WORLD VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS (WOMEN)
The senior women’s national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport’s worldwide governing body, compete in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship. Initially, there was some fluctuation in the time between championships, but since 1970, they have been given out every four years. Serbia, who won their first championship at the 2018 tournament in Japan, are the current champions.
In accordance with the competition’s current format, teams must first compete in a qualification phase over the course of the previous three years in order to advance to the tournament phase, also known as the World Championship Finals.
In the tournament phase, 24 teams—including the host nation(s), which automatically qualify—compete for the championship over the course of about a month at venues in the host nation(s).
Seven different national teams have won the 18 World Championship competitions. Russia has triumphed seven times (five as Soviet Union). China won two championships, Italy won two, the United States won one, and Serbia won one. Japan and Cuba each won three championships.
Italy hosted the 2014 World Championship. Japan once again served as the World Championship’s host nation in 2018.
HISTORY
The World Championship has a long history that dates back to when volleyball first emerged as a competitive, elite sport. The creation of an international competition with teams from multiple continents was one of the first tangible actions the FIVB took after its founding in 1947. The Men’s World Championship’s inaugural match was place in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1949. The competition was still limited to Europe at that time.
A women’s version was added three years later, and the competitions were synchronized, expanded to include countries from Asia, and started to be held in cycles of four years. There were additional teams from South, Central, and North America by the edition after that. The four-cycles were moved up two years following the fourth edition (1960) because volleyball will be introduced to the Olympic program in 1964, allowing the World Championship to alternate with the Summer Games. The initial aim of having participants from all five continental confederations in the games was fulfilled in 1970 when teams from Africa also participated in the competition.
Over the years, there have been considerable changes in the number of teams playing in the games. Following the rise in popularity of volleyball, they gradually increased to over 20 in the 1970s and early 1980s, were reduced to 16 in the 1990s, and were eventually set up at 24 after 2002. The World Championship is currently the most comprehensive and, possibly, the second-most significant of all FIVB-organized tournaments, only the Olympic Games being more prestigious.
With the sole exception of the 1966/1967 games, which were held in different years, the host nation of the competition coordinated both the men’s and women’s events up until 1974. Since 1978, this practice has only seldom been seen, such in 1998 and the 2006 edition, which was again hosted in Japan like the previous one.
2022 FIVB VOLLEYBALL WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The senior women’s national teams of the FIVB’s members will compete in the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship, which will take place in Poland and the Netherlands as co-hosts. This will be the 19th time that this competition has been held.
VENUES
| First round, Final round | Second round | Final round |
|---|
| Arnhem | Rotterdam | Apeldoorn |
| GelreDome | Ahoy Arena | Omnisport |
| Capacity: 21,248 | Capacity: 16,426 | Capacity: 10,000 |