
Men<\/p>\n
Australia<\/p>\n
Spain<\/p>\n
Italy<\/p>\n
Greece<\/p>\n
Hungary<\/p>\n
Croatia<\/p>\n
Montenegro<\/p>\n
Georgia<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Women<\/p>\n
Australia<\/p>\n
United States of America<\/p>\n
The Netherlands<\/p>\n
Spain<\/p>\n
Italy<\/p>\n
Hungary<\/p>\n
Russia<\/p>\n
China<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian sporting fans will have a rare opportunity to witness the world\u2019s best water polo players downunder as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-656583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}