The FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The inaugural tournament was played between 20 and 24 June 2018 in Lima, Peru. Bulgaria won the inaugural edition, defeating Colombia in the final and qualified for the 2019 Nations League.
Current season, competition or edition: 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup | |
| Sport | Volleyball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 |
| First season | 2018 |
| CEO |  Ary Graça |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Continent | International (FIVB) |
| Most recent champion(s) |  France(1st title) |
| Most titles |  Bulgaria Canada Croatia France(1 title each) |
| Streaming partner(s) | Volleyball TV |
| Promotion to | Nations League |
| Official website | Volleyball Challenger Cup |
The creation of the tournament was announced in October 2017 (alongside with the announcement of the Nations League) as a joint project between the FIVB, the IMG and 21 national federations.[1] The Challenger Cup serves as a qualifying tournament for the aforementioned Nations League. The FIVB Challenger Cup is held before the Nations League Final Round (in 2018 and 2019 editions) but changed it in 2022 edition and the winner earns the right to participate in the next year's Nations League.[2][3]
A corresponding tournament for men's national teams is the FIVB Volleyball Men's Challenger Cup.
Format edit
Previous format edit
The six qualified teams play in 2 pools of 3 teams in a round-robin format. The top 2 teams of each pool qualify for the semifinals. The first ranked teams play against the second ranked teams in this round. The winners of the semifinals advance to compete for the Challenger Cup title. The champion team will qualify for the next year's Nations League as a challenger team.[2][4]
New format edit
The eight qualified teams play in a knockout stage format. The top four teams in the quarterfinals will qualify for the semifinals. The winner of the quarterfinal 1 will play a semifinal match against the winner of the quarterfinal 4 and the winner of the quarterfinal 2 will play a semifinal match against the winner of the quarterfinal 3. The winners of the semifinals will advance to compete for the Challenger Cup title. The champion team will qualify for the next year's Nations league as a challenger team.[5]
Qualification edit
| Confederation | Slots |
|---|---|
| AVC (Asia) | 1 |
| CAVB (Africa) | 1 |
| CSV (South America) | 1 |
| CEV (Europe) | 2 |
| NORCECA (North America) | 1 |
| Total | 8 (6+H+VNL) |
Hosts edit
List of hosts by number of final championships hosted.
| Times hosted | Hosts | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |  Peru |
2018, 2019 |
| 1 | Croatia |
2022 |
| France |
2023 |
Appearance edit
- Legend
- 1st – Champions
- 2nd – Runners-up
- 3rd – Third place
- 4th – Fourth place
- • – Did not enter / Did not qualify
- – Hosts
- Q – Qualified for forthcoming tournament
| Team | 2018 (6) |
2019 (6) |
2022 (8) |
2023 (8) |
 2024 (8) |
Total |
 Argentina |
• | 3rd | • | • | 1 | |
 Australia |
5th | • | • | • | 1 | |
 Belgium |
• | • | 2nd | • | 1 | |
| Bulgaria |
1st | • | • | • | 1 | |
 Cameroon |
• | • | 8th | • | 1 | |
| Canada |
• | 1st | • | • | 1 | |
 Chinese Taipei |
• | 6th | • | • | 1 | |
 Colombia |
2nd | • | 4th | 3rd | 3 | |
| Croatia |
• | 4th | 1st | 7th | 3 | |
 Czech Republic |
• | 2nd | 6th | • | 2 | |
| France |
• | • | 5th | 1st | 2 | |
 Hungary |
6th | • | • | • | 1 | |
 Kazakhstan |
• | • | 7th | • | 1 | |
 Kenya |
• | • | • | 6th | 1 | |
 Mexico |
• | • | • | 5th | 1 | |
| Peru |
4th | 5th | • | • | 2 | |
 Puerto Rico |
3rd | • | 3rd | • | Q | 3 |
 Sweden |
• | • | • | 2nd | 1 | |
 Ukraine |
• | • | • | 4th | 1 | |
 Vietnam |
• | • | • | 8th | 1 |
Results summary edit
| Year | Host | Final | 3rd place match | Teams | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runners-up | 3rd place | Score | 4th place | ||||||
| 2018 Details |
Lima |
 Bulgaria |
3–1 |  Colombia |
 Puerto Rico |
3–2 |  Peru |
6 | |||
| 2019 Details |
Lima |
 Canada |
3–2 |  Czech Republic |
 Argentina |
3–0 |  Croatia |
6 | |||
| 2020 | Zadar |
Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |||||||||
| 2021 | |||||||||||
| 2022 Details |
Zadar |
Croatia |
3–1 |  Belgium |
Puerto Rico |
3–1 | Colombia |
8 | |||
| 2023 Details |
Laval |
 France |
3–1 |  Sweden |
Colombia |
3–1 |  Ukraine |
8 | |||
Medals summary edit
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bulgaria | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Canada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Croatia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| France | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 | Colombia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Sweden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 | Puerto Rico | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | Argentina | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (10 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | |
Nations League qualifier edit
| Year | Relegated Challenger Team | Remaining Challenger Teams | Challenger Cup Winner | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Argentina 
|
Belgium 
|
 Dominican Republic
|
 Poland
|
Only 4 challenger teams in the tournament | Bulgaria 
| ||
| 2019 | Bulgaria
|
Canada
| ||||||
| 2021 | None[6][7] | Canada
|
Cancelled[8] | |||||
| 2022 | Belgium
|
Bulgaria[a]
|
Croatia
| |||||
| 2023 | Croatia
|
France
| ||||||
See also edit
Notes edit
- ^ Bulgaria replaced Russia due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. As a result, Russia was out of the Nations League.[9]
References edit
- ^ "FIVB announces the Volleyball Nations League". FIVB.org. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ a b "FIVB Executive Committee embraces digital transformation". FIVB.org. 7 December 2017. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ "Volleyball Challenger Cup battles coming up in Croatia and Korea". volleyballworld. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ "Six teams line up for Volleyball Challenger Cup and one open berth in 2019 Men's and Women's VNL". FIVB.org. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
- ^ "Competition Formula". Volleyball World.
- ^ "Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2021 – Everything you need to know". IOC. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ "FIVB statement on participating teams at VNL 2021". FIVB. 26 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
- ^ "FIVB announces cancellation of Volleyball Challenger Cup 2021". Volleyball World. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "FIVB Declares Russia And Belarus Not Eligible For International And Continental Competitions". FIVB. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
External links edit
- Fédération Internationale de Volleyball – official website