Water polo at the 1980 Summer Olympics as usual was a part of the swimming sport, other two parts were swimming and diving. They were not three separate sports, because they all were governed by one federation — FINA. Water Polo discipline consisted of one event: men's team. In the preliminary round 12 teams were divided into three groups. Two best teams from each group (shaded ones) advanced to Group A of the final round to determine places 1 through 6. The rest of teams played in Group B of the final round to determine places 7 through 12.
The event was held between July 20 and July 29 in two venues:
118,247 spectators watched 48 matches of water polo event at these venues.
All matches of the preliminary round were played in the Outdoor Swimming Pool of the Central Lenin Stadium at Luzhniki.
Remark: Country names in the medal table are not given in the form they were used in the official documents of the IOC in 1980
Michael Turner, David Neesham, Robert Bryant, Peter Montgomery, Julian Muspratt, Andrew Kerr, Anthony Falson, Charles Turner, Martin Callaghan, Randall Goff, and Andrew Steward.
Volodia Sirakov, Andrei Andreev, Kiril Kiriakov, Asen Denchev, Vasil Nanov, Anton Partalev, Petar Kostadinov, Nikolai Stamatov, Biser Georgiev, Matei Popov, and Georgi Gospodinov.