Lausanne, Switzerland, December 20, 2012 – The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has announced a postponement to the dates of the Beach Volleyball World Cup Final that was originally scheduled for January 9-13 and is now expected to be held in the first half of 2013.
The new dates and host city in Brazil will be confirmed at a later stage.
The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final, which will determine the champion country from the Continental Cup, will feature 10 countries per gender represented by one team each. Prize money of $150,000 per gender is on offer to the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final participants.
The 10 countries will include the winners of each of the Continental Cup Finals and the national federations who qualified a maximum two teams at the 2012 Olympic Games via the Olympic rankings*. If the 10 vacancies were not filled with these criteria, the best country on the 2012 Olympic Games rankings not already qualified will participate.
The following countries have already been confirmed as the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final participants:
|
Qualification Requirements |
Women |
Men |
1) |
Continental Cup Finals winner |
Australia, Mauritius, Russia, Argentina, Canada |
Japan, South Africa, Norway, Venezuela, Canada |
2) |
National federations who qualified a maximum two teams at the 2012 Olympic Games via the Olympic rankings |
Brazil, Czech Republic,
Germany, USA |
Brazil, Germany, Latvia, Switzerland, USA |
3) |
The best country on the 2012 Olympic Games rankings not already qualified via the above criteria |
China |
N/A |
The 10 countries will be split into two pools of five teams for round-robin pool play before the two best teams advance to the semifinals.
The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final will complete a three year process, which started with the Continental Cup - which ran from 2010 to 2012 as a London Olympic Games qualifying event - and included the FIVB World Cup Olympic Qualification in Moscow, Russia in June, 2012, which also qualified teams for the London Olympics.
More information will be provided on www.fivb.org as soon as it is available.
* Countries who qualified a maximum two teams at the 2012 Olympic Games via the Olympic rankings withdrew from the Continental Cup prior to the final, eliminating any chance to contest their respective Continental Cup Final