FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup

FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup
Most recent season or competition:; 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup
Sport	Volleyball
Founded	1965; 59 years ago
First season	1965
CEO	Ary Graça
No. of teams	8
Continent	International (FIVB)
Most recent; champion(s)	United States; (3rd title)
Most titles	Soviet Union; (4 titles)
Streaming partner(s)	Volleyball TV (since 2019)

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 champions are the United States, who won their third title at the 2023 tournament.

The current format of the competition involves eight 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 (with exception of the 2019 edition) acts as the first qualification event for the following year's Olympic Games with the top two teams qualifying.

The 15 World Cup tournaments have been won by six different national teams. Russia is the most successful team, having won the title six times (four as Soviet Union). The other World Cup winners are Brazil and the United States with three titles each, followed by Cuba, Italy and East Germany with one title each.

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

History edit

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 four-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 twelve 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.

With the change of qualification for the Paris Summer Olympics, the 2023 World Cup will serve as one of the three Olympic qualification tournaments. Only eight teams will participate in this edition, with two tickets to Paris Olympics for the top two teams.^[1]

Winners edit

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. Brazil won the title for the third time in 2019.

Competition formula edit

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 edit

Ed.	Year	Host	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Teams
1	1965	Poland	Soviet Union	Poland	Czechoslovakia	Japan	11
2	1969	East Germany	East Germany	Japan	Soviet Union	Bulgaria	12
3	1977	Japan	Soviet Union	Japan	Cuba	Poland	12
4	1981	Japan	Soviet Union	Cuba	Brazil	Poland	8
5	1985	Japan	United States	Soviet Union	Czechoslovakia	Brazil	8
6	1989	Japan	Cuba	Italy	Soviet Union	United States	8
7	1991	Japan	Soviet Union	Cuba	United States	Japan	12
8	1995	Japan	Italy	Netherlands	Brazil	United States	12
9	1999	Japan	Russia	Cuba	Italy	United States	12
10	2003	Japan	Brazil	Italy	Serbia and Montenegro	United States	12
11	2007	Japan	Brazil	Russia	Bulgaria	United States	12
12	2011	Japan	Russia	Poland	Brazil	Italy	12
13	2015	Japan	United States	Italy	Poland	Russia	12
14	2019	Japan	Brazil	Poland	United States	Japan	12
15	2023	Japan	United States	Japan	Slovenia	Turkey	8

Medals summary edit


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	4	1	2	7
2	Brazil	3	0	3	6
3	United States	3	0	2	5
4	Russia	2	1	0	3
5	Cuba	1	3	1	5
5	Italy	1	3	1	5
7	East Germany	1	0	0	1
8	Poland	0	3	1	4
9	Japan	0	3	0	3
10	Netherlands	0	1	0	1
11	Czechoslovakia	0	0	2	2
12	Bulgaria	0	0	1	1
	Serbia and Montenegro	0	0	1	1
	Slovenia	0	0	1	1
Totals (14 entries)		15	15	15	45

Debut of national teams edit

Year	Debutants	Total
1965	Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, France, Hungary, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia	11
1969	Brazil, Cuba, Tunisia, West Germany	4
1977	Canada, China, Egypt, Mexico, South Korea, United States	6
1981	Italy	1
1985	Argentina	1
1989	Cameroon	1
1991	Algeria, Chile, Germany, Iran	4
1995	None	0
1999	Russia, Spain	2
2003	Serbia and Montenegro, Venezuela	2
2007	Australia, Puerto Rico	2
2011	Serbia	1
2015	None	0
2019	None	0
2023	Finland, Slovenia, Turkey	3

Participating nations edit

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^[2]	1965 (11)	1969 (12)	1977 (12)	1981 (8)	1985 (8)	1989 (8)	1991 (12)	1995 (12)	1999 (12)	2003 (12)	2007 (12)	2011 (12)	2015 (12)	2019 (12)	2023 (8)	Total
Algeria	•	•	•	•	•	•	9th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Argentina	•	•	•	•	5th	•	•	7th	9th	•	7th	7th	5th	5th	•	7
Australia	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	8th	•	9th	11th	•	3
Brazil	•	6th	8th	3rd	4th	5th	6th	3rd	5th	1st	1st	3rd	•	1st	•	12
Bulgaria	9th	4th	6th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	3rd	•	•	•	•	4
Cameroon	•	•	•	•	•	8th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Canada	•	•	12th	•	•	•	•	10th	8th	7th	•	•	7th	9th	•	6
Chile	•	•	•	•	•	•	12th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
China	•	•	5th	5th	•	•	•	9th	11th	10th	•	11th	•	•	•	6
Cuba	•	9th	3rd	2nd	•	1st	2nd	6th	2nd	•	•	5th	•	•	•	8
Egypt	•	•	11th	•	8th	•	•	11th	•	12th	10th	12th	10th	10th	7th	9
Finland	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	6th	1
France	11th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	5th	•	•	•	•	•	2
Germany	See East Germany and West Germany						7th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Hungary	7th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Iran	•	•	•	•	•	•	11th	•	•	•	•	9th	8th	8th	•	4
Italy	•	•	•	7th	•	2nd	•	1st	3rd	2nd	•	4th	2nd	7th	•	8
Japan	4th	2nd	2nd	6th	6th	6th	4th	5th	10th	9th	9th	10th	6th	4th	2nd	15
Mexico	•	•	9th	•	•	•	10th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	2
Netherlands	10th	•	•	•	•	•	•	2nd	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	2
Poland	2nd	8th	4th	4th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	2nd	3rd	2nd	•	7
Puerto Rico	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	6th	•	•	•	•	1
Romania	6th	7th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	2
Russia	Part of Soviet Union							•	1st	•	2nd	1st	4th	6th	DQ	5
Serbia	Part of Yugoslavia							Part of FRY / SCG			•	8th	•	•	5th	2
Slovenia	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	3rd	1
South Korea	•	•	7th	•	7th	7th	5th	8th	7th	6th	11th	•	•	•	•	8
Spain	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	6th	•	5th	•	•	•	•	2
Tunisia	•	11th	•	8th	•	•	8th	12th	12th	11th	12th	•	12th	12th	8th	10
Turkey	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	4th	1
United States	•	•	10th	•	1st	4th	3rd	4th	4th	4th	4th	6th	1st	3rd	1st	12
Venezuela	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	8th	•	•	11th	•	•	2
Discontinued nations
Czechoslovakia	3rd	5th	•	•	3rd	•	•	See Czech Republic and Slovakia								3
East Germany	5th	1st	•	•	•	•	See Germany									2
Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro	Part of Yugoslavia							•	•	3rd	See Serbia and Montenegro					1
Soviet Union	1st	3rd	1st	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	See Russia etc.								7
West Germany	•	10th	•	•	•	•	See Germany									1
Yugoslavia	8th	•	•	•	•	•	•	See FRY / SCG etc.			See Serbia etc.					1

MVP by edition edit

1977 – Tomasz Wójtowicz (POL)
1981 – Vyacheslav Zaytsev (URS)
1985 – Karch Kiraly (USA)
1989 – Karch Kiraly (USA)
1991 – Dmitry Fomin (URS)
1995 – Andrea Giani (ITA)
1999 – Roman Yakovlev (RUS)
2003 – Takahiro Yamamoto (JPN)
2007 – Gilberto Godoy Filho (BRA)
2011 – Maxim Mikhaylov (RUS)
2015 – Matt Anderson (USA)
2019 – Alan Souza (BRA)

References edit

^ "Japan Unveiled As First Hosts Of Olympic Qualification Tournaments". FIVB. 16 October 2022.
^ "FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup 2011". fivb.org. Retrieved 25 August 2016.

External links edit

[1] "Japan Unveiled As First Hosts Of Olympic Qualification Tournaments". FIVB. 16 October 2022.

[fivb-2] "FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup 2011". fivb.org. Retrieved 25 August 2016.

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