Beach Volleyball Major Series

The Beach Volleyball Major Series (or Beach Major Series and formerly the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series) is an international series of beach volleyball tournaments which began in 2015. The tournaments consist of Tour Stops and form part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The series concludes with the FIVB World Tour Finals.

Beach Volleyball Major Series
Full nameBeach Volleyball Major Series
RegionInternational
Date spanFebruary–September
TournamentsMen & Women
TypeBeach volleyball
CEOHannes Jagerhofer
History
First tour2015
Number of tour stops4 (2015), 5 (2016), 4 (2017), 4 (2018), 2 (2019)
Most tournament wins
Women (team) Talita/Larissa (5 wins)
Men (team) Mol/Sørum (5 wins)
Present World Tour Final winners
Women Ludwig/Kozuch
Men Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy

Each tournament in the series has a prize pool of US$300,000 per gender, except for the World Tour Finals which has a prize pool of US$400,000 per gender.[1]

History

The Beach Volleyball Major Series arose out of a joint-venture between Austrian companies Red Bull and the ACTS Group.[2]

Red Bull was established in 1987 by Dietrich Mateschitz. Aside from the energy drink, Red Bull's direct marketing focuses heavily on sports and lifestyle.

ACTS Group is a marketing agency founded in 1990 by Hannes Jagerhofer.[3] It offers services including event-marketing, event-organization, external-communication and public relations. The group has also been responsible for the organizing beach volleyball tournaments, including the FIVB Grand Slams in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria.

Swatch was the title sponsor of the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series between 2015 and 2017.

The Series will not continue for a sixt year in 2020 with three Major stops because of COVID-19.

Relation to the FIVB

The competition is overseen by the FIVB, the international governing body for the sports of indoor, beach and grass volleyball.[4]

In the category of Beach Volleyball, the FIVB oversees three competitions, namely: the FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and lastly the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.

The Beach Volleyball Major Series forms part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.

Olympic qualification

Beach volleyball was formally recognized as an Olympic discipline in 1996. In order for a beach volleyball athlete to participate in the Olympics, minimum requirements must be met and one of these requirements as stipulated by the FIVB is that all athletes must have participated in a minimum of 12 official FIVB Olympic qualification tournaments as an individual.

Also an athlete hoping to participate in the Olympics must earn FIVB World Ranking points which tallies up to make up the Olympic Ranking.

Participation in Major Series tournaments counts towards Olympic qualification tournaments and also earns athletes FIVB World Ranking points. An exception is the FIVB World Tour Finals – participating teams do not earn FIVB World Ranking points for this event.

In 2016, the smart Major Hamburg was the final tournament where Olympic ranking points for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro could be obtained.[5]

Tournaments

2015

The first Beach Volleyball Major Series began in 2015. There were Tour Stops in Poreč, Croatia; Stavanger, Norway and Gstaad, Switzerland. The Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals took place in Fort Lauderdale Florida, United States.

DatesTour StopMajorHost countryMen's winnersWomen's winners
2–7 JunePorečPoreč Major CroatiaBrouwer/Meewusen [6]Larissa/Talita [7]
9–12 JuneStavangerStavanger Major NorwayEvandro/Pedro Solberg [8]Juliana/Antonelli [9]
7–12 JulyGstaadGstaad Major SwitzerlandAlison/Bruno Schmidt [10]Larissa/Talita [11]
29-Sept-4 OctFort LauderdaleSwatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals United StatesAlison/Bruno Schmidt [12]Larissa/Talita [13]

2016

The 2016 Major Series schedule began in Hamburg, Germany, and took in further stops in Croatia, Switzerland and Klagenfurt in Austria. The Series culminated with the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto.

DatesTour StopMajorHost countryMen's winnersWomen's winners
7–12 JuneHamburgsmart Major Hamburg GermanyLucena/Dalhausser [14][15]Ludwig/Walkenhorst [16][17]
28-Jun-3 JulPorečPoreč Major CroatiaAlison/Bruno Schmidt Laboureur/Sude
5–10 JulyGstaadGstaad Major SwitzerlandEvandro/Pedro Solberg Larissa/Talita
26–31 JulyKlagenfurtA1 Major Klagenfurt/Kärnten AustriaSamoilovs/Smedins Ludwig/Walkenhorst
13–18 SeptemberTorontoSwatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals CanadaAlison/Bruno Schmidt Ludwig/Walkenhorst

2017

The 2017 Major Series schedule was released in October 2016.[18] As part of the FIVB World Tour, the Swatch Major Series will again pay trips to Poreč and Gstaad. The 2017 tour began in February in Fort Lauderdale, the site of the 2015 World Tour Finals. The 2017 Finals were held in August in Hamburg. The Swatch Major Series was also responsible for the organization of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna in July and August.[19]

DatesTour StopMajorHost countryMen's winnersWomen's winners
7–12 FebruaryFort LauderdaleFort Lauderdale Major United StatesAlvaro/Saymon Larissa/Talita
27-Jun-2 JulPorečPoreč Major CroatiaGuto/Pedro Solberg Pavan/Humana-Paredes
4–9 JulyGstaadGstaad Major SwitzerlandLucena/Dalhausser Laboureur/Sude
22–27 AugustHamburgSwatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals GermanyLucena/Dalhausser Ludwig/Walkenhorst

2018
DatesTour StopMajorHost countryMen's winnersWomen's winners
27 Feb - 4 AprFort LauderdaleFort Lauderdale Major United StatesLucena/Dalhausser Seixas/Alves
5–10 JulyGstaadGstaad Major SwitzerlandMol/Sørum Humana-Paredes/Pavan
31 Jul –5 AugViennaVienna Major AustriaMol/Sørum Hermannová/Sluková
14–19 AugustHamburgFIVB World Tour Finals GermanyMol/Sørum Agatha/Duda

2019
Dates Tour Stop Major Host country Men's winners Women's winners
9 - 14 July Gstaad Gstaad Major Switzerland Mol/Sørum Klineman/Ross
31 Jul - 4 Aug Vienna Vienna Major Austria Mol/Sørum Pavan/Melissa

2020

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all three tournaments have been cancelled.[20]

DatesTour StopMajorHost countryMen's winnersWomen's winners
7–12 JulyGstaadGstaad Major SwitzerlandCancelledCancelled
12–16 AugustViennaVienna Major AustriaCancelledCancelled
19–23 AugustHamburgHamburg Major GermanyCancelledCancelled

Mascot

The Major Series' official mascot is Marnin. Unveiled prior to the 2016 season, Marnin is described as a cross between a kangaroo and a fox.[21] Marnin made his debut courtside on the FIVB Tour at the Hamburg Major.

See also

References
  1. "FIVB Sports Regulations: Beach Volleyball" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. November 30, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  2. Beach Majors GmbH (2015-09-17). "Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series | About". Swatch Major Series. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-06-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015". www.fivb.org.
  5. "smart Major Hamburg". www.fivb.org.
  6. "Porec MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  7. "Porec MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  8. "Stavanger MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  9. "Stavanger MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  10. "Gstaad MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  11. "Gstaad MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  12. "Ft. Lauderdale Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals". www.fivb.org.
  13. "Ft. Lauderdale Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals". www.fivb.org.
  14. "Dalhausser/Lucena close 2016 Olympic qualification with a gold".
  15. "smart Major Hamburg". www.fivb.org.
  16. beach-volleyball.de. "beach-volleyball.de: Gold für Ludwig/Walkenhorst beim Hamburg Major". www.beach-volleyball.de.
  17. "smart Major Hamburg". www.fivb.org.
  18. "News". www.fivb.com.
  19. "FIVB - Volleyball". www.fivb.org.
  20. https://sport.orf.at/stories/3061214/
  21. "Hi everybody, I'm Marnin!".
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