FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup
Most recent season or competition:
2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup
SportVolleyball
Founded1965 (1965)
Inaugural season1965
CEOBrazil Ary Graça
No. of teams8
ContinentInternational (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

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

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

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

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

Medals summary

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Soviet Union4127
2 Brazil3036
3 United States3025
4 Russia2103
5 Cuba1315
 Italy1315
7 East Germany1001
8 Poland0314
9 Japan0303
10 Netherlands0101
11 Czechoslovakia0022
12 Bulgaria0011
 Serbia and Montenegro0011
 Slovenia0011
Totals (14 entries)15151545

Debut of national teams

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
2023  Finland,  Slovenia,  Turkey 3

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[2] 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)		 Japan
2019
(12)		 Japan
2023
(8)		 Total
 Algeria••••••9th••••••••1
 Argentina••••5th••7th9th•7th7th5th5th•7
 Australia••••••••••8th•9th11th•3
 Brazil•6th8th3rd4th5th6th3rd5th1st1st3rd•1st•12
 Bulgaria9th4th6th•••••••3rd••••4
 Cameroon•••••8th•••••••••1
 Canada••12th••••10th8th7th••7th9th•6
 Chile••••••12th••••••••1
 China••5th5th•••9th11th10th•11th•••6
 Cuba•9th3rd2nd•1st2nd6th2nd••5th•••8
 Egypt••11th•8th••11th•12th10th12th10th10th7th9
 Finland••••••••••••••6th1
 France11th••••••••5th•••••2
 GermanySee  East Germany
and  West Germany		7th••••••••1
 Hungary7th••••••••••••••1
 Iran••••••11th••••9th8th8th•4
 Italy•••7th•2nd•1st3rd2nd•4th2nd7th•8
 Japan4th2nd2nd6th6th6th4th5th10th9th9th10th6th4th2nd15
 Mexico••9th•••10th••••••••2
 Netherlands10th••••••2nd•••••••2
 Poland2nd8th4th4th•••••••2nd3rd2nd•7
 Puerto Rico••••••••••6th••••1
 Romania6th7th•••••••••••••2
 RussiaPart of  Soviet Union•1st•2nd1st4th6thDQ5
 SerbiaPart of  YugoslaviaPart of  FRY /  SCG•8th••5th2
 Slovenia••••••••••••••3rd1
 South Korea••7th•7th7th5th8th7th6th11th••••8
 Spain••••••••6th•5th••••2
 Tunisia•11th•8th••8th12th12th11th12th•12th12th8th10
 Turkey••••••••••••••4th1
 United States••10th•1st4th3rd4th4th4th4th6th1st3rd1st12
 Venezuela•••••••••8th••11th••2
Discontinued nations
 Czechoslovakia3rd5th••3rd••See  Czech Republic and  Slovakia3
 East Germany5th1st••••See  Germany2
 Yugoslavia /
 Serbia and Montenegro		Part of  Yugoslavia••3rdSee  Serbia
and  Montenegro		1
 Soviet Union1st3rd1st1st2nd3rd1stSee  Russia etc.7
 West Germany•10th••••See  Germany1
 Yugoslavia8th••••••See  FRY /  SCG etc.See  Serbia etc.1

MVP by edition

See also

References

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