| | Event type

Water Polo, Men

Date	27 August – 4 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Dantebad, München / Schwimmhalle, Olympiapark, München
Participants	176 from 16 countries
Format	Round-robin pools advanced teams to the round-robin final pool.

At the last four Olympics the top four teams had been Hungary, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and Italy, although the order changed slightly, but Hungary had won three of the last four gold medals. These four teams all advanced to the final round, the biggest surprise coming in Group A, won by the United States with Yugoslavia second. West Germany (FRG) also advanced, placing second in Group B to Hungary. In the final pool, Hungary and the Soviet Union tied with 3 wins and 2 ties, as they tied in their head-on match, 3-3, with the Soviet Union winning their first water polo gold medal by goal differential. The United States won its fourth bronze medal in the sport, but its first since 1932, having also placed third in 1920 and 1924. The leading scorer in water polo in Munich was Cuban Carlos Sánchez with 18 goals.

Pos	Number	Team	NOC	GP	Goals	Attempts	Shot %	Penalty Shot Goals	Exclusions	Penalty Fouls	Exclusion (w/wo Sub)
1	–	Soviet Union	URS	8	48	104	46.2%	6	41	6	0	Gold
	1	Vadim Gulyayev		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Anatoly Akimov		8	10	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Aleksandr Dreval		8	11	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Aleksandr Dolgushin		8	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Vladimir Zhmudsky		8	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Aleksandr Kabanov		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Aleksey Barkalov		8	10	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Aleksandr Shidlovsky		8	4	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Nikolay Melnikov		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Leonid Osipov		8	7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Vyacheslav Sobchenko		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Anatoly Blyumental
2	–	Hungary	HUN	8	42	111	37.8%	5	51	7	0	Silver
	1	Endre Molnár		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	András Bodnár		8	7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	István Görgényi		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Zoltán Kásás		8	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Tamás Faragó		8	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	László Sárosi		8	8	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	István Szívós, Jr.		8	9	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	István Magas		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Dénes Pócsik		8	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Ferenc Konrád		8	7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Tibor Cservenyák		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Béla Rajki-Reich
3	–	United States	USA	9	50	115	43.5%	3	49	8	0	Bronze
	1	Jim Slatton		9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Stan Cole		9	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Russ Webb		9	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Barry Weitzenberg		9	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Gary Sheerer		9	7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Bruce Bradley		9	17	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Peter Asch		9	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Jim Ferguson		9	9	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Steve Barnett		9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	John Parker		9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Eric Lindroth		9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Monte Nitzkowski
4	–	West Germany	FRG	8	33	92	35.9%	2	34	1	0
	1	Gerd Olbert		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Hermann Haverkamp		8	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Peter Teicher		8	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Kurt Küpper		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Günter Wolf		8	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Ingulf Nossek		8	11	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Ludger Weeke		8	4	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Kurt Schuhmann		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Jürgen Stiefel		8	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Hans Simon		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Hans Hoffmeister		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Hans Schepers
5	–	Yugoslavia	YUG	9	52	119	43.7%	3	66	6	1
	1	Karlo Stipanić		9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Ratko Rudić		9	7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Ozren Bonačić		9	4	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Uroš Marović		9	8	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Ronald Lopatny		9	7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Zoran Janković		9	7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Siniša Belamarić		9	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Dušan Antunović		9	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Đorđe Perišić		9	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Mirko Sandić		9	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Miloš Marković		9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Vlaho Orlić
6	–	Italy	ITA	8	47	103	45.6%	11	50	3	0
	1	Alberto Alberani Samaritani		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Eraldo Pizzo		8	12	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Roldano Simeoni		8	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Mario Cevasco		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Alessandro Ghibellini		8	9	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Gianni De Magistris		8	11	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Guglielmo Marsili		8	4	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Silvio Baracchini		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Franco Lavoratori		8	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Sante Marsili		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Ferdinando Lignano		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Mario Majoni
7	–	Netherlands	NED	8	39	121	32.2%	7	31	4	0
	1	Evert Kroon		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Hans Wouda		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Jan Evert Veer		8	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Hans Hoogveld		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Wim Hermsen		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Hans Parrel		8	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Ton Schmidt		8	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Mart Bras		8	16	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Ton Buunk		8	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Gijze Stroboer		8	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Wim van de Schilde		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Harry Vriend
8	–	Romania	ROU	9	59	141	41.8%	8	46	5	0
	1	Șerban Huber		9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Bogdan Mihăilescu		9	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Gheorghe Zamfirescu		9	12	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Gruia Novac		9	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Dinu Popescu		9	7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Claudiu Rusu		9	9	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Iosif Culineac		9	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Cornel Rusu		9	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Viorel Rus		9	10	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Radu Lazăr		9	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Cornel Frățilă		9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Anatol Grințescu
9	–	Cuba	CUB	9	48	122	39.3%	8	49	11	0
	1	Óscar Periche		9	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	David Rodríguez		9	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Jorge Rizo		9	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Guillermo Martínez Ginoris		9	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Orlando Cowley		9	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Eugenio Almenteros		9	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Carlos Sánchez		9	18	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Gerardo Rodríguez		9	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Osvaldo García		9	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Guillermo Cañete		9	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Jesús Pérez		9	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Károly Laky
10	–	Spain	ESP	8	39	122	32.0%	10	39	9	0
	1	Salvador Franch		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Juan Rubio		8	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Juan Sans		8	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Juan Jané		8	16	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Alfonso Cánovas		8	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Gabriel Soler		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Poncio Puigdevall		8	5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Enrique Guardia		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	José Padrós		8	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Gaspar Ventura		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Luis Bestit		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Bandy Zolyomy
11	–	Bulgaria	BUL	8	31	96	32.3%	5	34	8	0
	1	Biser Naumov		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Ivan Kovachev		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Aleksandar Shpitser		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Toma Tomov		8	12	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Plamen Brankov		8	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Mladen Hristov		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Nedelcho Yordanov		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Vasil Tomov		8	4	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Andrey Konstantinov		8	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Matey Popov		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Lyubomir Runtov		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Lyudmil Khadzhisotirov
12	–	Australia	AUS	8	30	91	33.0%	3	38	3	0
	1	Michael Withers		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Tom Hoad		8	7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	David Woods		8	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Peter Montgomery		8	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Ian McLauchlain		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Robert Menzies		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	David Neesham		8	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Les Nunn		8	12	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Nicky Barnes		8	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Leon Wiegard		8	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Bill Tilley		8	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Ron Wooten
=13	–	Mexico	MEX	5	25	70	35.7%	6	30	3	0
	1	Daniel Gómez		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Francisco García		5	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Maximiliano Aguilar		5	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Raúl Alanís		5	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Arturo Valencia		5	4	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Juan Manuel García		5	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Armando Fernández		5	11	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Alfredo Sauza		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Ricardo Chapa		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Víctor García		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Rafael Azpeitia		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Kálmán Markovits
=13	–	Greece	GRE	4	13	44	29.5%	5	22	2	1
	1	Dimitrios Konstas		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Georgios Theodorakopoulos		4	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Evangelos Voultsos		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Kyriakos Iosifidis		4	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Dimitrios Kougevetopoulos		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Periklis Damaskos		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Thomas Karalogos		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Ioannis Karalogos		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Efstathios Sarantos		4	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Ioannis Palios		4	4	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Panagiotis Michalos		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		László Sárosi, Sr.
=13	–	Japan	JPN	4	14	42	33.3%	3	9	6	0
	1	Yukiharu Oshita		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Hirokatsu Kuwayama		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Toshio Takahashi		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Shuzo Yajima		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Hiroshi Hashimoto		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Koji Nakano		4	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Naoto Minegishi		4	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Tatsuo Jihira		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Takashi Kimura		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Yoshihiro Yasumi		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Toru Arase		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Toru Arase
16	–	Canada	CAN	5	14	59	23.7%	3	25	3	0
	1	Bill Vanderpol		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Alan Pyle		5	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Rick Pugliese		5	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Clifford Barry		5	2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Donald Packer		5	9	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Stephen Hart		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Jack Gauldie		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Robert Thompson		5	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	David Hart		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Gabor Csepregi		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Guy Leclerc		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Jenő Áts

Preliminary Round

Date	27 – 31 August 1972

Group A

Date	27 – 31 August 1972
Format	Round-robin pool.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Wins	Ties	Losses	Points	Goals
1	United States	USA	5	0	0	10	31-18

2	Yugoslavia	YUG	4	0	1	8	35-24

3	Cuba	CUB	3	0	2	6	28-23

4	Romania	ROU	2	0	3	4	38-26

5	Mexico	MEX	1	0	4	2	25-30

6	Canada	CAN	0	0	5	0	14-50

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	27 Aug 10:00	Yugoslavia	YUG	12 – 4	Canada	CAN
Match #2	27 Aug 16:00	Cuba	CUB	6 – 4	Mexico	MEX
Match #3	27 Aug 18:00	United States	USA	4 – 3	Romania	ROU
Match #4	28 Aug 12:00	United States	USA	7 – 6	Cuba	CUB
Match #5	28 Aug 15:00	Mexico	MEX	7 – 3	Canada	CAN
Match #6	28 Aug 20:00	Yugoslavia	YUG	8 – 7	Romania	ROU
Match #7	29 Aug 11:00	United States	USA	8 – 1	Canada	CAN
Match #8	29 Aug 13:00	Yugoslavia	YUG	5 – 3	Mexico	MEX
Match #9	29 Aug 16:00	Cuba	CUB	4 – 3	Romania	ROU
Match #10	30 Aug 10:00	Yugoslavia	YUG	7 – 5	Cuba	CUB
Match #11	30 Aug 12:00	Romania	ROU	16 – 4	Canada	CAN
Match #12	30 Aug 15:00	United States	USA	7 – 5	Mexico	MEX
Match #13	31 Aug 11:00	Cuba	CUB	7 – 2	Canada	CAN
Match #14	31 Aug 13:00	United States	USA	5 – 3	Yugoslavia	YUG
Match #15	31 Aug 20:00	Romania	ROU	9 – 6	Mexico	MEX

Group B

Date	27 – 31 August 1972
Format	Round-robin pool.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Wins	Ties	Losses	Points	Goals
1	Hungary	HUN	3	1	0	7	22-6

2	West Germany	FRG	2	2	0	6	21-13

3	Netherlands	NED	2	1	1	5	14-11

4	Australia	AUS	0	1	3	1	14-27

5	Greece	GRE	0	1	3	1	13-27

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	27 Aug 10:00	Hungary	HUN	3 – 0	Netherlands	NED
Match #2	27 Aug 16:00	Greece	GRE	7 – 7	Australia	AUS
Match #3	28 Aug 10:00	Netherlands	NED	4 – 2	Australia	AUS
Match #4	28 Aug 17:00	West Germany	FRG	3 – 3	Hungary	HUN
Match #5	29 Aug 10:00	Netherlands	NED	4 – 4	West Germany	FRG
Match #6	29 Aug 14:00	Hungary	HUN	6 – 1	Greece	GRE
Match #7	30 Aug 14:00	Hungary	HUN	10 – 2	Australia	AUS
Match #8	30 Aug 18:00	West Germany	FRG	8 – 3	Greece	GRE
Match #9	31 Aug 14:00	West Germany	FRG	6 – 3	Australia	AUS
Match #10	31 Aug 14:00	Netherlands	NED	6 – 2	Greece	GRE

Group C

Date	27 – 31 August 1972
Format	Round-robin pool.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Wins	Ties	Losses	Points	Goals
1	Soviet Union	URS	4	0	0	8	30-9

2	Italy	ITA	3	0	1	6	27-16

3	Spain	ESP	2	0	2	4	19-22

4	Bulgaria	BUL	1	0	3	2	18-25

5	Japan	JPN	0	0	4	0	14-36

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	27 Aug 10:00	Spain	ESP	6 – 4	Japan	JPN
Match #2	27 Aug 17:00	Soviet Union	URS	4 – 1	Italy	ITA
Match #3	28 Aug 11:00	Soviet Union	URS	11 – 1	Japan	JPN
Match #4	28 Aug 14:00	Italy	ITA	8 – 5	Bulgaria	BUL
Match #5	29 Aug 12:00	Soviet Union	URS	7 – 2	Bulgaria	BUL
Match #6	29 Aug 19:00	Italy	ITA	6 – 2	Spain	ESP
Match #7	30 Aug 11:00	Bulgaria	BUL	7 – 4	Japan	JPN
Match #8	30 Aug 14:00	Soviet Union	URS	8 – 5	Spain	ESP
Match #9	31 Aug 10:00	Italy	ITA	12 – 5	Japan	JPN
Match #10	31 Aug 19:00	Spain	ESP	6 – 4	Bulgaria	BUL

Classification Round 7-12

Date	1 – 4 September 1972
Format	Round-robin pool.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Wins	Ties	Losses	Points	Goals
1	Netherlands	NED	4	1	0	9	29-20	1

2	Romania	ROU	3	1	1	7	24-19	2

3	Cuba	CUB	3	1	1	7	24-23	3

4	Spain	ESP	2	0	3	4	26-26	4

5	Bulgaria	BUL	0	2	3	2	17-23	5

6	Australia	AUS	0	1	4	1	18-27	6

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	01 Sep 10:00	Romania	ROU	7 – 4	Spain	ESP
Match #2	01 Sep 11:00	Netherlands	NED	5 – 2	Bulgaria	BUL
Match #3	01 Sep 14:00	Cuba	CUB	6 – 5	Australia	AUS
Match #4	02 Sep 10:00	Romania	ROU	4 – 3	Bulgaria	BUL
Match #5	02 Sep 11:00	Spain	ESP	8 – 4	Australia	AUS
Match #6	02 Sep 13:00	Netherlands	NED	8 – 6	Cuba	CUB
Match #7	03 Sep 10:00	Australia	AUS	4 – 4	Bulgaria	BUL
Match #8	03 Sep 11:00	Romania	ROU	5 – 5	Netherlands	NED
Match #9	03 Sep 14:00	Cuba	CUB	4 – 3	Spain	ESP
Match #10	04 Sep 10:00	Bulgaria	BUL	4 – 4	Cuba	CUB
Match #11	04 Sep 11:00	Romania	ROU	5 – 3	Australia	AUS
Match #12	04 Sep 12:00	Netherlands	NED	7 – 5	Spain	ESP

Final Round

Date	1 – 4 September 1972
Format	Round-robin pool.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Wins	Ties	Losses	Points	Goals
1	Soviet Union	URS	3	2	0	8	22-16	7

2	Hungary	HUN	3	2	0	8	23-18	8

3	United States	USA	2	2	1	6	24-23	9

4	West Germany	FRG	0	3	2	3	15-18	10

5	Yugoslavia	YUG	1	1	3	3	20-24	11

6	Italy	ITA	0	2	3	2	21-26	12

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	01 Sep 14:00	Hungary	HUN	8 – 7	Italy	ITA
Match #2	01 Sep 15:30	West Germany	FRG	4 – 4	United States	USA
Match #3	01 Sep 19:30	Soviet Union	URS	5 – 4	Yugoslavia	YUG
Match #4	02 Sep 14:00	Italy	ITA	6 – 6	Yugoslavia	YUG
Match #5	02 Sep 15:30	Soviet Union	URS	4 – 2	West Germany	FRG
Match #6	02 Sep 19:30	Hungary	HUN	5 – 3	United States	USA
Match #7	03 Sep 14:00	Italy	ITA	2 – 2	West Germany	FRG
Match #8	03 Sep 15:00	Hungary	HUN	4 – 2	Yugoslavia	YUG
Match #9	03 Sep 19:30	United States	USA	6 – 6	Soviet Union	URS
Match #10	04 Sep 14:00	Yugoslavia	YUG	5 – 4	West Germany	FRG
Match #11	04 Sep 15:00	United States	USA	6 – 5	Italy	ITA
Match #12	04 Sep 19:30	Hungary	HUN	3 – 3	Soviet Union	URS