Spain Captain Felipe Perrone Ends Legendary Career with Storybook Title
Felipe Perrone described it like a movie ending, one that maybe even Hollywood would’ve thought a little too on the nose Thursday.
Perrone’s last acts as an international water polo player unspooled at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore. With 18 seconds left in the gold-medal match of the World Aquatics Championships, Perrone scored to give Spain a three-goal lead over Hungary, the final touch on a 15-13 victory.
It meant Perrone would end his 14th World Championships with two different countries with a gold medal around, the final entry in one of his generation’s most illustrious careers.
“It was really like a movie,” the Spain captain said. “I couldn’t believe it. I think even the best movies are not so organized like this — like the last goal, winning the world championship. I’m so, so happy and so proud of the team.”
All the beats were there for the 39-year-old. He may not be the dominant force he once was, making the all-tournament team at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. (The former came when his current Spain teammate, Biel Gomila, was just two years old.) But Perrone’s game has not fallen far. He was the MVP of the World Championships final in 2022, when Spain beat Italy in the shootout for its first title in 21 years, and made the all-tournament team in 2023.
This year, Perrone had two goals on nine shots and three assists in the first six Spain games. But when his team needed him in the final, he produced two goals and an assist.
Perrone answered when Hungary got out to its biggest lead, at 10-8, with a goal at 3:23 of the third quarter. Spain scored five of the first six goals of the fourth quarter to take the lead, the last by Unai Biel with 3:10 left. It was enough to weather the red card shown to Bernat Sanahuja, the finals MVP, with 3:51 left.
Perrone finished it off personally. When Adam Nagy got Hungary within two at 14-12 with 51 seconds left, the captain replied by drawing the exclusion, then scoring on the power play with 18 ticks left to make it 15-12 and remove all doubt that he’d go out a winner.
Photo Courtesy: World Aquatics/Singapore 2025
“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “Hungary played amazing, but I think our team, we really showed our capacity. As a team, we played amazing. And I think more than that, it was an amazing game for water polo. I think people who watched it just see the best and the most beautiful water polo of all time.”
Perrone’s career is a wild ride. Born in Brazil, he moved to Spain at age 15 and represented both nations at the Olympics, with four Olympic for Spain and the home Games for Brazil in Rio in 2016. An Olympic medal eluded him, Spain finishing fourth in Tokyo, fifth in Beijing and sixth in Paris and London. But Spain has long been one of the most outstanding programs of Worlds.
Thursday was Spain’s fourth World Championship, moving into a tie with Hungary and Italy for the most in the competition’s history. Perrone led two, and he’s medaled in seven World Championships – silver in 2009 and 2019; bronze in 2007, 2023 and 2024. He has five European Championships medals, including gold in 2024.
The dramatic ending fit the emotional build Perrone felt leading to his final games.
“I was crying for the last six months, and every time all the guys were saying beautiful words for me,” he said. “I think it’s more than the result, because now it’s easy to talk about the results, but it was so, so many years with them. I spent more time with them than with my family. For me to finish like this and have them next to me, it is really a special feeling.”
Perrone has dominated domestic competition with 15 titles with CN Atletic-Barceloneta over four stints. He’s won the LEN Champions league with CNAB, Italian club Pro Recco and Croatia’s Jug Dubrovnik, with domestic titles in each league.
He is an icon in the sport.
“There are no words to describe Felipe,” said Alvaro Granados, the MVP of the tournament and perhaps Perrone’s heir apparent. “When the game finished, I said to him that one of the most beautiful things that sport ever gave me was being able to be a friend of him. He was my idol growing up watching water polo and being able to become his friend, his roommate for the last four years is some of the most beautiful things sport has ever given to me and will give to me for sure.
“He’s always for the good of the team. He has zero ego being one of the best players in history, for sure, and he puts always the others in front of him for the best of the group. We all learnt a lot from him, so he’s super humble, super good person and a great friend.”
The tributes came from both sides in the final.
“I cannot describe how happy I am for him,” Hungary’s Vince Vigvari said after giving his Barceloneta teammate a big hug. “If there was one player today who deserves it, it’s him. He knows that I love him so much, and I can’t wait to see him again in Barcelona, because I have to learn a lot more from him.”
It’s been a long journey for Perrone, who said he’s looking forward to a break from the year-round grind to spent time with family. It’s difficult to walk away, not from the accolades and trophies but from the people he’s won them alongside.
“I wouldn’t say that winning is an addictive feeling,” he said. “I think sport is an addictive feeling. I shared this with my teammates. It is the sport, every training session. This feeling of being connected with the guys. This is something really special. And sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and I lost a lot. For me, I would say that more than winning. It is the feeling of the relationship that we constructed during these years.”
