Lausanne, Switzerland, February 20, 2015 – With eyes, training, goals and inspirations clearly focused on the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil, athletes from around the world who are part of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) are two months out from the start of the $9.2 million 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Launching the season for the third consecutive year with the $150,000 FIVB Fuzhou Open in China, the 2015 season will also start the Olympic qualification process. The FIVB Fuzhou Open will begin the FIVB World Tour on April 21-26 and the entire 2015 FIVB beach volleyball calendar will conclude in mid-December.
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland as the international governing body for the Olympic sports of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar will include five FIVB Grand Slams, a new FIVB Major Series of four events, six FIVB Opens and a special FIVB World Tour Finals in the United States. A showcase event will be the $1 million 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands.
A total of 15 countries will host events this year as the 2015 FIVB World Tour also begins the Olympic qualification process with all FIVB World Tour events (except the World Tour Finals) in 2015 up until June 13, 2016 counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine the 15 vacancies for each gender that will take part in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
The FIVB Fuzhou Open will be the 315th FIVB men’s tournament since its first event in 1987 and the 278th FIVB women’s tournament since FIVB began women’s competitions in 1992.
To view the entire 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball calendar, visit
http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/calendar.aspSCHEDULE BREAKDOWNFive Grand Slams, each offering $800,000 in total prize money, will also take place on the road to the FIVB World Tour Finals. A new innovative and dynamic FIVB Major Series, the four tournaments will each offer $800,000 in total prize money and six FIVB Open events, each with $150,000 in total purse, will also be part of the 2015 FIVB World Tour. Five of the FIVB Open events will be double-gender and one will be women only.
The FIVB World Tour Finals, scheduled for Sept. 29-Oct. 4 in the United States, will feature the top eight teams per gender based on a cumulative ranking of points from FIVB Grand Slams, FIVB Majors and FIVB Opens. The FIVB World Tour Finals will be followed by three FIVB Open events which will be the first events on the 2015-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball calendar. Two of the three FIVB Open events after the FIVB World Tour Finals will be double-gender while one will be men only.
This year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball calendar includes stops in popular traditional venues like Moscow, Stavanger (Norway), Gstaad (Switzerland) and Long Beach, Calif. (USA) along with new venues like Yokohama (Japan), Istanbul (Turkey) and Sochi (Russia).
FIVB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPSStaged every two years, the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships will feature the brightest stars from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with 48 teams in each gender competing for a $1 million purse. This year’s FIVB World Championships will be held June 26 to July 5 in the Dutch Cities of The Hague, Apeldoorn, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, marking the first time the massive event will be held in more than one venue. The semifinals and the finals in each gender will be held on a floating court in The Hague.
For more event-specific information on the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands, visit
http://netherlands2015.fivb.org/en.
QUOTABLE“Our FIVB Beach Volleyball initiatives continue to grow at an accelerated rate as evidenced by the ambitious calendar and spectacular events scheduled for, 2015,” commented FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F°. “Athletes from around the world are continuing to have increased opportunities to develop their skills and showcase the extremely popular sport of beach volleyball in more nations than at any other time in our history. The FIVB is especially looking forward to the start of the Olympic qualification process in 2015 through the FIVB as well as the inaugural FIVB World Tour Finals in the United States and in particular the massive, four-city 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands. This year will be one of the most exciting and memorable in the history of the FIVB.”
2014 QUICK FLASHFinishing No. 1 in the 2014 FIVB Season World Rankings and the 2014 FIVB World Tour point standings were Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins for the men and Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli for the women.
On the international stage, the 10 FIVB World Tour Grand Slams and the six FIVB Opens were contested as teams from around the globe finished the midway point of a new Olympic cycle on the road to the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil. Part of the numerous initiatives of the FIVB administration, the FIVB World Season Rankings include FIVB World Tour along with approved Confederation, and National Federation points. Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins won the FIVB World Season Rankings for the second straight year and added the 2014 FIVB World Tour season point title to their treasure chest for the first time.
The legendary Juliana won the FIVB World Season Rankings as did Antonelli for the first time and while Antonelli won the FIVB World Tour Point title for the first time it was the eighth champion for Juliana in her illustrious career and first time without her old teammate Larissa Franca who is now competing with Talita Antunes.
FIVB WORLD RANKINGSLatvia’s Amoilovs/J. Smedins won the men’s 2014 FIVB World Rankings with 6,500 points followed by USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal with 5,440, Brazil’s Bruno Oscar Schmidt/Alison Cerutti with 5,330, Poland’s Gregorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel with 5,228, and Spain’s Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira completed the top 5 with 4,982.
For the women, Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli were first with 6,740 points, followed by Argentina’s Georgina Klub/Ana Gallay with 5,712, Brazil’s Barbara Seixas/Agatha Bednarczu with 5,660, USA’s Karri Walsh Jennings/April Ross with 5,420 and completing the top five women’s teams in the 2014 FIVB World Season Rankings was Netherlands’ Marleen Van Iersel/Madelein Meppelink with 5,3564 points.
MEN’S FIVB WORLD TOUR POINTS/EARNINGSLatvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins ended at the top of the men’s point leader board with 5,770 points. USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal duo, was second with 5,440 points in the men’s 2014 FIVB World Tour point standings followed by Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 5,330, Poland’s Mariusz Prudel/Grzegorz Fijalek fourth with 4,600 and fifth was USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne with 4,280,.
In the 2014 FIVB World Tour men’s season earnings, the top team was USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal with $318,000 followed by Brazil’s Alison/Schmidt with $241,000, Poland’s Fijalek/Prudel third with $240,000, Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins fourth with $233,500 and Italy’s Lupo/Nicolai fifth with $187,000.
WOMEN’S FIVB WORLD TOUR POINTS/EARNINGSFor the women, Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli pair finished at the top of the 2014 FIVB World Tour point standings with 6,740 points followed by Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas with 5,660, USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings third with 5,420, China’s Fan Wang/Yuan Yue fourth with 4,950, Netherland’s Marleen van Iersel/Madelein Meppelin fifth with 4,640, sixth was Germany’s Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler with 4,610 and seventh was Germany’s Karla Borger/Britta Buthe with 4,580.
In the 2014 FIVB World Tour women’s season earnings, ending up in the lead was USA’s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings with $282,000 followed by Brazil’s Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli second with $261,375, Brazil’s Bednarczuk/Seixas third with $233,000, Germany’s Holtwick/Semmler fourth with $214,000 and Brazil’s Larissa France/Talita Antunes fifth with $210,000. Back on the tour after more than a year away, Larissa returned to the FIVB World Tour with Talita as a teammate midway through the season the dynamic duo competed as a team in just six events, winning four of them to reach the top five in earnings.
NEXT GENAs part of the initiatives of FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° and his leadership team, the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball international calendar also included a record four age-group FIVB World Championships and the 2014 Nanjing (China) Youth Olympic Games).
Poland’s Maciej Kosiak/Maciej Rudol won the men’s gold medal for the home country and Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird capturing the women’s gold medal for the second annual FIVB U23 World Championships in Myslowice, Poland. Capturing the gold medals in the inaugural FIVB U17 World Championships in Acapulco, Mexico were Switzerland’s Florian Breer/Yves Haussener and USA’s Morgan Martin/Kathryn Plummer. Winning the 14th FIVB U21 World Championships in Larnaka, Cyprus were Poland’s Michal Bryl/Kacper Kujawiak and Canada’s Sophie Bukovec/Tiadora Miric. The 13th FIVB U19 World Championships in Porto Portugal were won by Brazil’s Arthur Mariano/George Wanderley for the men and in the women’s competition the winners were Brazil’s Andressa Cavalanti/Eduarda Lisboa. Capturing Youth Olympic gold were Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin for the men and Brazil’s Eduarda Lisboa/Ana Patricia Silva for the women.
Men’s All-Time FIVB World Tour Point ChampionsSeason Point Champions, Country
1989-90 Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos, United States
1990-91 Smith/Stoklos, United States
1991-92 Smith/Stoklos, United States
1992-93 Smith/Stoklos, United States
1993-94 Franco Neto/Roberto Lopes, Brazil
1994-95 Jan Kvalheim/Bjorn Maaseide, Norway
1995-96 Franco/Roberto Lopes, Brazil
1996 Zé Marco de Melo/Emanuel Rego, Brazil
1997 Zé Marco/Emanuel, Brazil
1998 Para Ferreira/Guilherme Marquez, Brazil
1999 Emanuel/José Loiola, Brazil
2000 Zé Marco/Ricardo Santos, Brazil
2001 Emanuel/Tande Ramos, Brazil
2002 Mariano Barcetti/Martin Conde, Argentina
2003 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2004 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2005 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2006 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2007 Emanuel/Ricardo, Brazil
2008 Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado, Brazil
2009 Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann, Germany
2010 Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers, United States
2011 Alison Cerutti/Emanuel, Brazil
2012 Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal, United States
2013 Pedro Salgado/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil
2014 Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia
Men’s All-Time FIVB World Rankings Champions
Year Team, Country
2013 Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia
2014 Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia
Women’s All-Time FIVB World Tour Point Champions
Season Point Champions, Country
1992-93 Karolyn Kirby/Nancy Reno, United States
1993-94 Kirby/Liz Masakayan, United States
1994-95 Monica Rodrigues/Adriana Samuel, Brazil
1995-96 Sandra Pires/Jackie Silva, Brazil
1996 Pires/Silva, Brazil
1997 Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, Brazil
1998 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
1999 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
2000 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
2001 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
2002 Misty May/Kerri Walsh, United States
2003 Ana Paula Connelly/Pires, Brazil
2004 Shelda/Adriana, Brazil
2005 Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa França, Brazil
2006 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2007 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2008 Shelda/Ana Paula, Brazil
2009 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2010 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2011 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2012 Juliana/Larissa, Brazil
2013 Talita Antunes/Taiana Lima, Brazil
2014 Juliana Felisberta/Talita Antunes
Women’s All-Time FIVB World Rankings ChampionsYear Team, Country
2013 Talita Antunes/Taiana Lima, Brazil
2014 Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli