Water Polo - Team Serbia

General
Serbia are the reigning Olympic champions, having defeated Croatia by four goals in the final of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Serbia's run to gold was not without challenges, however, as the team just scraped out of the group phase with two wins, two draws, and a loss, putting them in the fourth and final qualifying place. Once in the knockout round they did not look back, beating Spain in the quarterfinal 10-7 and Italy in the semifinal 10-8, before securing an 11-7 win over Croatia for gold.

The team competed as part of Serbia and Montenegro at Athens 2004. The Tokyo Games are their fourth consecutive appearance as Serbia at the Olympic Games, and the team's gold in Rio de Janeiro followed medals at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, where they beat Montenegro to bronze on both occasions.

Serbia have taken part in every edition of the world championships since 2007. The team won gold in 2009 and 2015, but could only manage a fifth-place ranking at the 2019 edition after losing to Spain in the quarterfinals. They have dominated the World League Super Final, claiming gold at 10 out of 11 campaigns from 2007 to 2019. The 2019 title won them their place at the Tokyo Games.

Serbia won World Cup gold in 2010 and 2014, and a bronze in 2018. They are similarly strong at continental level, claiming gold at four editions of the European championships from 2012 to 2018. At the most recent tournament in 2020, the Serbs ran through their group unbeaten but were stopped at the quarterfinal stage by Spain, a penalty shootout defeat ending their quest for a fifth straight title. They won their two classification matches to take fifth place overall.