________________________________________________ FINA Water Polo Guide 2009 – 2013 Version MESSAGE FROM THE FINA PRESIDENT Dear Friends, It is a great pleasure for me to introduce you the FINA Water Polo Guide, a reference document for those who are interested and involved in the promotion and worldwide progress of this spectacular team sport. For the last years, the Water Polo Family has witnessed, and actively contributed, to a consistent development of this discipline. We can highlight some milestones such as: the inclusion of the Women’s Water Polo Tournament in the Olympic Programme, the launch of the yearly men’s and women’s World League, the creation of the FINA Water Polo Referees School, the change of some important technical rules of the game, and starting in 2007, a new competition called FINA World Water Polo Development Trophy. More recently, the new format of the FINA World Men’s Junior Championships was established, with this competition being contested by players 18 and under in even years and 20 and under in odd years. All these efforts have a clear objective: to give water polo a new image and a new concept. We want to create a show, thus bringing to us the interest of the media, sponsors and fans of our team sport. For that, we have simplified the rules of the game, we have improved the quality of refereeing, and we have enlarged the practice of Water Polo in the five continents. At this stage, I would like to thank our privileged partners, our 202 FINA National Federations, for their continuous support and devotion to this Sport. The FINA Water Polo Guide is certainly part of this successful strategy and constitutes an important tool to help our players, coaches and referees in their daily actions. For this, I take this opportunity to express my recognition to the FINA TWPC Chairman Mr. Gianni Lonzi and the FINA TWPC Honorary Secretary Mr. John Whitehouse as well as the FINA Technical Water Polo Committee and to all those involved in the production of this guide. Their dedication and hard work were essential to this outcome. I wish all water polo players, coaches and referees to take maximum benefit of the FINA Water Polo Guide. Sincerely, Dr. Julio C. Maglione FINA President -1- FINA BUREAU 2009 - 2013 PRESIDENT: Dr Julio C. Maglione (URU) HONORARY SECRETARY: Paolo Barelli (ITA) HONORARY TREASURER: Pipat Paniangvait (THA) VICE PRESIDENTS: Nory Kruchten (LUX) William Matson (NZL) Dale Neuburger (USA) Sam Ramsamy (RSA) MEMBERS: Gennady Aleshin (RUS) Farid El Allam (MAR) Abd El Rahman Amin (EGY) Dimitris Diathessopoulos (GRE) Coaracy Nunes Filho (BRA) Paulo Frischknecht (POR) Tamas Gyarfas (HUN) Eugenio Martinez (CUB) Orban Mendoza (PUR) Dennis Miller (FIJ) Margo Mountjoy (CAN) Hussain Al Musallam (KUW) Chief Olatokunbo Thomas (NGR) Quiping Zhang (CHN) HONORARY LIFE PRESIDENT: Mustapha Larfaoui (ALG) IMMEDIATE PAST HONORARY SECRETARY: Bartolo Consolo (SUI) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Cornel Marculescu FINA TECHNICAL WATER POLO COMMITTEE 2009 - 2013 CHAIRMAN: Gianni Lonzi (ITA) VICE CHAIRMAN Richard Foster (USA) HONORARY SECRETARY: John Whitehouse (AUS) MEMBERS: Khosrow Amini (IR1) Boukezouha Badreddine (ALG) Niculae Firoiu (GER) Manuel Ibern (ESP) Andrey Kryukov (KAZ) Jorge Roberto Pagura (BRA) Evgeny Sharonov (RUS) William J (Bill) Shaw (CAN) Haluk Toygarli (TUR) -2- EVENTS SUB-COMMITTEE: Mohie Wahied Faried (EGY) Gyorgy Martin (HUN) Aleksandar Sostar (SRB) BUREAU LIAISON: Dimitris Diathessopoulos -3- TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE NO. 1. OLYMPIC GAMES 1.1 Olympic Games Regulations – Men 7 1.2 Olympic Games Regulations – Women 9 1.3 Olympic Games Qualification Tournament Regulations - Men 10 1.4 Olympic Games Qualification Tournament Regulations – Women 12 2. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2.1 Regulations for World Senior Championships – Men 14 2.2 Regulations for World Senior Championships – Women 16 2.3 Regulations for World Junior Championships – Men 18 2.4 Regulations for World Junior Championships – Women 21 2.5 Regulations for World Youth Championships - Men 23 2.6 Regulations for World Youth Championships - Women 26 3. WORLD CUPS 3.1 World Cup Regulations – Men & Women 28 4. REFEREES 4.1 FINA Water Polo Referees List 30 4.2 Referees for the Olympic Games 30 4.3 Referees for the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament – Men 31 4.4 Referees for the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament 31 – Women 4.5 Referees for World Senior Championships 31 -4- 4.6 Referees for World Junior Championships – Men 31 4.7 Referees for World Junior Championships – Women 32 4.8 Referees for World Youth Championships - Men 32 4.9 Referees for World Youth Championships - Women 33 4.10 Referees for World Cup – Men 33 4.11 Referees for World Cup – Women 33 4.12 Regulations for the Appointment and Instructions for Referees 34 5. COMPETITION PROCEDURES 5.1 Hosting a FINA Event 50 5.2 Equipment for Water Polo Field of Play 51 5.3 Site Inspections 53 5.4 Organising Committee 55 5.5 Desk Operations 58 5.6 Tie Breaking 61 5.7 Penalty Shoot Out 62 5.8 Regulations for Disciplinary Actions in Water Polo 63 6. COMPETITION PROTOCOL 6.1 Competition Presentation 68 6.2 TWPC Meeting 69 6.3 Technical Meeting (Delegates) 69 6.4 Agenda for Technical Meeting 69 6.5 Referees Meeting 70 6.6 Referees Clinic 70 6.7 Guidelines for Referees’ Meetings and Clinics 70 -5- 7. PLAYING SCHEDULES 7.1 Schedule of Games for 4-7 Teams 72 7.2 Schedule of Games for 8-12 Teams 73 7.3 Schedule of Games for 16 Teams 75 7.4 Schedule of Games for 20 Teams 77 8. RULES 8.1 Water Polo Rules 80 8.2 Age Group Rules 113 8.3 2009-2013 FINA Water Polo Rules Interpretations 113 8.4 Masters Rules – General 117 8.5 Masters Water Polo Rules 118 8.6 Medical Rules 120 8.7 Doping Rules 128 8.8 Facilities Rules 181 9. FORMS FINA Team Entry Form FINA Water Polo Scoresheet FINA Water Polo Referees List - Application Form FINA Water Polo Referees - Evaluation Sheet FINA Water Polo Referees - Delegate Summary Sheet FINA Water Polo Referees – Daily Appointments Form FINA Water Polo Referees – Summary of Appointments Form FINA Delegates Game Summary Sheet FINA Penalty Shoot Out Form -6- FINA Therapeutic Use Exemptions Form FINA Therapeutic Use Exemptions Form - Beta-2 Agonists TUE Application Form FINA Declaration of Use Form -7- 1 OLYMPIC GAMES 1.1 OLYMPIC GAMES REGULATIONS - MEN 1.1.1 Participants: BL 9.3.10.1 The competition shall be for a maximum of twelve (12) teams selected in the following manner: BL 9.3.10.1.2 The first team from the preceding year's World League. If this team has already qualified as the continental representative (BL 9.3.10.1.4) then the next ranked team from the World League qualifies. BL 9.3.10.1.3 The first three (3) teams from the preceding year’s World Championships. If any one of these three (3) teams has already qualified as the continental representative (BL 9.3.10.1.4) or from the preceding year's World League (BL 9.3.10.1.2) the next ranked team from the World Championships qualifies. BL 9.3.10.1.4 Automatically one (1) team from the Continental Championships of the five (5) continents or if already qualified at the preceding year's World League (BL 9.3.10.1.2) or at the 14th FINA World Championships Shanghai 2011 (BL 9.3.10.1.3), then the next ranked team from the continental championships will qualify. The Host Country will be the representative of that continent. BL 9.3.10.1.5 The other three (3) teams are to come from the highest placed teams at the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament - Men. 1.1.2 Withdrawal & Vacancies: BL 9.3.10.1.6 If, for any reason, no team enters from a continent, or if there is an unfilled vacancy from among the teams qualified from the preceding year’s World League or preceding World Championship, the next ranking team(s) will then be taken in order from their placing at the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament – Men. 1.1.3 System of Competition: The system of competition will be as set out in BL 9.4.1.2 consisting of two groups of six (6) playing a single round robin in each group. The first four (4) highest ranked teams in each group will qualify for the Quarter Final Round. The fifth and sixth ranked teams in each group will be eliminated and will not play any more. The teams ranked sixth in each group of the Preliminary Round shall be classified for places 11 - 12 according to the following criteria: 1. Win-loss record in their Preliminary Round group 2. If both teams have the same win-loss record, the classification will be determined by goal average taking into account the results of all games played in the respective group. -8- The teams ranked fifth in each group shall be classified for places 9 - 10 according to the same principles as for places 11 - 12. 1.1.4 The Draw: BL 9.4.1. The draw for the Olympic Games Tournament will be either on the last day of the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament – Men or as otherwise determined and the following principle shall apply: if a team is already qualified by its ranking from a preceding qualification competition, the team will be placed on the highest line of the draw according to that ranking and the team taking it’s place will be placed on the lower line. (a) Group Draw: For the Preliminary Round, all qualifying teams will be drawn by pairs into two groups, either A or B.