See main article: Water polo at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The qualification for the 2020 men's Olympic water polo tournament allocated twelve teams quota spots: the hosts, the top team in the World League, the top two teams in the World Championships, five continental Olympic qualification tournament champions, and the three top teams at an Olympic qualifying tournament.[1]
| Event | style-"width: 23%;" | Dates | Hosts | Quota | Qualifier(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | 1 | ||||
| 18–23 June 2019 | 1 | ||||
| 15–27 July 2019 | 2 | ||||
| 4–10 August 2019 | 1 | ||||
| Oceanian Continental Selection | 1 | ||||
| African Continental Selection | 1 | ||||
| 14–26 January 2020 | 1 | ||||
| 2018 Asian Games[2] [3] | 25 August – 1 September 2018 | 1 | |||
| 14–21 February 2021 | 3 | ||||
| Total | 12 | ||||
See main article: 2019 FINA Men's Water Polo World League.
The best team in the 2019 World League qualified for the Olympics.
| Rank | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | ||
| 5 | ||
| 6 | ||
| 7 | ||
| 8 |
See main article: 2019 World Aquatics Championships.
The top two teams in the 2019 World Championships qualified for the Olympics.
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One team from each continental qualifying event qualifies for the Olympics.
See main article: 2020 Asian Water Polo Championship. Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, was supposed to host the Asian continental tournament from 12 to 16 February.[4] In late January the event was cancelled as the Kazakh Government suspended all flights and visas from China due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic in the Eastern part of the country. In mid-February AASF decided to use the final ranking of 2018 Asian Games to allocate its continental quotas to the winners and the slots in WQT to the following teams in said ranking; the decision must yet be made official by FINA and IOC before the World Qualification Tournament, scheduled from 22 to 29 March.[5] [6]
See main article: 2020 Men's European Water Polo Championship.
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See main article: Water polo at the 2019 Pan American Games – Men's tournament.
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See main article: 2020 Men's Water Polo Olympic Qualification Tournament.
The tournament was scheduled to be contested in Rotterdam, Netherlands, from 31 May to 7 June but was postponed to 14 to 21 February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The draw of pools was held at FINA headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 11 February 2020. The top three teams qualified for the Olympics. It than took place from 21 to 28 February 2021.