FIVB Volleyball World League
SportVolleyball
Founded1990
Ceased2017
Replaced byNations League
Challenger Cup
No. of teams12 in Group 1
12 in Group 2
12 in Group 3
ContinentInternational (FIVB)
Last
champion(s)		 France (2nd title)
Most titles Brazil (9 titles)

The FIVB Volleyball World League was an annual international men's volleyball competition. Created in 1990, it was the longest and richest of all the international events organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The women's version of the competition was called FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix. This event should not be confused with the other international volleyball competitions, the World Championship, the World Cup and the World Grand Champions Cup.

From 2018, the World League and World Grand Prix was replaced by the men's and women's Nations League and men's and women's Challenger Cup.[1][2]

History

Origins

First FIVB World League logo
Second FIVB World League logo

The World League was created in 1990 as part of the intensive marketing programme that would become a distinctive mark of the FIVB's activities near the end of the century. The idea was to promote the sport of volleyball by establishing an annual competition that would appeal to audiences all over the world.

Winners

In the 1990s, the Italians dominated the World League, winning the first three tournaments in 1990, 1991 and 1992. Playing at home, Brazil, at the time the Olympic champions, managed to take the gold in 1993, but Italy regained the title in 1994 and 1995.

In 1996, foreshadowing what would happen just a couple of months later at the Atlanta Olympic Games, the Netherlands beat them in an extremely tight five-set match, before Italy once again won the gold in 1997. In 1998, the winners were Cuba, while in 1999 and 2000 Italy won again.

As can be seen, Italy were clearly the dominant team in the first decade of the World League: from 1990 to 2000, the World League was played 11 times, and Italy took gold eight times, while the remaining three titles were won by three different teams.

Italy's supremacy in the World League began to wane in 2001, when Brazil won a second gold medal, beating the Italians in three straight sets. With further titles each year from 2003 to 2007, and winning another titles in 2009 and 2010, the Brazilians were the preeminent at the start of the 21st century, being also World and Olympic Champions. The interruptions to Brazil's dominance came in 2002, when Russia took the title, and in 2008, with the United States winning gold and gaining positive momentum going into the Beijing Olympics.

Competition formula

The FIVB is constantly adapting the World League's competition formula to improve competitiveness and to make the games more attractive to the audience. Nevertheless, a few basic rules and restrictions will probably remain unchanged in the following years.

  • Teams who participate must provide local media coverage and live TV broadcasting.
  • The competition is divided in at least two phases: a preliminary round (usually called "Intercontinental Round"), with a system of rotating host cities; and one or more final rounds, with one or more host nations.
  • In the preliminary round, teams are organized in pools. Each team plays a total of four matches against all other teams in its pool, two at home, two as visitors. Each pair of matches is played over a weekend.
  • When all the matches of the preliminary round have been played, the top n teams in each pool qualify for the final round(s), and the remaining ones leave the competition. The value of n depends on the number of participating teams and the format that will be employed in the finals.
  • Host nation(s) automatically qualify for the final round(s).
  • The FIVB has tried various formats for the final round(s): Top Six, Top Four, Quarter-Semi-finals (Olympic format). For some years now (2004), the most commonly used is a mixed format: quarterfinalists are organized in two pools, and the top two teams in each pool play semifinals and finals according to the Olympic format.
  • In the preliminary round, a team is usually given the right to work with a list of nineteen players, from which the coach builds the fourteen-player line-up included two liberos (if the team include only one libero in the roster, their max roster number is limited to 12) that will be employed in a particular weekend. For the final round(s), only fourteen players included two liberos are allowed.

Hosts

List of hosts by number of final round championships hosted.

Times hosted Hosts Year(s)
6 Italy1991, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2004, 2014
6 Brazil1993, 1995, 2002, 2008, 2015, 2017
4 Poland2001, 2007, 2011, 2016
3 Argentina1999, 2010, 2013
2 Netherlands1996, 2000
2 Russia1997, 2006
2 Serbia2005, 2009
1 Japan1990
1 Spain2003
1 Bulgaria2012

Appearance

Brazil and Italy are the only teams that participated in all editions of the World League.

Team Intercontinental Round Final Round[upper-alpha 1]
App. First Last App. First Last
 Brazil28199020172519902017
 Italy28199020172219902016
 Russia[upper-alpha 2]26199020172219902017
 Cuba26199120161519912012
 Japan2419902017120082008
 France2219902017720012017
 Netherlands21199020171019902002
 Serbia[upper-alpha 3]20199720171320002017
 United States20199020171119922017
 Bulgaria20199420171019942013
 Poland2019982017920012016
 Argentina1919962017519992013
 South Korea1919912017119951995
 China1819902017119961996
 Spain1519952017319992003
 Portugal1419992017–––
 Greece1319932017120032003
 Germany1319922017120122012
 Finland1319932017–––
 Canada1119912017220132017
 Venezuela920012017–––
 Egypt720062017–––
 Czech Republic520032017120032003
 Australia519992017120142014
 Iran520132017120142014
 Puerto Rico420112016–––
 Belgium420142017–––
 Mexico420142017–––
 Slovakia420142017–––
 Tunisia420142017–––
 Turkey420142017–––
 Kazakhstan320152017–––
 Montenegro320152017–––
 Chinese Taipei220162017–––
 Qatar220162017–––
 Slovenia220162017–––
 Austria120172017–––
 Estonia120172017–––
  Team last allocated in Group 1
  Team last allocated in Group 2
  Team last allocated in Group 3
  Team was inactive in the last World League

Results summary

Year Final host Final 3rd place match Teams
IR / FR
Champions Score Runners-up 3rd place Score 4th place
1990 Japan
Osaka
Italy		 3–0
Netherlands
Brazil		 3–1
Soviet Union		 8 / 4
1991 Italy
Milan
Italy		 3–0
Cuba
Soviet Union		 3–1
Netherlands		 10 / 4
1992 Italy
Genoa
Italy		 3–1
Cuba
United States		 3–1
Netherlands		 12 / 4
1993 Brazil
São Paulo
Brazil		 3–0
Russia
Italy		 3–0
Cuba		 12 / 4
1994 Italy
Milan
Italy		 3–0
Cuba
Brazil		 3–2
Bulgaria		 12 / 6
1995 Brazil
Rio de Janeiro
Italy		 3–1
Brazil
Cuba		 3–2
Russia		 12 / 6
1996 Netherlands
Rotterdam
Netherlands		 3–2
Italy
Russia		 3–2
Cuba		 11 / 6
1997 Russia
Moscow
Italy		 3–0
Cuba
Russia		 3–0
Netherlands		 12 / 6
1998 Italy
Milan
Cuba		 Round-robin
Russia
Netherlands		 Round-robin
Italy		 12 / 4
1999 Argentina
Mar del Plata
Italy		 3–1
Cuba
Brazil		 3–1
Russia		 12 / 6
2000 Netherlands
Rotterdam
Italy		 3–2
Russia
Brazil		 3–0
Yugoslavia		 12 / 6
2001 Poland
Katowice
Brazil		 3–0
Italy
Russia		 3–0
Yugoslavia		 16 / 8
2002 Brazil
Belo Horizonte / Recife
Russia		 3–1
Brazil
Yugoslavia		 3–1
Italy		 16 / 8
2003 Spain
Madrid
Brazil		 3–2
Serbia and Montenegro
Italy		 3–1
Czech Republic		 16 / 8
2004 Italy
Rome
Brazil		 3–1
Italy
Serbia and Montenegro		 3–0
Bulgaria		 12 / 4
2005 Serbia and Montenegro
Belgrade
Brazil		 3–1
Serbia and Montenegro
Cuba		 3–2
Poland		 12 / 4
2006 Russia
Moscow
Brazil		 3–2
France
Russia		 3–0
Bulgaria		 16 / 6
2007 Poland
Katowice
Brazil		 3–1
Russia
United States		 3–1
Poland		 16 / 6
2008 Brazil
Rio de Janeiro
United States		 3–1
Serbia
Russia		 3–1
Brazil		 16 / 6
2009 Serbia
Belgrade
Brazil		 3–2
Serbia
Russia		 3–0
Cuba		 16 / 6
2010 Argentina
Córdoba
Brazil		 3–1
Russia
Serbia		 3–2
Cuba		 16 / 6
2011 Poland
Gdańsk–Sopot
Russia		 3–2
Brazil
Poland		 3–0
Argentina		 16 / 8
2012 Bulgaria
Sofia
Poland		 3–0
United States
Cuba		 3–2
Bulgaria		 16 / 6
2013 Argentina
Mar del Plata
Russia		 3–0
Brazil
Italy		 3–2
Bulgaria		 18 / 6
2014 Italy
Florence
United States		 3–1
Brazil
Italy		 3–0
Iran		 28 / 6
2015 Brazil
Rio de Janeiro
France		 3–0
Serbia
United States		 3–0
Poland		 32 / 6
2016 Poland
Kraków
Serbia		 3–0
Brazil
France		 3–0
Italy		 36 / 6
2017 Brazil
Curitiba
France		 3–2
Brazil
Canada		 3–1
United States		 36 / 6

Medals summary

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Brazil97420
2 Italy83415
3 Russia35614
4 United States2136
5 France2114
6 Cuba1539
7 Serbia1315
8 Netherlands1113
9 Poland1012
10 FR Yugoslavia /
 Serbia and Montenegro		0224
11 Canada0011
 Soviet Union0011
Totals (12 entries)28282884

Most valuable player by edition

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Since Group system was introduced in 2014, statistics of only Group 1 Final Round are included, as this is the medal round.
  2. ↑ Russia's total includes appearances as  Soviet Union and  CIS.
  3. ↑ Serbia's total includes appearances as  Yugoslavia and  Serbia and Montenegro.

References

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