Rules of water polo

The rules of water polo are the rules and regulations which cover the play, procedure, equipment and officiating of water polo. These rules are similar throughout the world, although slight variations to the rules do occur regionally and depending on the governing body. Governing bodies of water polo include FINA, the international governing organisation for the rules; the NCAA rules, which govern the rules for collegiate matches in the United States; the NFHS rules which govern the rules in high schools in the USA and the IOC rules which govern the rules at Olympic events.

Senior games consist of seven players from each team (six field players and a goalkeeper) that are allowed in the playing area of the pool during game play. FINA reduced the number of players in U20 (and younger) competitions that they sanction to six (5 field players and a goalkeeper) in 2014 with the intention of extending these changes to all levels of the game after the 2016 Olympic Games. If a player commits an exclusion (major) foul, then that team will play with one player fewer until the player is allowed to re-enter (typically 20 seconds). If a player commits a particularly violent act, such as striking a player, then the referee may signal a brutality foul, in which case that team is required to play with one fewer player in the water for 4 minutes, besides the culprit being ejected (i.e.he/she must leave the pool area and not return). Plus, the culprit may not be allowed to compete in a given number of future games depending on the governing body.

Players may be substituted in and out after goals, during timeouts, at the beginning of each quarter, after ordinary fouls and after injuries. During game play, players enter and exit in the corner of the pool, or in front of their goal; when play is stopped, they may enter or exit anywhere.

If at any time during play a team has more players in the pool than they are allowed, a penalty is given to the opposing team.

The two opposing teams must wear caps which contrast:

In practice, one team usually wears dark caps and the other white (usually white for the home team, and dark for the away team for FINA). Teams may choose to wear different cap colors, (eg their team colors). For instance, Australia's women's water polo team wears green caps.

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