Teams jockeyed for position throughout the year, with the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest serving as the highlight. And voting is now open for the best men and women water polo players, in order to help determine the 2022 standouts.
The public polling is balanced with votes also being cast by top retired athletes, technical officials, sports leaders and members of the media. The winners will be crowned during the World Aquatics Championships - Fukuoka 2023.
With legendary 2021 women’s winner Maggie Steffens (USA) not making the list for 2022, four new women nominees figure on the shortlist. On the men’s side, 2021 winner Francesco Di Fulvio returns alongside stiff competition.
Meet the 2022 Women Water Polo Player of the Year Nominees
24-year-old Madeline Musselman (USA) not only became a World Champion in Budapest, she was also named Best Player of the World Championships. It was the fifth time Maddie was named Best Player for a World Aquatics competition. A stellar career has seen many titles for Maddie, not least of which is most prolific scorer for UCLA, where she completed her college career in 2022 with 252 goals.
Beatriz Ortiz (ESP) became top scorer in Budapest as her team took fifth place. A World League winner as Spain won in 2022 before a home crowd, the 27-year-old Béa also took the honour of Best Player of the World League. These successes saw Béa build on the silver she earned at Tokyo 2020.
Rita Keszthelyi (HUN) won silver before an impassioned home crowd in Budapest in 2022. The 31-year-old’s team also took silver at the World League. She was also the World League’s leading scorer. Rita is currently Hungary’s captain heading into Fukuoka as she looks to attain even greater heights.
Simone van de Kraats (NED) was bronze medallist of the World Championships. The 22-year-old’s team also took 4th place at the World League as van de Kraats become one of her team’s go-to shooters as she made the move to Spain to compete with Mataro.
Meet the 2022 Men Water Polo Player of the Year Nominees
37-year-old Felipe Perrone (ESP) added more titles to an already-stellar career in 2022 as his team won in Budapest as the World Aquatic Championships. Felipe was named best player of the World Championships, having been a leader of the Spanish team for many years.
Francesco Di Fulvio (ITA), 29, won silver medallist in Budapest, but took home gold from Strasbourg as World League winner, while his club, Pro Recco, took Copa Italia honours. N.B. The World Aquatics results page doesn’t have him listed as having won the World League and neither does Wikipedia.
Benjamin Hallock (USA), also a Copa Italia winner with Pro Recco added a silver medal at the World League to his name to round out a successful 2022. One of the USA’s top centers, the 25-year-old Hallock scored nine goals during his team’s performance at the World League Super Finals in Strasbourg.
Konstantinos Kakaris (GRE) was a Budapest 2022 World Aquatics Championships bronze medalist as Greece also took the title of team of the world championships. The 25-year-old considered one of the best current center-forwards, was the top scorer in the bronze medal match that saw Greece beat Croatia.
Vote Now!
Voting will continue throughout the week, until this Saturday (June 17th), with a vote taking place for one sport a day for the next six days.
Wednesday 14 June will see Artistic Swimming’s stars vie for the title, followed by other sports through this Saturday.