What happens if a water polo match ends level?
I · Intermediate · The game · 3 of 11A level game goes to a penalty shoot-out after a three-minute break. Five players from each team take one penalty throw each, turn by turn. If the teams are still level, the same five carry on in the same order until one team scores and the other misses.
How it works
- A winner every game: "Each World Aquatics Water Polo game shall have a winner at full time in any game."
- The break: three minutes after the fourth period. Everyone leaves the water except the five shooters and the goalkeeper of each team.
- Who may shoot: not a player with three personal fouls or a red card, and not one who cannot continue through injury.
- Goalkeepers change ends: each goes to the goal in the other team's half.
- Who goes first: a coin toss with the captains. The winner decides which team starts.
- The order: the order in which a team takes its first five penalties is fixed. No list is handed in beforehand.
- Still level: "the same five players shall then take alternate shots until one team misses and the other scores".
- The goalkeeper moves early: if the shot is not scored, the goalkeeper is excluded and the penalty is taken again. One of the five shooters may stand in goal for that throw, without the goalkeeper's privileges.
- Changing goalkeeper: allowed during the shoot-out.
The glossary has the penalty shoot-out and the penalty throw.
Tricky cases
Is there extra time before the shoot-out?
No. In the rules read for this page, the shoot-out follows the fourth period after a three-minute break.
Can a player with three personal fouls take a penalty in the shoot-out?
No. The delegates check that no shooter has three personal fouls or a red card.
A shooter is sent off during the shoot-out. What happens to their turn?
Their place is removed from the order of five, and a substitute is placed last in the order.
Does a shoot-out win count the same as a normal win in the group table?
No. A win in regular time is worth three points. A win after a shoot-out is worth two, and the loser of the shoot-out gets one.
Why the rule exists
Tournament brackets need a winner from every game. Going straight to penalties settles it in a few minutes and does not add more swimming to players who have already trodden water for four periods.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| World Aquatics events | A shoot-out after any level game | WP 4.3; WP Appendix 6 |
| Unequal conditions at one end | All the shots may be taken at the same end | WP Appendix 6 (20.6.2.7) |
| Group tables | Two points for the winner of a shoot-out, one for the loser | WP Appendix 9 |
| Goals in tie-breaks | Shoot-out goals are left out of goal difference | WP Appendix 9 |
From the rule book
World Aquatics, Competition Regulations, Part Six: Water Polo Rules (in force as from 1 January 2025), Article 4.3, and Appendices 6 and 9. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: World Aquatics Competition Regulations (PDF).