Water polo is a team sport played in a swimming pool, each team with six field players and one goalkeeper. Points are scored by throwing the ball into a goal at the opponent's end of the pool.

Water polo was developed in Europe and the United States. In the United States, it was originally termed 'softball water polo'. Standardised rules for water polo were introduced in Scotland in the late 1800s, marking the start of the modern sport, which then spread throughout the British Empire, Europe, and the United States. It has been an official Olympic medal sport since 1900.

FINA is the international federation responsible for organizing and regulating the sports of aquatics for swimming, water polo, diving, synchronized swimming and open water swimming, currently including 203 national federations