Water polo at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships – Men's tournament

The 1998 FINA Men's World Water Polo Championship was the eighth edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body in aquatics, the FINA. The tournament was held at the Challenge Stadium from 7 to 18 January 1998 and incorporated in the 1998 World Aquatics Championships, held in Perth, Australia.

Qualification

• Further information: 1998 FINA Men's World Water Polo Championship Qualifier

Teams

Group A

• Croatia
• Kazakhstan
• New Zealand
• Russia

Group B

• Hungary
• Iran
• Italy
• Yugoslavia

Group C

• Brazil
• Greece
• South Africa
• Spain

Group D

• Australia
• Canada
• Slovakia
• United States

• The majority of water polo players who played under the flag of Yugoslavia were in fact of Serbian nationality.

Squads

• Further information: 1998 FINA Men's World Water Polo Championship Squads

Preliminary round

Group A

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Russia	6	3	3	0	0	38	12	+26
2.	Croatia	4	3	2	0	1	42	13	+29
3.	Kazakhstan	2	3	1	0	2	27	38	–11
4.	New Zealand	0	3	0	0	3	9	53	–44

Kazakhstan	15 – 6	New Zealand
Russia	6 – 4	Croatia

Russia	13 – 8	Kazakhstan
Croatia	19 – 3	New Zealand

Russia	19 – 0	New Zealand
Croatia	19 – 4	Kazakhstan

Group B

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Hungary	6	3	3	0	0	34	14	+20
2.	Yugoslavia	4	3	2	0	1	34	21	+13
3.	Italy	2	3	1	0	2	32	23	+9
4.	Iran	0	3	0	0	3	7	49	–42

Italy	15 – 1	Iran
Hungary	7 – 5	Yugoslavia

Hungary	11 – 7	Italy
Yugoslavia	18 – 4	Iran

Hungary	16 – 2	Iran
Yugoslavia	11 – 10	Italy

Group C

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Spain	6	3	3	0	0	29	12	+17
2.	Greece	4	3	2	0	1	26	18	+8
3.	Brazil	2	3	1	0	2	16	22	–6
4.	South Africa	0	3	0	0	3	13	32	–19

Greece	9 – 5	Brazil
Spain	13 – 3	South Africa

Spain	7 – 6	Greece
Brazil	8 – 4	South Africa

Spain	9 – 3	Brazil
Greece	11 – 6	South Africa

Group D

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Australia	6	3	3	0	0	26	19	+7
2.	United States	4	3	2	0	1	24	13	+11
3.	Slovakia	2	3	1	0	2	22	20	+2
4.	Canada	0	3	0	0	3	9	29	–20

Slovakia	9 – 3	Canada
Australia	7 – 6	United States

United States	8 – 5	Slovakia
Australia	10 – 5	Canada

United States	10 – 1	Canada
Australia	9 – 8	Slovakia

Second round

Group E

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Hungary	8	5	4	0	1	55	35	+20
2.	Yugoslavia	7	5	3	1	1	47	35	+12
3.	Russia	6	5	3	0	2	44	40	+4
4.	Italy	5	5	2	1	2	47	40	+7
5.	Croatia	4	5	1	2	2	46	34	+12
6.	Kazakhstan	0	5	0	0	5	23	78	–55

Croatia	5 – 6	Yugoslavia
Italy	8 – 6	Russia
Hungary	17 – 3	Kazakhstan

Group F

	Team	Points	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Diff
1.	Spain	10	5	5	0	0	41	25	+16
2.	Australia	8	5	4	0	1	34	24	+10
3.	United States	4	5	2	0	3	33	25	+8
4.	Greece	4	5	2	0	3	30	30	0
5.	Slovakia	4	5	2	0	3	41	49	–8
6.	Brazil	0	5	0	0	5	23	49	–26

Spain	15 – 8	Slovakia
Greece	3 – 2	United States
Australia	9 – 2	Brazil

Semi finals

• 16 January 1998

Spain	5 – 3	Yugoslavia
Hungary	10 – 5	Australia

Finals

• 16 January 1998 — 15th place

Iran	6 – 5	New Zealand

• 16 January 1998 — 13th place

Canada	12 – 7	South Africa

• 16 January 1998 — 11th place

Kazakhstan	7 – 6	Brazil

• 17 January 1998 — 9th place

Croatia	12 – 3	Slovakia

• 17 January 1998 — 7th place

United States	8 – 4	Greece

• 18 January 1998 — 5th place

Italy	14 – 3	Russia

• 18 January 1998 — Bronze Medal Match

Yugoslavia	9 – 5	Australia

• 18 January 1998 — Gold Medal Match

Spain	6 – 4	Hungary

Final ranking

RANK	TEAM
	Spain
	Hungary
	Yugoslavia
4.	Australia
5.	Italy
6.	Russia
7.	United States
8.	Greece
9.	Croatia
10.	Slovakia
11.	Kazakhstan
12.	Brazil
13.	Canada
14.	South Africa
15.	Iran
16.	New Zealand

1998 FINA Men's World Champions
Spain First title

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Spain Daniel Ballart Manuel Estiarte Pedro Garcia Salvador Gomez Miguel Gonzales Gustavo Marcos Ruben Michavilla Ivan Moro Sergi Pedresol Ivan Perez Jesus Rollan Jordi Sans Carlos Sanz	Hungary	Yugoslavia Aleksandar Ćirić Danilo Ikodinović Dragan Jovanović Nikola Kuljača Aleksandar Nikolić Dušan Popović Dejan Savić Aleksandar Šapić Petar Trbojević Veljko Uskoković Željko Vičević Vladimir Vujasinović Nenad Vukanić

References

• Results