FIVB Men's Volleyball Challenger Cup
The FIVB Men's Volleyball Challenger Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The first tournament was played between 20 and 24 June 2018 in Matosinhos, Portugal. The Portugal team won the inaugural edition, defeating Czech Republic counterpart in the final and qualified for the 2019 Nations League.
| Most recent season or competition: 2024 FIVB Men's Volleyball Challenger Cup | |
| Sport | Volleyball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 |
| First season | 2018 |
| CEO |  Ary Graça |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Continent | International (FIVB) |
| Most recent champion(s) |  China(1st title) |
| Most titles | China Cuba Portugal Slovenia Turkey(1 title each) |
| Streaming partner(s) | Volleyball TV |
| Promotion to | Nations League |
| Official website | Volleyball Challenger Cup |
History
editThe tournament was first announced in October 2017 (alongside the announcement of the Nations League) as a joint project between the FIVB, the IMG and 21 national federations.[1] The Challenger Cup serves as a qualifying tournament for the aforementioned Nations League. The FIVB Challenger Cup is held before the Nations League's Final Round (in 2018 and 2019 editions) but changed it in 2022 edition and the winner earns the right to participate in the next year's Nations League.[2][3]
A corresponding tournament for women's national teams is the FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup.
Format
editPrevious format
editThe six qualified teams play in 2 pools of 3 teams in a round-robin format. The top 2 teams of each pool qualify for the semifinals. The first ranked teams play against the second ranked teams in this round. The winners of the semifinals advance to compete for the Challenger Cup title. The champion team will qualify for the next year's Nations League as a challenger team.[2][4]
New format
editThe eight qualified teams play in a knockout stage format. The top four teams in the quarterfinals will qualify for the semifinals. The winner of the quarterfinal 1 will play a semifinal match against the winner of the quarterfinal 4 and the winner of the quarterfinal 2 will play a semifinal match against the winner of the quarterfinal 3. The winners of the semifinals will advance to compete for the Challenger Cup title. The champion team will qualify for the next year's Nations league as a challenger team.[5]
Qualification
edit| Confederation | Slots |
|---|---|
| AVC (Asia) | 1 |
| CAVB (Africa) | 1 |
| CSV (South America) | 1 |
| CEV (Europe) | 2 |
| NORCECA (North America) | 1 |
| Total | 8 (6+H+VNL) |
Hosts
editList of hosts by number of final cups hosted.
| Times hosted | Hosts | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal |
2018 |
| Slovenia |
2019 | |
 South Korea |
2022 | |
 Qatar |
2023 | |
| China |
2024 |
Appearance
edit- Legend
- 1st – Champions
- 2nd – Runners-up
- 3rd – Third place
- 4th – Fourth place
- • – Did not enter / Did not qualify
- – Hosts
- Q – Qualified for forthcoming tournament
| Team | 2018 (6) |
2019 (6) |
2022 (8) |
2023 (8) |
2024 (8) |
Total |
 Australia |
• | • | 5th | • | • | 1 |
 Belarus |
• | 3rd | • | • | • | 1 |
 Belgium |
• | • | • | • | 2nd | 1 |
 Chile |
5th | 6th | 8th | 4th | 7th | 5 |
| China |
• | • | • | 5th | 1st | 2 |
 Croatia |
• | • | • | • | 5th | 1 |
| Cuba |
4th | 2nd | 1st | • | • | 3 |
 Czech Republic |
2nd | • | 4th | • | • | 2 |
 Dominican Republic |
• | • | • | 6th | • | 1 |
 Egypt |
• | 5th | • | • | 3rd | 2 |
 Estonia |
3rd | • | • | • | • | 1 |
 Kazakhstan |
5th | • | • | • | • | 1 |
 Mexico |
• | • | • | • | 8th | 1 |
| Portugal |
1st | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Qatar |
• | • | 7th | 2nd | 6th | 3 |
| Slovenia |
• | 1st | • | • | • | 1 |
| South Korea |
• | • | 3rd | • | • | 1 |
 Thailand |
• | • | • | 7th | • | 1 |
 Tunisia |
• | • | 6th | 8th | • | 2 |
| Turkey |
• | 4th | 2nd | 1st | • | 3 |
 Ukraine |
• | • | • | 3rd | 4th | 2 |
Results summary
edit| Year | Host | Final | 3rd place match | Teams | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runners-up | 3rd place | Score | 4th place | ||||||
| 2018 Details |
Matosinhos |
 Portugal |
3–1 |  Czech Republic |
 Estonia |
3–0 |  Cuba |
6 | |||
| 2019 Details |
Ljubljana |
 Slovenia |
3–0 | Cuba |
 Belarus |
3–1 |  Turkey |
6 | |||
| 2020 | Gondomar |
Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |||||||||
| 2021 | |||||||||||
| 2022 Details |
Seoul |
Cuba |
3–1 | Turkey |
 South Korea |
3–2 | Czech Republic |
8 | |||
| 2023 Details |
Doha |
Turkey |
3–2 |  Qatar |
 Ukraine |
3–0 |  Chile |
8 | |||
| 2024 Details |
Linyi |
 China |
3–1 |  Belgium |
 Egypt |
3–2 | Ukraine |
8 | |||
Medals summary
edit| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuba | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Turkey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 3 | China | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Portugal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Slovenia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 6 | Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Qatar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 | Belarus | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Egypt | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Estonia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| South Korea | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (13 entries) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | |
Nations League qualifier
edit| Year | Relegated Challenger Team | Remaining Challenger Teams | Challenger Cup Winner | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | South Korea 
|
Australia 
|
 Bulgaria
|
 Canada
|
Only 4 challenger teams in the tournament | Portugal 
| |||
| 2019 | Portugal
|
Slovenia
| |||||||
| 2021 | None[6][7] |  Netherlands[a]
|
Slovenia
|
Cancelled[8] | |||||
| 2022 | Australia
|
China[b]
|
Cuba
| ||||||
| 2023 | China
|
Cuba
|
Turkey
| ||||||
| 2024 | None[10] | China
| |||||||
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Netherlands replaced China after the decision of the Chinese Volleyball Association to withdraw its national men's team due to financial limitations and travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]
- ^ China replaced Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine. As a result, Russia was out of the Nations League.[9]
References
edit- ^ "FIVB announces the Volleyball Nations League". FIVB.org. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ a b "FIVB Executive Committee embraces digital transformation". FIVB.org. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ "Volleyball Challenger Cup battles coming up in Croatia and Korea". volleyballworld. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ "Six teams line up for Volleyball Challenger Cup and one open berth in 2019 Men's and Women's VNL". FIVB.org. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
- ^ "Competition Formula". Volleyball World.
- ^ "Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2021 – Everything you need to know". IOC. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ a b "FIVB statement on participating teams at VNL 2021". FIVB. 26 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
- ^ "FIVB announces cancellation of Volleyball Challenger Cup 2021". Volleyball World. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "FIVB Declares Russia And Belarus Not Eligible For International And Continental Competitions". FIVB. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ "VNL to expand to 18 teams in 2025". Volleyball World. 13 February 2024. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
External links
edit- Fédération Internationale de Volleyball – official website