Volleyball world league

The volleyball world league was a competition for the men's national teams. The tournament was held annually from 1990 to 2017. A similar tournament for the women's teams was the Volleyball World Grand Prix . From 2018 the World League was replaced by the Volleyball Nations League .

Regulations

The FIVB changed the regulations again and again in order to increase the sporting value of the world league and the attractiveness for the spectators. However, there were some basic provisions.

• The participants of the world league did not qualify, but were invited by the FIVB.
• The participants had to ensure a live TV broadcast in their own country.
• The competition was divided into at least two phases. The preliminary round (often referred to as the "intercontinental round") took place in several venues. The final round (s) was (s) held at a central location.
• In the preliminary round, the teams were divided into groups. Each team played four games against their group opponents, twice at home and twice away. There were two games on one weekend.
• After the preliminary round, the best teams qualified for the next round (s). The number depended on the number of participants and the format used.
• The host was automatically qualified for the finals.
• The FIVB had tried several formats for the final round: Top Six, Top Four and quarter / semi-finals. A mixed format has been used since 2006. The quarter-finalists were split into two groups and the top two teams in each group went to the semi-finals and final.
• In the preliminary round, a team consisted of 18 players, of whom the coach selected twelve for the respective weekend. Only twelve players were allowed in the final round.

history

The World League was founded in 1990 as part of an extensive FIVB marketing campaign that shaped the activities of the World Volleyball Association at the end of the century. With the annual competition, those responsible wanted to promote the sport and attract spectators from all over the world. At that time, the most important international tournaments, which took place every four years, were limited to one host country. The world league, however, should be held annually, with each team hosting some preliminary round matches. Further restrictions on participation, such as the mandatory local TV broadcast, ensured an intensive media presence.

The FIVB strategy proved to be successful; at the turn of the century, the world league had established itself as a major international event. The generous prize money - the sum rose from one million to 13 million dollars between 1990 and 2004 - compensated for the lack of tradition and prestige, according to the national associations. After the success of the World League, the FIVB started a similar competition for women in 1993 with the World Grand Prix . This became very popular especially in East Asia, while it was not so successful in the rest of the world.

Tournaments

In the 1990s, the Italians dominated the world league and won the first three tournaments. In 1993, Brazil was able to use the home advantage as the reigning Olympic champion , but the southern Europeans were successful again in the next two years. In 1996, the eventual Olympic champion from the Netherlands defeated the Italians in a five-set final, but a year later the dominant team of the decade took the title again. In 1998, Cuba prevailed before Italy expanded its track record to eight in eleven years in 1999 and 2000. In 2001, however, the Italians' dominance ended when they defeated Brazil in three sets. The South Americans developed with further success in the years 2003 to 2007 to the new power in the world league. Before that, Russia could win once in 2002. In 2008, the USA ended the Brazilian series and won the title for the first time. But in the next two years the Brazilians won again. In 2011 Russia won the World League for the second time after they beat the Brazilians again. Poland won the title for the first time in 2012 and France for the first time in 2015.

	year	host	gold	silver	bronze
1	1990	Osaka	Italy	Netherlands	Brazil
2	1991	Milan	Italy	Cuba	Soviet Union
3	1992	Genoa	Italy	Cuba	United States
4th	1993	São Paulo	Brazil	Russia	Italy
5	1994	Milan	Italy	Cuba	Brazil
6th	1995	Rio de Janeiro	Italy	Brazil	Cuba
7th	1996	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Italy	Russia
8th	1997	Moscow	Italy	Cuba	Russia
9	1998	Milan	Cuba	Russia	Netherlands
10	1999	Mar del Plata	Italy	Cuba	Brazil
11	2000	Rotterdam	Italy	Russia	Brazil
12	2001	Katowice	Brazil	Italy	Russia
13	2002	Belo Horizonte	Russia	Brazil	Yugoslavia
14th	2003	Madrid	Brazil	Serbia and M.	Italy
15th	2004	Rome	Brazil	Italy	Serbia and M.
16	2005	Belgrade	Brazil	Serbia and M.	Cuba
17th	2006	Moscow	Brazil	France	Russia
18th	2007	Katowice	Brazil	Russia	United States
19th	2008	Rio de Janeiro	United States	Serbia	Russia
20th	2009	Belgrade	Brazil	Serbia	Russia
21st	2010	Cordoba	Brazil	Russia	Serbia
22nd	2011	Danzig	Russia	Brazil	Poland
23	2012	Sofia	Poland	United States	Cuba
24	2013	Mar del Plata	Russia	Brazil	Italy
25th	2014	Florence	United States	Brazil	Italy
26th	2015	Rio de Janeiro	France	Serbia	United States
27	2016	Krakow	Serbia	Brazil	France
28	2017	Curitiba	France	Brazil	Canada

Medal table

nation	gold	silver	bronze	total
Brazil	9	7th	4th	20th
Italy	8th	3	4th	15th
Russia 1	3	5	7th	15th
United States	2	1	3	6th
France	2	1	1	4th
Cuba	1	5	3	9
Serbia 2	1	5	3	9
Netherlands	1	1	1	3
Poland	1	0	1	2
Canada	0	0	1	1
1 1991 Soviet Union 2 2002 Yugoslavia , 2003 to 2006 Serbia and Montenegro

Placements

	TN	19 90	19 91	19 92	19 93	19 94	19 95	19 96	19 97	19 98	19 99	20 00	20 01	20 02	20 03	20 04	20 05	20 06	20 07	20 08	20 09	20 10	20 11	20 12	20 13	20 14	20 15	20 16	20 17
Egypt	7th																	13	13	13		14th					21st	20th	24
Argentina	19th							7th	8th	9	6th	8th	13	9			10	7th	13		5	5	4th	10	6th	13	11	10	10
Australia	5										10															6th	8th	12	15th
Belgium	4th																									11	12	9	7th
Brazil	28	3	5	5	1	3	2	5	5	5	3	3	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	4th	1	1	2	6th	2	2	5	2	2
Bulgaria	20th					4th	5	8th	6th	7th					5	4th	5	4th	5	7th	9	7th	5	4th	4th	9	10	11	9
China	18th	8th		9	7th	11	11	6th	10					9		10		13	9	7th	13	15th				23	24	19th	17th
Germany	13			12	8th	10							13	9	10							9	11	5	8th	18th		26th	27
Estonia	1																												25th
Finland	13				12													10	7th	10	7th	13	10	13	15th	16	15th	17th	21st
France	21st	5	8th	11							7th	7th	5	7th	10	5	10	2	6th	10	9	12	12	7th	11	10	1	3	1
Greece	13				11	7th	9	11		12			9	9	7th	5	7th										25th	27	36
Iran	5																								10	4th	7th	8th	11
Italy	28	1	1	1	3	1	1	2	1	4th	1	1	2	4th	3	2	7th	6th	9	7th	7th	6th	6th	11	3	3	5	4th	12
Japan	24	6th	7th	10	6th	8th	8th	9	12				9	13	13	10	10	13	13	6th	13		15th	15th	17th	20th	13	24	14th
Canada	11		10	7th							8th	11							13					12	5	15th	15th	13	3
Kazakhstan	3																										28	35	35
Qatar	2																											31	32
Cuba	26th		2	2	4th	2	3	4th	2	1	2	8th	5	13	13	7th	3	7th	7th	10	4th	4th	8th	3	18th	21st	18th	22nd
Mexico	4th																									26th	30th	34	28
Montenegro	3																										22nd	29	31
Netherlands	21st	2	4th	4th	5	5	12	1	4th	3	10	5	7th	7th	10						9	11			7th	12	13	15th	16
Austria	1																												29
Poland	20th									10	8th	8th	7th	5	9	7th	4th	7th	4th	5	9	10	3	1	12	8th	4th	5	8th
Portugal	14th										10		13	13	13	10	5	13					14th	16	16	14th	18th	14th	22nd
Puerto Rico	4th																						16			27	28	36
Russia 1	26th	4th	3	6th	2	6th	4th	3	3	2	4th	2	3	1	7th			3	2	3	3	2	1	8th	1	5	8th	7th	6th
Serbia 2	20th								7th	6th		4th	4th	3	2	3	2	5	9	2	2	3	9	9	9	7th	2	1	5
Slovakia	4th																									24	23	21st	19th
Slovenia	2																											25th	13
Spain	15th						7th	10	9	8th	5	11	9	5	5	7th				13						25th	25th	32	26th
South Korea	19th		9	8th	10	9	6th		11	11								10	9	13	13	16	13	14th	13	19th	18th	23	18th
Czech Republic	5														4th											17th	15th	18th	20th
Taiwan	2																											28	33
Tunisia	4th																									28	30th	33	30th
Turkey	4th																									22nd	25th	16	23
United States	20th	7th	6th	3	9	12	10					6th	9					10	3	1	6th	8th	7th	2	14th	1	3	6th	4th
Venezuela	9												13	13	13		7th			13	13						30th	30th	34
TN = number of participations (1990 to 2017)
1 1990 and 1991 Soviet Union , 1992 United Team 2 1997 to 2003 Yugoslavia , 2003 to 2006 Serbia and Montenegro

Web links

• Official website of the FIVB for the World League