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| Interesting Water Polo Facts - The modern game originated as a form of rugby football played in rivers and lakes in England and Scotland with a ball constructed of Indian rubber. This "water rugby" came to be called "water polo" based on the English pronunciation of the Balti word for ball, pulu.
- The rules of water polo were originally developed in the late nineteenth century in Great Britain by William Wilson.
- To deal with variations in regional rules, in 1888, the London Water Polo League was founded and approved a set of rules to allow team competition, forming the basis of the present game. The first English championships were played in 1888. In 1890, the first international water polo game was played; Scotland defeated England, 4-0.
- The annual Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities is the sport's longest running rivalry, first played in 1891.
- Men's water polo at the Olympics was the first team sport introduced at the 1900 games, along with cricket, rugby, soccer, polo (with horses), rowing and tug of war.
- Between 1890 and 1900, the game developed in Europe, with teams competing in Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Hungary and Italy, using British rules. A different game was being played in the United States, characterized by rough play, holding, diving underwater, and soft, semi-inflated ball that could be gripped tightly and carried underwater. As a result, European teams did not compete in the 1904 Olympic championships in St. Louis. By 1914, most US teams agreed to conform to international rules. An international water polo committee was formed in 1929, consisting of representatives from Great Britain and the International Amateur Swimming Federation (FINA). Rules were developed for international matches and put into effect in 1930; FINA has been the international governing body for the sport since that time.
- Women's water polo became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games after political protests from the Australian women's team.
- Every two to four years since 1973, a men's Water Polo World Championship is organized within the FINA World Aquatics Championships. Women's water polo was added in 1986. A second tournament series, the FINA Water Polo World Cup, has been held every other year since 1979. In 2002, FINA organized the sport's first international league, the FINA Water Polo World League.
- Musician Sean Paul is a former member of Jamaica's national water polo team.
- Former major league baseball commissioner and US Olympic Committee chair Peter Ueberroth was a water polo player at San Jose State.
- Prince William was the captain of his collegiate water polo team at St Andrew's University,
 Scotland.
- Captain Jonathan Archer (played by actor Scott Bakula), a fictional character in the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, played water polo for Stanford University and competed in the 2134 North American Water Polo Regionals against Princeton University.
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