The following is the list of squads that took part in the men's water polo tournament at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Australia
The following players represented Australia:
Michael Withers
Tom Hoad
David Woods
Peter Montgomery
Ian McLauchlain
Robert Menzies
David Neesham
Les Nunn
Nicky Barnes
Leon Wiegard
Bill Tilley
Bulgaria
The following players represented Bulgaria:
Biser Naumov
Ivan Kovachev
Aleksandar Shintser
Toma Tomov
Plamen Brankov
Mladen Khristov
Nedelcho Yordanov
Vasil Tomov
Andrey Konstantinov
Matey Popov
Lyubomir Runtov
Canada
The following players represented Canada:
William Van der Pol
Alan Pyle
Rick Pugliese
Clifford Barry
Donald Packer
Stephen Hart
Jack Gauldie
Robert Thompson
David Hart
Gabor Csepregi
Guy Leclerc
Cuba
The following players represented Cuba:
Oscar Periche
David Rodríguez
Jorge Rizo
Guillermo Martínez Ginoris
Orlando Cowley
Eugenio Almenteros
Carlos Sánchez
Gerardo Rodríguez
Osvaldo García
Guillermo Cañete
Jesús Pérez
Greece
The following players represented Greece:
Dimitrios Konstas
Georgios Theodorakopoulos
Evangelos Voultsos
Kyriakos Iosifidis
Dimitrios Kougevetopoulos
Periklis Damaskos
Thomas Karalogos
Ioannis Karalogos
Efstathios Sarantos
Ioannis Palios
Panagiotis Mikhalos
Hungary
The following players represented Hungary:
Endre Molnár
Tibor Cservenyák
András Bodnár
István Görgényi
Zoltán Kásás
Tamás Faragó
László Sárosi
István Szivós Jr. István Magas Dénes Pócsik Ferenc Konrád
Italy
The following players represented Italy:
Alberto Alberani Samaritani
Eraldo Pizzo
Roldano Simeoni
Mario Cevasco
Alessandro Ghibellini
Gianni De Magistris
Guglielmo Marsili
Silvio Baracchini
Franco Lavoratori
Sante Marsili
Ferdinando Lignano
Japan
The following players represented Japan:
Yukiharu Oshita
Hirokatsu Kuwayama
Toshio Takahashi
Shuzo Yajima
Hiroshi Hashimoto
Koji Nakano
Naoto Minegishi
Tatsuo Jihira
Takashi Kimura
Yoshihiro Yasumi
Toru Arase
Mexico
The following players represented Mexico:
Daniel Gómez
Francisco García
Maximiliano Aguilar
Raúl Alanis
Arturo Valencia
Juan Manuel García
Armando Fernández
Alfredo Sauza
Ricardo Chapa
Víctor García
Rafael Azpeitia
Netherlands
The following players represented the Netherlands:
Evert Kroon
Hans Wouda
Jan Evert Veer
Hans Hoogveld
Wim Hermsen
Hans Parrel
Ton Schmidt
Mart Bras
Ton Buunk
Gijze Stroboer
Wim van de Schilde
Romania
The following players represented Romania:
Şerban Huber
Bogdan Mihăilescu
Gheorghe Zamfirescu
Gruia Novac
Dinu Popescu
Claudiu Rusu
Iosif Culineac
Cornel Rusu
Viorel Rus
Radu Lazăr
Cornel Frăţilă
Soviet Union
The following players represented the Soviet Union:
Vadim Gulyayev
Anatoly Akimov
Aleksandr Dreval
Aleksandr Dolgushin
Vladimir Zhmudsky
Aleksandr Kabanov
Oleksiy Barkalov
Aleksandr Shidlovsky
Nikolay Melnikov
Leonid Osipov
Viacheslav Sobchenko
Spain
The following players represented Spain:
Salvador Franch
Juan Rubio
Juan Sans
Juan Jané
Alfonso Cánovas
Gabriel Soler
Poncio Puigdevall
Enrique Guardia
José Padrós
Gaspar Ventura
Luis Bestit
United States
The following players represented the United States:
James Slatton
Stan Cole
Russ Webb
Barry Weitzenberg
Gary Sheerer
Bruce Bradley
Peter Asch
Jim Ferguson
Steve Barnett
John Parker
Eric Lindroth
West Germany
The following players represented West Germany: