FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup

FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup
Sport Volleyball
Founded 1965
Inaugural season 1965
CEO Brazil Ary Graça
No. of teams 12
Continent International (FIVB)
Most recent
champion(s)
 United States (2nd title)
Most titles  Russia (6 titles)
Official website FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup

The FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. Initially the tournament was played in the year following the Olympic Games, except for 1973 when no tournament was held, but since 1991 the World Cup has been awarded in the year preceding the Olympic Games. The current champion is United States, which won its second title at the 2015 tournament.

The current format of the competition involves 12 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation Japan, competing in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about two weeks. The World Cup acts as the first qualification event for the following year's Olympic Games with the top two teams qualifying.

The 13 World Cup tournaments have been won by six different national teams. Russia have won six times (four as Soviet Union). The other World Cup winners are Brazil and United States, with two titles each; and Cuba, Italy and Germany (as East Germany), with one title each.

This tournament should not be confused with the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship.

History

Origins

The World Cup was created in 1965 with the purpose of partially filling the gap between the two most important volleyball tournaments, the Olympic Games and the World Championship, which take place in alternating 4-year cycles. The establishment of a third international competition would leave only one in every four years with no major events. The World Cup has a smaller entry than the World Championship, with at most 12 teams.

The World Cup was to be held in the year following the Olympic Games. The first two tournaments were for men's volleyball only; in 1973, a women's tournament was also introduced. Originally, each tournament had a different host, but in 1977 the competition was transferred to Japan on a permanent basis.

In the 1990s, the installment of annual international events such as the World League and the Grand Prix made the original motivations for the creation of the World Cup obsolete. Instead of letting a consolidated event disappear for lack of interest, the FIVB decided to change its format in 1991: it would be held in the year preceding, and not following, the Olympic Games; and it would be considered a first international Olympic qualification tournament, granting the winners a direct berth in the games.

This move saved the competition. The possibility of securing an early berth for the Olympic Games, thus avoiding extraneous and in some cases tight continental qualification procedures, became a consistent motivation for the national federations to participate in the World Cup. In 1995, the number of Olympic spots granted at the competition was increased to three, as it remained until 2011. In 2015 the number of spots was only two again.

Winners

Russia (considered as the inheritors of the records of the former Soviet Union), Brazil and United States are the only teams that have won the Men's World Cup more than once.

The Soviets took the gold at the opening edition of the tournament, in 1965. Four years later, the winner was also a socialist nation, East Germany.

Scheduled for Uruguay, the 1973 edition was cancelled. In 1977, competition was resumed in Japan, and the Soviet Union came back for two wins in a row. In 1985, they were once again runners-up, but lost the decisive match to United States in five sets. In 1989, Cuba surprised the world and beat a rising Italy to take the gold.

With the competition now set as a qualifying event for the Olympic Games, the Soviet Union, led by Dmitri Fomin won the title in 1991, at the brink of dissolution. The Italians, who hadn't participated in this edition, finally conquered their gold medal in 1995. Inheriting a large part of the former Soviet volleyball programme, Russia were the winners in 1999.

The following two editions, played in 2003 and 2007 respectively, were won by favorites Brazil. In 2011, Russia regained the title, while the 2015 edition was won by the United States for the second time.

Competition formula

The World Cup is the most stable from all competition formulas employed by the FIVB. The following rules apply:

  • The competition takes place in Japan.
  • Twelve teams participate in each event: ten qualified, two per invitation.
    • Japan are always pre-qualified as host nation.
    • The winners of the FIVB World Championship in the previous year are automatically granted a spot.
    • The champion and runner-up of each continental tournament of that year are granted two spots.
    • Since the 1999 edition, only teams not yet qualified for the following Olympic Games can compete in the World Cup; hence hosts of the following year's Olympic Games are not allowed to compete. There will be an exception for the 2019 World Cup, as the tournament will be hosted by Japan and the country will host the 2020 Summer Olympics.
  • The competition is divided in exactly two phases (called "legs").
    • Teams are divided in two pools.
      • At the first leg, each team plays one match against all other teams in its pool.
    • At the second leg, each team plays one match against all the teams in the other pool.
    • Matches take place continuously through two weeks, with one-day breaks every two or three days. Each day, six matches are played.
    • Final standings are calculated by usual volleyball criteria: match points, numbers of matches won, sets ratio (the total number of sets won divided by the total number of sets lost), points ratio, direct confrontation.
  • Top two teams in overall standings, regardless of pools, qualify for the following Olympic Games.
  • The tournament implements very tight line-up restrictions: only twelve players are allowed, and no replacement is permitted, even in the case of injuries.

Results summary

Year Host Final 3rd place match Teams
Champions Score Runners-up 3rd place Score 4th place
1965
Details
Poland
Poland

Soviet Union
Round-robin
Poland

Czechoslovakia
Round-robin
Japan
11
1969
Details
East Germany
East Germany

East Germany
Round-robin
Japan

Soviet Union
Round-robin
Bulgaria
12
1977
Details
Japan
Japan

Soviet Union
Round-robin
Japan

Cuba
Round-robin
Poland
12
1981
Details
Japan
Japan

Soviet Union
Round-robin
Cuba

Brazil
Round-robin
Poland
8
1985
Details
Japan
Japan

United States
Round-robin
Soviet Union

Czechoslovakia
Round-robin
Brazil
8
1989
Details
Japan
Japan

Cuba
Round-robin
Italy

Soviet Union
Round-robin
United States
8
1991
Details
Japan
Japan

Soviet Union
Round-robin
Cuba

United States
Round-robin
Japan
12
1995
Details
Japan
Japan

Italy
Round-robin
Netherlands

Brazil
Round-robin
United States
12
1999
Details
Japan
Japan

Russia
Round-robin
Cuba

Italy
Round-robin
United States
12
2003
Details
Japan
Japan

Brazil
Round-robin
Italy

Serbia and Montenegro
Round-robin
United States
12
2007
Details
Japan
Japan

Brazil
Round-robin
Russia

Bulgaria
Round-robin
United States
12
2011
Details
Japan
Japan

Russia
Round-robin
Poland

Brazil
Round-robin
Italy
12
2015
Details
Japan
Japan

United States
Round-robin
Italy

Poland
Round-robin
Russia
12
2019
Details
Japan
Japan
Round-robin Round-robin 16

Medals summary

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Russia[upper-alpha 1]62210
2 Brazil2035
3 United States2013
4 Cuba1315
 Italy1315
6 Germany[upper-alpha 2]1001
7 Poland0213
8 Japan0202
9 Netherlands0101
10 Czech Republic[upper-alpha 3]0022
11 Bulgaria0011
 Serbia[upper-alpha 4]0011
Totals (12 nations)13131339

Participating nations

Legend
  • 1st – Champions
  • 2nd – Runners-up
  • 3rd – Third place
  • 4th – Fourth place
  •    – Did not enter / Did not qualify
  •    – Hosts
  • = – More than one team tied for that rank
  • Q – Qualified for forthcoming tournament
Team[1] Poland
1965
(11)
East Germany
1969
(12)
Japan
1977
(12)
Japan
1981
(8)
Japan
1985
(8)
Japan
1989
(8)
Japan
1991
(12)
Japan
1995
(12)
Japan
1999
(12)
Japan
2003
(12)
Japan
2007
(12)
Japan
2011
(12)
Japan
2015
(12)
Total
 Algeria9th1
 Argentina5th7th9th7th7th5th6
 Australia8th9th2
 Brazil6th8th3rd4th5th6th3rd5th1st1st3rd11
 Bulgaria9th4th6th3rd4
 Cameroon8th1
 Canada12th10th8th7th7th5
 Chile12th1
 China5th5th9th11th10th11th6
 Cuba9th3rd2nd1st2nd6th2nd5th8
 Egypt11th8th11th12th10th12th10th7
 France11th5th2
 GermanySee  East Germany and  West Germany7th1
 Hungary7th1
 Iran11th9th8th3
 Italy7th2nd1st3rd2nd4th2nd7
 Japan4th2nd2nd6th6th6th4th5th10th9th9th10th6th13
 Mexico9th10th2
 Netherlands10th2nd2
 Poland2nd8th4th4th2nd3rd6
 Puerto Rico6th1
 Romania6th7th2
 RussiaSee  Soviet Union1st2nd1st4th4
 SerbiaSee  YugoslaviaSee  SCG8th1
 South Korea7th7th7th5th8th7th6th11th8
 Spain6th5th2
 Tunisia11th8th8th12th12th11th12th12th9
 United States10th1st4th3rd4th4th4th4th6th1st10
 Venezuela8th11th2
Discontinued nations
 Czechoslovakia3rd5th3rdSee  Czech Republic3
 East Germany5th1stSee  Germany2
 Serbia and MontenegroSee  Yugoslavia3rdSee  Serbia1
 Soviet Union1st3rd1st1st2nd3rd1stSee  Russia7
 West Germany10thSee  Germany1
 Yugoslavia8thSee  SCGSee  Serbia1

MVP by edition

See also

Notes

  1. FIVB considers Russia (since 1993) as the inheritor of the records of Soviet Union (1948-1991) and CIS (1992).
  2. After the German reunification, West Germany (1949-1990) was renamed Germany (since 1991) and absorbed East Germany (1949-1990) with the records.
  3. FIVB considers Czech Republic (since 1994) as the inheritor of the records of Czechoslovakia (1948-1993).
  4. FIVB considers Serbia (since 2007) as the inheritor of the records of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1948-1991), Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992-2002) and Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006).

References

  1. "FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup 2011". fivb.org. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
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