World Grand Prix
The move follows the same decision by the World League Council on Saturday to increase the annual men’s tournament from 16 to 18 teams. The World Grand Prix Council, chaired by FIVB Executive Vice-President and CEV Senior Vice President Aleksandar Boricic, decided to add World Cup winners Italy (WR4), world champions Russia (WR6), 2012 World Grand Prix bronze medalists Turkey (WR7) and Germany (WR10) to the 16 teams already qualified to ensure all the top 10 world ranked nations will participate.
The World Grand Prix Finals will return to Japan for the first time since 2009 and will take place in Sapporo from August 28 to September 1. Japan has hosted the World Grand Prix Finals four times in the past with Sapporo being a fifth host city after Tokyo in 2009, Yokohama in 2008, Sendai in 2005 and Kobe in 1997. The tournament will run in accordance with previous years in terms of having round-robin tournaments and two matches per day. Following the Preliminary Round, the organizer and the next best five teams will qualify for the Finals.
The World Grand Prix featured eight teams in its debut season of 1993 and from 1995 to 2002, while 12 teams were in action in 1994 and from 2003 to 2010. Sixteen teams have been involved in the 2011 and 2012 editions.
List of participating teams
Africa: 1 to be determined
Asia: 2 from the AVC Cup (Thailand, Kazakhstan) and 2 automatically qualified (Japan, China)
Europe: 4 from the 2012 European League (Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Netherlands), 4 FIVB appointments (Italy, Russia, Turkey, Germany) and 1 automatically qualified (Poland)
NORCECA: 4 from Pan American Cup (USA, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico)
South America: 2 from Pan American Cup (Brazil, Argentina)
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