News Bronze medallists in the 2015 world league, the Brazilian men's water polo team are looking at the schedule for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with every confidence that they can qualify from their group and go on to win a first Olympic medal The hiring of legendary Croatian coach Ratko Rudić, and the recruitment to the national side of eligible players from outside the country, has turned Brazil into a force to be reckoned with in the pool Become an expert on water polo with our infographic At London 2012, Rudić took Croatia to Olympic gold, an unprecedented fourth triumph as a water polo coach after leading Yugoslavia at Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988, and Italy at Barcelona 1992 After his success in London, Rudić looked for a new challenge far from home "In 2012, Rudić told me that he wanted to help water polo grow in a country where it wasn't very popular and to lead a team where there was no pressure for gold," says Ricardo Cabral, who is a tecnical consultant for water polo at the Brazilian aquatic sports confederation "It was like a dream " Rudić has taken three national sides to four Olympic golds (Photo: Getty Images/Streeter Lecka) Since Rudić began coaching the national side, Brazil has participated in more high-level competitions, players from major European clubs have represented the country, results have improved and water polo has appeared more and more in the Brazilian media The team's finest achievement to date came in the 2015 world league held in Bergamo, Italy Brazil defeated Australia and the USA to claim bronze In the same year, Brazil went on to win silver at the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto, this time behind the USA Stars come home Athletes who compete abroad but have the right to represent Brazil have played a big part in Brazil's recent successes Felipe Perrone, who was born in Rio de Janeiro but represented Spain at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, has decided to represent his homeland at Rio 2016  Perrone, who currently plays for Croatian club side VK Jug, was voted the best player of the 2015/2016 champions league in Europe Felipe Perrone, Brazil's star player, took Croatian club side VK Jug to champions league glory this month (Photo: LEN) Paulo Salemi and Adrià Delgado, born in Italy and Spain respectively to Brazilian parents, are also now mainstays of the team Cuba-born Ives Alonso, who has married a Brazilian doctor and lives in the country, joined the side after the Pan-American Games   "They already had very close ties to Brazil and wanted to compete for the country," Cabral says "We haven't had to seduce them " A couple of players with no family connections to Brazil have also joined the side from two of water polo's traditional European powerhouses: Slobodan Soro from Serbia and Josip Vrlic from Croatia Home-grown talent Cabral says that the increased popularity of water polo in Brazil will help grow the sport, especially at the youth level In the future, that will mean less reliance on imported players and a greater pool of talent to feed a fast developing national side "Three years ago, I would have said that a medal at Rio 2016 would be impossible," Cabral says "Today, I think we have a chance " Brazil have been drawn into Group A of the Olympic competition, alongside Serbia, Greece, Australia, Japan and Hungary Group B consists of the USA, Spain, France, Montenegro, Italy and Croatia The four highest ranked teams in each group will progress to the quarter-finals The Rio 2016 water polo competition will take place from 6 to 20 August  Most of the round-robin games will take place in the renovated Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre  The knock-out games will all be held in the Olympic Aquatics Stadium Check out the full schedule for the Rio 2016 water polo competitions