# 2002 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup

The 2002 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup was the twelfth edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body in aquatics, the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The event took place in the Tašmajdan Swimming Pool in Belgrade, Yugoslavia from August 20 to August 25, 2002. Participating teams were the eight best teams from the last World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan (2001).
The FINA Cup in Belgrade decided which teams qualified directly to the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain from July 13 to July 27, 2003. Russia and Hungary, as well as the host Spain, already qualified based on the results from the 2002 FINA Men's Water Polo World League (June 28 – August 4, 2002).

## Teams

The top eight teams from the previous World Aquatic Championship have qualified.
| Teams | Qualified as |
| Yugoslavia Spain Russia Italy Hungary Greece United States Croatia | Host (2nd 2001 World Championship) 1st 2001 World Championship 3rd 2001 World Championship 4th 2001 World Championship 5th 2001 World Championship 6th 2001 World Championship 7th 2001 World Championship 8th 2001 World Championship |

## Seeding

Following ranking of the 2001 World Championship
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Spain (1)  FR Yugoslavia (2) (H) | Russia (3)  Italy (4) | Hungary (5)  Greece (6) | United States (7)  Croatia (8) |

## Groups

| Group A | Group B |
| Yugoslavia (H) Russia Hungary United States | Spain Italy Greece Croatia |

## Preliminary round
### Group A

| | Team | Points | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | Diff | Qualification |
| 1. | Yugoslavia (H) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 19 | +7 | Semi-finals |
| 2. | Russia | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 21 | 0 | Quarter-finals |
| 3. | Hungary | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 19 | +5 | Quarter-finals |
| 4. | United States | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 26 | –12 | |
* August 20, 2002
| Russia | 7 – 6 | Hungary | 2-2 1-1 0-2 4-1 |
| United States | 4 – 9 | Yugoslavia | 0-2 0-2 2-3 2-2 |
* August 21, 2002
| United States | 5 – 9 | Hungary | 1-1 1-2 2-2 1-4 |
| Russia | 6 – 10 | Yugoslavia | 1-4 3-3 2-3 0-0 |
* August 22, 2002
| United States | 5 – 8 | Russia | 0-2 0-3 2-1 3-2 |
| Yugoslavia | 7 – 9 | Hungary | 2-3 1-2 2-2 2-2 |

### Group B

| | Team | Points | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | Diff | Qualification |
| 1. | Italy | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 16 | +3 | Semi-finals |
| 2. | Greece | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 0 | Quarter-finals |
| 3. | Spain | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 16 | +1 | Quarter-finals |
| 4. | Croatia | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 20 | –4 | |
* August 20, 2002
| Croatia | 5 – 6 | Italy | 2-1 1-2 2-1 0-2 |
| Greece | 5 – 5 | Spain | 1-2 3-1 1-1 0-1 |
* August 21, 2002
| Croatia | 4 – 7 | Spain | 1-3 1-2 2-1 0-1 |
| Greece | 6 – 6 | Italy | 1-1 1-1 1-1 3-3 |
* August 22, 2002
| Italy | 7 – 5 | Spain | 1-1 2-1 2-1 2-2 |
| Croatia | 7 – 7 | Greece | 2-1 2-1 1-3 2-2 |

## Quarterfinals

* August 23, 2002
| Hungary | 10 – 7 | Greece | 4-1 2-3 1-2 3-1 |
| Russia | 6 – 5 | Spain | 0-0 1-2 3-2 2-1 |

## Semifinals

* August 24, 2002
| Yugoslavia | 5 – 7 | Hungary | 2-2 1-3 1-1 1-1 |
| Italy | 4 – 5 | Russia | 1-1 1-0 2-1 0-3 |

## Finals

* August 23, 2002 — Seventh place
| United States | 12 – 10 | Croatia | 4-4 4-3 2-1 2-2 |
* August 24, 2002 — Fifth place
| Greece | 4 – 3 | Spain | 2-1 1-2 1-0 0-0 |
* August 25, 2002 — Third place
| Yugoslavia | 6 – 4 | Italy | 2-0 1-1 1-2 2-1 |
* August 25, 2002 — First place
| Hungary | 9 – 10 | Russia | 3-2 3-2 2-4 1-2 |

## Final ranking

| RANK | TEAM |
| | Russia |
| | Hungary |
| | Yugoslavia |
| 4. | Italy |
| 5. | Greece |
| 6. | Spain |
| 7. | United States |
| 8. | Croatia |
* 2002 Men's FINA World Cup winners
* Russia Third title
* Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece and the United States qualified for the 2003 World Aquatics Championships. Russia and Hungary, as well as the host Spain, already qualified.

## Individual awards

* Most Valuable Player
** Tamás Kásás (HUN)
* Best Goalkeeper
** Nikolai Maximov (RUS)
* Topscorer
** Tamás Kásás (HUN) — 13 goals