Canoe Polo

Canoe polo is played by two teams of five players on a rectangular playing field that can be in open water or a pool. Matches are played in two 10-minute halves, with the purpose of scoring in a goal suspended above the water at each end of the ground. Canoe polo uses the same ball as water polo and can be controlled with either a hand or a paddle. If a match ends in a tie, golden goal overtime is played, and the next team to score is the winner.

Canoe ball games have been played in Great Britain since the late nineteenth century, and early variations of canoe polo were played in the United States and parts of Europe until the first half of the twentieth century. The first national canoe polo championships were held in England in 1971, although the International Canoe Federation (ICF) did not publish its first set of universal playing rules for the game until 1986. The next year, canoe polo was played at the canoe sprint world championships in Duisburg, Germany, and the ICF completed their international canoe polo rules in 1990.

The first world championships in canoe polo were held in Sheffield, England, in 1994, and comprised 18 men’s and six women’s teams. Australia defeated Germany in the finals for both genders. The tournament is conducted every two years and has evolved to the point that the 2016 edition in Syracuse, Italy, will include 24 men’s teams, 20 women’s teams, and U21 events for both genders.

Since Australia won the first three men’s international titles and two of the first three women’s events, Europe has dominated the world championships. Between 2004 and 2014, the Netherlands and France shared six straight world championships before Italy broke through at home in 2016. Germany had finished second five times before winning their first global title in Welland, Canada, in 2018. In contrast, the Germans have won six of the previous ten women’s world championships. In 2016, New Zealand finally broke Europe’s dominance over global titles, defeating Germany in the women’s final. At least one of Germany or the United Kingdom/Great Britain has finished in the top two at each women’s world championship.

Canoe polo premiered at the World Games in 2005, in Duisburg, Germany, 18 years after the contemporary version of this sport had been demonstrated in the canoe sprint world championships in the same city. Germany won its third women’s global title in Wroclaw in 2017, while it has won two men’s global Games titles in consecutive years.