Water polo at the 2021 Summer World University Games

The water polo at the 2021 Summer World University Games in Chengdu was played from 27 July to 8 August 2023. The dates of all events at the games were changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 17 water polo teams participated in the tournament.

Qualification
Following the FISU regulations, the maximum of 12 teams in men's water polo and 10 in women's water polo.If the number of teams interested the number of entries is larger they were selected by:
 * The entry and the payment of guarantee.
 * Those 5 teams finishing top rankings of the previous edition will be automatically qualified.
 * Those 3 teams finishing bottom rankings of the previous edition could be replaced by new applying teams.
 * The host is automatically qualified
 * The remaining teams will be selected by wild card system according to geographical, continental representation, FISU ranking and WA ranking.