Serbia won the men’s Olympic water polo title in Paris in 2024, beating Croatia in the gold medal match, and the next tournament starts on July 12, 2028, in Long Beach. No sportsbook price for Los Angeles is on this page yet, because no market for it has been proven to exist.
Serbia also won the Tokyo 2020 title, so it holds the last two. This page keeps both results as the record and will carry the 2028 board once one is posted. For how Olympic markets work, see our Olympics betting guide and the Summer Olympics betting guide.
The 2028 tournament in Los Angeles
The LA28 competition schedule, version 4.0 of July 29, 2026, puts every water polo session at the Long Beach Aquatics Center. The men play first. Their preliminary round opens on Wednesday, July 12, 2028, two days before the Games open on July 14.
| Stage | Date (2028) | Time (Pacific) |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary round begins | Wednesday, July 12 | 10:00 |
| Quarterfinals | Wednesday, July 19 | 11:30 and 17:00 |
| Semifinals | Friday, July 21 | 11:30 |
| Bronze medal match | Saturday, July 22 | 11:30 |
| Gold medal match | Saturday, July 22 | 15:00 |
The men’s and women’s events are both 12-team tournaments, which LA28 calls the first time the sport has reached gender parity at the Olympics. LA28 also says the schedule can change until the Games end, so check it again before you bet on a date.
How Paris finished
Serbia met the United States in one semifinal and Croatia met Hungary in the other. Serbia and Croatia reached the final, and the Americans took bronze against Hungary.
| Finish | Team |
|---|---|
| Gold | Serbia |
| Silver | Croatia |
| Bronze | United States |
| 4 | Hungary |
| 5 | Greece |
| 6 | Spain |
| 7 | Italy |
| 8 | Australia |
| 9 | Montenegro |
| 10 | France |
| 11 | Japan |
| 12 | Romania |
In Tokyo, Serbia took gold ahead of Greece, with Hungary third, Spain fourth and Croatia fifth. Serbia won both. Croatia climbed from fifth to second, and Greece fell from second to fifth.
What the old board got wrong
Before Paris, this page listed BetOnline’s prices. Hungary and Spain were joint favorites at +200, Italy was +300, Croatia +600, Greece +700 and Serbia +1400, the sixth-shortest price of the twelve. The page backed Greece at +700. Greece finished fifth, Hungary fourth and Spain sixth.
The team that won was priced at +1400, an implied chance of 6.7%. That is one tournament, and it proves nothing about the next one. It does show that a short price is no safe place on this board: both joint favorites missed the podium.
How to read a price when the board opens
Convert every price to the chance it implies before you compare it with your own view. A team at +200 is priced at 33.3%, and a team at +1400 at 6.7%. Add up every team on the board and the total runs past 100%; the excess is what the book keeps. Compare the same team across books with our sportsbook reviews and take the best number, because on a twelve-team outright the gap between books can be larger than the edge you think you have.
For the women’s event, see our Olympic women’s water polo odds. For other Olympic markets, see our men’s handball odds and the USA gold medal count odds.