The 2018 Men's Volleyball World Cup took place in Italy and Bulgaria from September 9th to 30th, 2018 . For the first time, two nations hosted a volleyball world championship together. A total of 24 teams took part in the final round. Poland was the defending champion, as were the two hosts. The Poles prevailed against Brazil in the final and won their third World Cup title. The United States took third place .
The tournament began with a preliminary round in four groups of six teams each. As in the following group matches, the internationally customary point scoring applied: In the event of a 3-0 or 3-1, the winner received three points, the loser received nothing. If the match was 3-2, there were two points for the winner and one for the loser. The number of victories was decisive for placing in the group. In the event of equality, the number of points decided first, then the rate quotient (division method) and finally the ball point quotient (division method). The four best teams in each group reached the second round, which was held in four groups with four participants each. The points from the first round were taken over. From the four groups in the second round, the best team reached the third round; there were also the best two runners-up in the group. The six teams have now been divided into two new groups. The two best teams in these groups qualified for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals played the final, the losers played for third place.
As the hosts Italy and Bulgaria as well as defending champion Poland were three European teams seeded for the final round, only seven more places were played in the qualification of the CEV . In the first qualifying round, seven teams from smaller countries competed in two groups, whose winners and runners-up reached the next round. The second round took place from May 23 to 28, 2017. It was held in six groups with six teams each. The group winners qualified for the final round, while the group runners-up determined the last European World Cup participant in the next round from 19 to 23 July.
Africa received three starting places. The winner as well as the second and third place finishers of the African Nation Championship, which the CAVB organized from October 22nd to 29th in Cairo , were qualified .
Asia got four starting places. In the qualification of the AVC there were initially various preliminary rounds. Kyrgyzstan prevailed against two competitors in the "sub zonal round" in September and is hosting the "zonal round" for Central Asia, which was played from May 26th to 28th, 2017. In the “zonal round” for Southeast Asia , Thailand won against Vietnam and Myanmar at the beginning of October 2016 , while New Zealand won against Fiji and Tonga in Oceania at the end of October 2016 . In West Asia and East Asia, Qatar and Taiwan were selected by their position in the world rankings.
The winners of the preliminary rounds met a few seeded teams in two groups. Group A played in Iran from August 10-14 and Group B in Australia from July 12-16 . The two best teams in each group qualified for the World Cup finals.
The NORCECA qualification took place via the NORCECA Championship 2017, which was held from September 26th to October 1st in Colorado Springs . The three best teams in this tournament qualified for the World Cup. Before that, several preliminary rounds took place in three regions. Two more places were awarded at a qualifying tournament that was held in Cuba from November 10th to 12th .
South America got two starting places. One of the two places went to the winner of the South American volleyball championship 2017, which took place in Chile from August 7th to 11th . Brazil won the title. The CSV then held a qualification tournament in Argentina from August 31 to September 4 . The host's team prevailed.
Brazil
Serbia
Poland
United States
Italy
Russia
Belgium
Canada
Bulgaria
France
Netherlands
Slovenia
Argentina
Australia
Finland
Iran
Egypt
Japan
Cameroon
Cuba
People's Republic of China
Dominican Republic
Puerto Rico
Tunisia
Estonia
Germany
Slovakia
Spain
Belarus
