The Beach Volleyball Major Series (or Beach Major Series and formerly the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series) was an international series of beach volleyball tournaments from 2015 to 2020. The tournaments consisted of Tour Stops and formed part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The series concluded with the FIVB World Tour Finals.
| Beach Volleyball Major Series | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Beach Volleyball Major Series |
| Region | International |
| Date span | February–September |
| Tournaments | Men & Women |
| Type | Beach volleyball |
| CEO | Hannes Jagerhofer |
| History | |
| First tour | 2015 |
| Number of tour stops | 4 (2015), 5 (2016), 4 (2017), 4 (2018), 2 (2019) |
| Most tournament wins | |
| Women (team) |  Talita/Larissa (5 wins) |
| Men (team) |  Mol/Sørum (5 wins) |
| Present World Tour Final winners | |
| Women |  Ludwig/Kozuch |
| Men |  Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy |
Each tournament in the series had a prize pool of US$300,000 per gender, except for the World Tour Finals which had a prize pool of US$400,000 per gender.[1]
History
editThe Beach Volleyball Major Series arose out of a joint-venture between Austrian companies Red Bull and the ACTS Group.[2]
Red Bull was established in 1987 by Dietrich Mateschitz. Aside from the energy drink, Red Bull's direct marketing focuses heavily on sports and lifestyle.
ACTS Group is a marketing agency founded in 1990 by Hannes Jagerhofer.[3] It offers services including event-marketing, event-organization, external-communication and public relations. The group has also been responsible for the organizing beach volleyball tournaments, including the FIVB Grand Slams in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria.
Swatch was the title sponsor of the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series between 2015 and 2017.
The Series will not continue because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Relation to the FIVB
editThe competition was overseen by the FIVB, the international governing body for the sports of indoor, beach and grass volleyball.[4]
In the category of Beach Volleyball, the FIVB oversees three competitions, namely: the FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and lastly the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
The Beach Volleyball Major Series formed part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Olympic qualification
editBeach volleyball was formally recognized as an Olympic discipline in 1996. In order for a beach volleyball athlete to participate in the Olympics, minimum requirements must be met and one of these requirements as stipulated by the FIVB is that all athletes must have participated in a minimum of 12 official FIVB Olympic qualification tournaments as an individual.
Also an athlete hoping to participate in the Olympics must earn FIVB World Ranking points which tallies up to make up the Olympic Ranking.
Participation in Major Series tournaments counts towards Olympic qualification tournaments and also earns athletes FIVB World Ranking points. An exception is the FIVB World Tour Finals – participating teams do not earn FIVB World Ranking points for this event.
In 2016, the smart Major Hamburg was the final tournament where Olympic ranking points for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro could be obtained.[5]
Tournaments
edit2015
editThe first Beach Volleyball Major Series began in 2015. There were Tour Stops in Poreč, Croatia; Stavanger, Norway and Gstaad, Switzerland. The Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals took place in Fort Lauderdale Florida, United States.
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2–7 June | Poreč | Poreč Major |  Croatia |
Brouwer/Meewusen  [6] |
Larissa/Talita [7]
|
| 9–12 June | Stavanger | Stavanger Major | Norway |
Evandro/Pedro Solberg [8] |
Juliana/Antonelli [9]
|
| 7–12 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major |  Switzerland |
Alison/Bruno Schmidt [10] |
Larissa/Talita [11]
|
| 29 September – 4 October | Fort Lauderdale | Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals |  United States |
Alison/Bruno Schmidt [12] |
Larissa/Talita [13]
|
2016
editThe 2016 Major Series schedule began in Hamburg, Germany, and took in further stops in Croatia, Switzerland and Klagenfurt in Austria. The Series culminated with the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto.
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7–12 June | Hamburg | smart Major Hamburg | Germany |
Lucena/Dalhausser [14][15] |
Ludwig/Walkenhorst [16][17]
|
| 28 June – 3 July | Poreč | Poreč Major | Croatia |
Alison/Bruno Schmidt |
Laboureur/Sude
|
| 5–10 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland |
Evandro/Pedro Solberg |
Larissa/Talita
|
| 26–31 July | Klagenfurt | A1 Major Klagenfurt/Kärnten |  Austria |
Samoilovs/Smedins  |
Ludwig/Walkenhorst
|
| 13–18 September | Toronto | Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals |  Canada |
Alison/Bruno Schmidt |
Ludwig/Walkenhorst
|
2017
editThe 2017 Major Series schedule was released in October 2016.[18] As part of the FIVB World Tour, the Swatch Major Series did include trips to Poreč and Gstaad. The 2017 tour began in February in Fort Lauderdale, the site of the 2015 World Tour Finals. The 2017 Finals were held in August in Hamburg. The Swatch Major Series was also responsible for the organization of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna in July and August.[19]
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7–12 February | Fort Lauderdale | Fort Lauderdale Major | United States |
Alvaro/Saymon |
Larissa/Talita
|
| 27 Jun – 2 July | Poreč | Poreč Major | Croatia |
Guto/Pedro Solberg |
Pavan/Humana-Paredes
|
| 4–9 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland |
Lucena/Dalhausser |
Laboureur/Sude
|
| 22–27 August | Hamburg | Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals | Germany |
Lucena/Dalhausser |
Ludwig/Walkenhorst
|
2018
edit| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 February – 4 April | Fort Lauderdale | Fort Lauderdale Major | United States |
Lucena/Dalhausser |
Seixas/Alves
|
| 5–10 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland |
Mol/Sørum |
Humana-Paredes/Pavan
|
| 31 July – 5 August | Vienna | Vienna Major | Austria |
Mol/Sørum |
Hermannová/Sluková 
|
| 14–19 August | Hamburg | FIVB World Tour Finals | Germany |
Mol/Sørum |
Agatha/Duda
|
2019
edit| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9–14 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland
|
Mol/Sørum
|
Klineman/Ross
|
| 31 July – 4 August | Vienna | Vienna Major | Austria
|
Mol/Sørum
|
Pavan/Melissa
|
2020
editDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, all three tournaments as well as the whole Beach Volleyball Major Series was cancelled.[20] [21]
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7–12 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland |
Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 12–16 August | Vienna | Vienna Major | Austria |
Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 19–23 August | Hamburg | Hamburg Major | Germany |
Cancelled | Cancelled |
Mascot
editThe Major Series' official mascot was Marnin. Unveiled prior to the 2016 season, Marnin is described as a cross between a kangaroo and a fox.[22] Marnin made his debut courtside on the FIVB Tour at the Hamburg Major.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "FIVB Sports Regulations: Beach Volleyball" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. November 30, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
- ^ Beach Majors GmbH (2015-09-17). "Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series | About". Swatch Major Series. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ^ "Event Agentur Wien, Web Agentur Wien, Marketing Agentur Wien". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
- ^ "FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "smart Major Hamburg". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Porec MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Porec MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Stavanger MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Stavanger MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Gstaad MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Gstaad MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Ft. Lauderdale Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Ft. Lauderdale Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Dalhausser/Lucena close 2016 Olympic qualification with a gold". Archived from the original on June 24, 2016.
- ^ "smart Major Hamburg". www.fivb.org.
- ^ beach-volleyball.de. "beach-volleyball.de: Gold für Ludwig/Walkenhorst beim Hamburg Major". www.beach-volleyball.de.
- ^ "smart Major Hamburg". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "News". www.fivb.com.
- ^ "FIVB - Volleyball". www.fivb.org.
- ^ "Beachvolleyball: Major auf Wiener Donauinsel abgesagt". 25 March 2020.
- ^ ""Aus diesem Grund haben wir auch den Gedanken der Major Series ad acta gelegt..."". www.leadersnet.at (in German). Retrieved 2020-10-14.
- ^ "Hi everybody, I'm Marnin!".