Club Natació Barcelona introduced water polo to Spain, holding the first match against the crew of an English ship anchored in the port of Barcelona in 1908.

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The CNB inspired the creation of the Spanish Olympic Committee and in 1920 founded the Catalan and Spanish Swimming Federations. That year the Antwerp Olympic Games were held and the CNB water polo team represented Spain. In their first participation in a Games, the Spanish team finished in fifth position.

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One of the members of that team, Enrique Granados Cal, became soon after, as coach of the CNB, the introducer of "crawling" in Spain. Granados discovered this style by watching American swimmers competing in these Games practice it.

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160 Olympic athletes have emerged from the CNB. One of the most outstanding is the water polo player Manel Estiarte, proclaimed 7 times best player in the world, international with Spain on 580 occasions and participating in 6 Olympics, who was part of the Club between 1979 and 1985.

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The water polo section is the most decorated in Spain with 1 Cup and 1 European Super Cup, 2 LEN Cups, 59 Leagues and 8 Spanish King's Cups, among other titles.

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Currently, the absolute water polo team is fighting to be among the top spots in the National League. The teams in the base categories are in first place in the classification of their respective Catalan leagues, as well as the championships of Catalonia and Spain.

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In addition, the CNB is the creator and organizer of the BCN WP Under 10 international tournament, one of the most important junior category competitions at international level.