2018 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup
# 2018 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup

The 2018 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup was the 17th edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body in aquatics, the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The event took place in Surgut, Russia from 4 to 9 September 2018.

The United States won the gold medal by defeating Russia 8-5 in the final. Australia captured bronze, beating Spain 9-8.

## Format

8 teams qualified for the 2018 FINA World Cup. They are split into two groups of 4 teams. After playing a round-robin every team advanced to the quarterfinals. The best ranked team of Group A played against the fourth ranked team of Group B, the second ranked team of Group A against the third ranked team of Group B the third ranked team of Group A against the second ranked team of Group B and the fourth ranked team of Group A against the best ranked team of Group B. The winners of those quarterfinals advanced to the Semis and played out the champion while the losers of the quarterfinals competed in placement matches.

## Groups

| Group A | Group B |
| - | - |
| Spain Australia China Russia | South Africa New Zealand United States Canada |

## Preliminary round

### Group A

All times are YEKT (UTC+5)

| | Team | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | Diff | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1. | Russia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 28 | +18 | 6 |
| 2. | Spain | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 28 | +2 | 3 |
| 3. | Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 30 | -3 | 3 |
| 4. | China | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 26 | 43 | −17 | 0 |
| 4 September 2018 16:00 | Australia | 11–8 | China |
| 4 September 2018 19:00 | Spain | 9–13 | Russia |
| 5 September 2018 15:00 | Spain | 13–7 | China |
| 5 September 2018 19:30 | Australia | 8–14 | Russia |
| 6 September 2018 16:30 | Australia | 8–8 | Spain |
| 6 September 2018 19:30 | China | 11–19 | Russia |

### Group B

All times are YEKT (UTC+5)

| | Team | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | Diff | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1. | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 6 | +55 | 6 |
| 2. | Canada | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 30 | 24 | +6 | 4 |
| 3. | New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 33 | -17 | 2 |
| 4. | South Africa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 52 | -44 | 0 |
| 4 September 2018 14:30 | New Zealand | 2–18 | United States |
| 4 September 2018 17:30 | South Africa | 3–18 | Canada |
| 5 September 2018 16:30 | New Zealand | 4–11 | Canada |
| 5 September 2018 18:00 | South Africa | 1–26 | United States |
| 6 September 2018 15:00 | New Zealand | 10–4 | South Africa |
| 6 September 2018 18:00 | United States | 17–3 | Canada |

## Final round

### 5th-8th place bracket

| 5th–8th place classification | 5th–8th place classification | 5th-place match | 5th-place match |
| - | - | - | - |
| 08 September – Surgut | 08 September – Surgut |
| New Zealand | 6 |
| New Zealand | 6 | 09 September – Surgut | 09 September – Surgut |
| China | 15 | 09 September – Surgut | 09 September – Surgut |
| China | 15 | China | 20 |
| 08 September– Surgut | 08 September– Surgut | | China | 20 |
| 08 September– Surgut | 08 September– Surgut | Canada | 19 |
| Canada | 21 | Canada | 19 |
| South Africa | 2 | | |
| South Africa | 2 | 7th-place match | 7th-place match |
| | | 09 September – Surgut | 09 September – Surgut |
| | | New Zealand | 14 |
| | | South Africa | 3 |

### 5th–8th place classification

All times are YEKT (UTC+5)

| 8 September 2018 15:00 | New Zealand | 6–15 | China |
| - | - | - | - |
| 8 September 2018 16:30 | Canada | 21–2 | South Africa |

### 7th-place match

All times are YEKT (UTC+5)

| 9 September 2018 15:00 | New Zealand | 14–3 | South Africa |
| - | - | - | - |

### 5th-place match

All times are YEKT (UTC+5)

| 9 September 2018 16:30 | China | 20–19 | Canada |
| - | - | - | - |

**Championship bracket**

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 07 September – Surgut | 07 September – Surgut | | | |
| Russia | 26 | | | |
| Russia | 26 | 08 September – Surgut | 08 September – Surgut | | |
| South Africa | 0 | 08 September – Surgut | 08 September – Surgut | |
| South Africa | 0 | Australia | 3 | |
| 07 September – Surgut | 07 September – Surgut | | Australia | 3 | |
| 07 September – Surgut | 07 September – Surgut | Russia | 5 | |
| Australia | 9 | Russia | 5 | |
| Australia | 9 | | | | 09 September – Surgut | 09 September – Surgut |
| Canada | 6 | | | | 09 September – Surgut | 09 September – Surgut |
| Canada | 6 | | | | United States | 8 |
| 07 September – Surgut | 07 September – Surgut | | | | | United States | 8 |
| 07 September – Surgut | 07 September – Surgut | | | | Russia | 5 |
| China | 5 | | | | Russia | 5 |
| China | 5 | 08 September – Surgut | 08 September – Surgut | | | |
| United States | 15 | 08 September – Surgut | 08 September – Surgut | | | |
| United States | 15 | Spain | 5 | | | |
| 07 September – Surgut | 07 September – Surgut | | Spain | 5 | | | |
| 07 September – Surgut | 07 September – Surgut | United States | 11 | | Third place | Third place |
| Spain | 17 | United States | 11 | | Third place | Third place |
| Spain | 17 | | | | 09 September – Surgut | 09 September – Surgut |
| New Zealand | 3 | | | | 09 September – Surgut | 09 September – Surgut |
| New Zealand | 3 | | | | Spain | 8 |
| | | | | | Australia | 9 |

### Quarterfinals

All times are YEKT (UTC+5)

| 7 September 2018 15:00 | Spain | 17–3 | New Zealand |
| - | - | - | - |
| 7 September 2018 16:30 | Australia | 9–6 | Canada |
| 7 September 2018 18:00 | China | 5–15 | United States |
| 7 September 2018 19:30 | Russia | 26–0 | South Africa |

### Semifinals

All times are YEKT (UTC+5)

| 8 September 2018 18:00 | Spain | 5–11 | United States |
| - | - | - | - |
| 8 September 2018 19:30 | Australia | 3–5 | Russia |

### Bronze-medal match

All times are YEKT (UTC+5)

| 9 September 2018 18:00 | Spain | 8–9 | Australia |
| - | - | - | - |
| 9 September 2018 18:00 | A. Espar 4 Lloret, Gual, Crespí, Leitón 1 | Goals | Webster 5 Knox 2 Gofers, Buckling 1 |

### Gold-medal match

All times are YEKT (UTC+5)

| 9 September 2018 19:30 | United States | 8–5 | Russia |
| - | - | - | - |
| 9 September 2018 19:30 | Steffens 3 J. Neushul 2 Hauschild, A. Fischer, M. Fischer 1 | Goals | Gorbunova 2 Ivanova, Bersneva, Zubkova 1 |

## Final standings

| RANK | TEAM |
| - | - |
| | United States |
| | Russia |
| | Australia |
| 4. | Spain |
| 5. | China |
| 6. | Canada |
| 7. | New Zealand |
| 8. | South Africa |

* 2018 Women's FINA Water Polo World Cup
* United States Fourth title

## Individual awards

* Most Valuable Player
   * Maggie Steffens (USA)
* Best Goalkeeper
   * Ashleigh Johnson (USA)
* Best Scorer
   * Anni Espar (ESP) — 19 goals
