The men­’s water polo tournament in the Paris Olympics opens with six games and a large contingent of teams in the chase for a medal.

Five of the 12 teams in the tournament have won a world championships medal since the last Olympics in 2021: Spain, Italy, Greece, Hungary, and Croatia. Serbia and France each have a fourth-place finish at worlds in that time, meaning this tournament is wide open.

Here’s a look at the men’s water polo tournament and all six games.

Twelve teams will compete, each split into two groups — Group A and Group B. They'll start with a five-game round-robin tournament.

In round-robin play, wins count as three points, penalty shootout wins are two, and penalty shootout losses are one.

At the end of pool play, the top four teams in each group will move on the quarterfinals.

Group A
Croatia
Italy
Greece
Montenegro
Romania
United States

Group B
Australia
France
Hungary
Japan
Serbia
Spain

Spain is the only country to have earned a medal in all three of the world championships since Tokyo. The Spanish squad won worlds in 2022, finished second in 2023, and took third earlier this year. 

They qualified for Paris after winning this year’s European Championships.

Australia finished 11th at worlds, qualifying the team for Paris as the best Oceania finisher.

Serbia opens the Olympics as two-time defending gold medalists, looking to be the third men’s team to ever three-peat. The last team to do it was Hungary from 2000-2008.

It’s been up and down since the last Games, and the Serbian squad is coming off of a sixth-place finish at the most recent world championships. They narrowly qualified for Paris thanks to being the third-best finisher at worlds that had not already earned a berth.

Since the last Games, they’ve welcomed a new coach, Uros Stevanovic, and returned three-time Olympic medalist Dusan Mandic.

“In Serbia everybody expects the past’s great results to be continued," Stevanovic said in January. “It is very hard at the moment to live up to this expectation. I cannot say it's impossible, but it's very tough. We work harder day by day and I hope it pays off." 

The Serbian squad has won a medal in four straight Olympics.

Japan was the winner of the 2022 Asian Games, which were held in 2023. 

The U.S. earned a berth into the Olympics after winning the 2023 Pan American Games. They haven’t finished better than sixth at any of the last three world championships, including a ninth-place finish earlier this year.

The American team finished sixth in Tokyo, their best Olympic finish since winning silver in 2008.

Despite some poor results recently, U.S. coach Dejan Udovicic said, “In my more than 25 year coaching career, this is one of the most talented teams I have ever coached.”

“I believe in this team, I believe in my players,” he added.

The U.S. returns ten of 13 players from Tokyo. Alex Bowen, Luca Cupido, Ben Hallock, and Alex Obert are all three-time Olympians. 

“The goal is gold, for sure," Hallock said. "We haven't medaled, obviously, in the last two or three Olympics, but I think our trajectory has been going pretty steadily upwards and to the right. In terms of even finishes outside of just the Olympics, we've had a few medals from other tournaments, so I don't think it's scary to put that as a goal."

Italy finished second at the world championships earlier this year to qualify for Paris. They finished seventh at the Tokyo Games. 

The Italian squad is looking for a first Olympic gold since 1992.

Croatia comes into the Paris Games as the defending world champions, which earned the team a berth in this year’s Olympics. The Croatian team finished fourth in Tokyo, and followed with a world championships win in 2022.

They’re looking for a first Olympic medal since 1996.

Montenegro finished eighth at the most recent worlds, and earned a berth to the Olympics as the fourth-best finisher that had not already qualified. 

Hungary is the all-time winningest Olympic water polo squad, having won gold nine times. They qualified for this year’s Games after winning the 2023 World Championship. 

France earned an automatic berth into the Olympics as the host country, but the team has impressed lately on the world stage. They reached the semifinals of the world championships this year for the first time, getting there by beating Hungary in the quarterfinals. 

The eventual fourth-place finish was the best ever for France, which did not qualify for worlds in 2019 or 2022. 

The host country is playing in the Olympics for just the second time since 1992.

"We know that a historical result in Paris would be good for us because it’s our dream to reach a medal, but it would also be good for French water polo," said French player Ugo Crousillat in an interview with Total Water Polo. "We don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves, but we can’t escape it. We’re working hard.”

Greece finished second at the 2023 World Championships, which qualified them for Paris. 

Romania earned a late berth into the Olympics after South Africa declined their spot. The South African spot went to the highest-ranked world finisher that had not yet qualified.