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 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 Italy national water polo team represents Italy in men's international water polo competitions and is controlled by Federnuoto. The national men's team has the nickname of "Settebello", a reference to both the Italian card game scopa and a standard water polo team having seven players.