Lausanne, Switzerland, November 30, 2016 - Visiting Croatia for the third straight year, the spectacular Swatch FIVB Porec Major will be one of the highlights of the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The $600,000 Swatch FIVB Porec Major Series double-gender event will be held June 27 to July 2.
While this will be the third visit to Porec, the FIVB World Tour has stopped in Croatia in previous years, presenting four men’s only events in Zagreb in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
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Latest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia GuidesWinning the gold medals in Porec in 2015 were the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen for the men and for the women was Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca. Last year winning the gold medals were Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt for the men and Germany’s Julia Sude/Chantal Laboureur for the women.
Croatia has hosted eight FIVB World Tour events through 2016, (six men and two women).
Porec is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istia County, Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th century Euphrasian Basilica, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
Porec is almost 2,000 years old, and is set around a harbour protected from the sea by the small island of Saint Nicholas/San Nicolo. The town's population of approximately 12,000 resides mostly on the outskirts, while the wider Porec area has a population of approximately 17,000 inhabitants.
The municipal area covers 142 square kilometers (55 sq mi), with the 37 kilometers (23 miles) long shoreline stretching from the Mirna River near Novigrad to Funtana and Vrsar in the south. Ever since the 1970s, the coast of Porec has been the most visited tourist destination in Croatia.
A total of 20 countries will host events this year in the 2017 FIVB World Tour with 25 total beach volleyball events planned highlighted by the 2017 FIVB World Championships, a 48-team (per gender) event to be held July 28-August 6 in Vienna, Austria.
The 2017 FIVB World Ranking system will include FIVB Beach Volleyball Major Series, 5-star, 4-star, 3-star, 2-star and 1-star events along with additional pre-approved events at the inter-continental, continental and national levels.
Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds.
Country quota playoffs are also held, as needed, to determine the final teams for qualification tournaments.
The first men’s FIVB World Tour event was played February 17-22, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while the first women’s FIVB World Tour event in Brazil was played in 1993 in Rio de Janeiro. The women’s FIVB World Tour held its first tournament in Spain in 1992.