Volleyball
Combining stellar sportsmanship with amazing athleticism, volleyball is one of the few gender-neutral sports that is globally celebrated.
Whether it’s in the Olympics or a Champions league, volleyball competitions serve up some serious entertainment and gameplay. Let’s take a look at the sport’s most important tournaments.
Olympic Games
An obvious but important one to start with, the Olympic Games first included volleyball at the Summer Olympics in 1964. Since then, dozens of nations have come from all over to support their countries, playing in both men’s and women’s teams.
The games host indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, and even Paralympic matches. Throughout Olympics history, the former Soviet Union has gained the most gold medals (7 in total). The U.S. currently holds the most gold medals for beach volleyball with 6.
Although this tournament is one of the most sought after in the sporting world, there’s no better demonstration of volleyball talent than the sport played at the Olympic Games.
FIVB World Championship
Second, only to the Olympics, the FIVB World Championship which features both women’s and men’s leagues is the most important international competition in volleyball. Every four years since 1949, the men’s national teams have been facing off in a series of matches, the first taking place in the Czech Republic’s capital city, Prague.
Women have also had a long history of competitions as their first was in 1959 with the Soviet Union taking home the championship title with a background of cheering crowds.
Fast forward over 60 years and fan engagement for competitions like these is just as high as it was back then. Nowadays, volleyball fans have access to more than 80 sports betting sites that provide expert picks and rankings for important tournaments like this one, allowing followers to participate actively in the game they love.
Currently, Serbia is the reigning champ for the woman’s league, and Poland is the men’s most recent champion. The Netherlands, Poland, and Russia have already been announced as hosts of the 2022 World Championship, but what matters now is how well the national teams perform until then.
CEV EuroVolley
The European Championship has been one of the most attractive volleyball competitions in its history. The first men’s volleyball EuroVolley took place in Italy back in 1948, where Czechoslovakia won the gold medal.
In the women’s competition, the first tournament was held in Czechoslovakia in 1949. The gold medal was taken by Soviet Union (now Russia), a national team that is a record titleholder, winning 17 titles at the EuroVolley tournaments so far in the women’s competitions.
FIVB World Cup
A men’s international competition first introduced in 1965, the FIVB World Cup takes place the year before the Olympic Games and showcases 12 different teams who face off in different matches over two weeks. As is the custom in volleyball, there is also a woman’s edition of the FIVB World Cup whose most recent champion is China and the country that has won the most gold medals in the tournament.
The men have also performed exceptionally well in Brazil, Russia, and the U.S. with Brazil having the most gold medals (3) as well as 3 bronze ones. Although a new location used to be chosen each year since 1977 the tournament has been exclusively held in Japan for both the men’s and women’s teams.
Indoor Volleyball
NORCECA Championship
Since its introduction in 1969, the NORCECA Championship, as its name suggests, has existed for female and male athletes only from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Cuba is currently the tournament’s record medal holder with a whopping 16 gold, 5 silver, and 4 bronze medals (or a total of 25). The United States trail right behind with a collective of 24 medals.
In 2016, the President of the NORCECA Confederation proposed a new system that gives more opportunities for participation in the tournament according to FIBV rankings. This is good news, as the tournament is extremely important when considering a potential Olympic appearance. There are currently 7 total teams that compete in this tournament which takes place every 2 years in different cities around the Americas and Caribbean such as Havana, Los Angeles, and Mexico City.
