FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup

FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup
Current season, competition or edition:; 2015 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup
Sport	Volleyball
Founded	1973
First season	1973
CEO	Ary Graça
No. of teams	12
Continent	International (FIVB)
Most recent; champion(s)	China (4th title)
Most titles	China; Cuba (4 titles each)
Official website	FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup

The FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. Initially the tournament was played in the year following the Olympic Games, but since 1991 the World Cup has been awarded in the year preceding the Olympic Games. The current champion is China, which won its fourth title at the 2015 tournament.

The current format of the competition involves 12 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation Japan, competing in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about two weeks. The World Cup acts as the first qualification event for the following year's Olympic Games with the top two teams qualifying.

The 12 World Cup tournaments have been won by five different national teams. China and Cuba have won four times each. The other World Cup winners are Italy with two titles; and Japan and Russia as (Soviet Union), with one title each.

History

Origins

The World Cup was created in 1965 with the purpose of partially filling the gap between the two most important volleyball tournaments, the Olympic Games and the World Championship, which take place in alternating 4-year cycles. The establishment of a third international competition would leave only one in every four years with no major events. The World Cup has a smaller entry than the World Championship, with at most 12 teams.

The World Cup was to be held in the year following the Olympic Games. The first two tournaments were for men's volleyball only; in 1973, a women's tournament was also introduced. Originally, each tournament had a different host, but in 1977 the competition was transferred to Japan on a permanent basis.

In the 1990s, the installment of annual international events such as the World League and the Grand Prix made the original motivations for the creation of the World Cup obsolete. Instead of letting a consolidated event disappear for lack of interest, the FIVB decided to change its format in 1991: it would be held in the year preceding, and not following, the Olympic Games; and it would be considered a first international Olympic qualification tournament, granting the winner a direct berth in the games.

This move saved the competition. The possibility of securing an early berth for the Olympic Games, thus avoiding extraneous and in some cases tight continental qualification procedures, became a consistent motivation for the national federations to participate in the World Cup. In 1995, the number of Olympic spots granted at the competition was increased to three, as it remained until 2011. In 2015 the number of spots was only two again.

Winners

The Women's World Cup has had not one great winner, like its counterpart for men's volleyball, but two: China and Cuba.

The first edition of the tournament was won by the Soviet Union. Japan, the runner-up of 1973, took the gold in 1977. With the help of superstar player Lang Ping, China won the following two editions, in 1981 and 1985.

Then Cuba stepped forward to begin its amazing World Cup career, winning its first title in 1989. With the tournament now as an Olympic qualifier, there followed three more consecutive victories, in 1991, 1995 and 1999.

China came back in 2003 with a remarkably offensive team to win its third title.

Italy won the 2007 edition with an outstanding record of eleven wins in eleven games and only two sets left to the opponents (both lost against Serbia). Italy took a second win in a row in 2011, getting the better hand on United States and China. In 2015, China regained the title.

Competition formula

The World Cup is the most stable from all competition formulas employed by the FIVB. The following rules apply:

The competition takes place in Japan.
Twelve teams participate in each event: ten qualified, two per invitation.
- Japan is always pre-qualified as host nation.
- The winner of the FIVB World Championship in the previous year is automatically granted a spot.
- The champion and runner-up of each continental tournament of that year is granted a spot.
- Since the 1999 edition, only teams not yet qualified for the following Olympic Games can compete in the World Cup; hence hosts of the following year's Olympic Games are not allowed to compete.
The competition is divided in exactly two phases (called "legs").
- Teams are divided in two pools.
  - At the first leg, each team plays one match against all other teams in its pool.
- At the second leg, each team plays one match against all the teams in the other pool.
- Matches take place continuously through two weeks, with one-day breaks every two or three days. Each day, six matches are played.
- Final standings are calculated by usual volleyball criteria: match points, numbers of matches won, sets ratio (the total number of sets won divided by the total number of sets lost), points ratio, direct confrontation.
Top two teams in overall standings, regardless of pools, qualify for the following Olympic Games.
The tournament implements very tight line-up restrictions: only twelve players are allowed, and no replacement is permitted, even in the case of injuries.

Results Summary

Year	Host	Final			3rd place match			Teams
Year	Host	Champions	Score	Runners-up	3rd place	Score	4th place	Teams
1973 Details	Uruguay	Soviet Union	Round-robin	Japan	South Korea	Round-robin	Peru	10
1977 Details	Japan	Japan	Round-robin	Cuba	South Korea	Round-robin	China	8
1981 Details	Japan	China	Round-robin	Japan	Soviet Union	Round-robin	United States	8
1985 Details	Japan	China	Round-robin	Cuba	Soviet Union	Round-robin	Japan	8
1989 Details	Japan	Cuba	Round-robin	Soviet Union	China	Round-robin	Japan	8
1991 Details	Japan	Cuba	Round-robin	China	Soviet Union	Round-robin	United States	12
1995 Details	Japan	Cuba	Round-robin	Brazil	China	Round-robin	Croatia	12
1999 Details	Japan	Cuba	Round-robin	Russia	Brazil	Round-robin	South Korea	12
2003 Details	Japan	China	Round-robin	Brazil	United States	Round-robin	Italy	12
2007 Details	Japan	Italy	Round-robin	Brazil	United States	Round-robin	Cuba	12
2011 Details	Japan	Italy	Round-robin	United States	China	Round-robin	Japan	12
2015 Details	Japan	China	Round-robin	Serbia	United States	Round-robin	Russia	12
2019 Details	Japan		Round-robin			Round-robin		12

Medals Summary

Total		12	12	12	36
1	Cuba	4	2	0	6
2	China	4	1	3	8
3	Italy	2	0	0	2
4	Russia^[A]	1	2	3	6
5	Japan	1	2	0	3
6	Brazil	0	3	1	4
7	United States	0	1	3	4
8	Serbia	0	1	0	1
9	South Korea	0	0	2	2

Participating Nations

Legend

1st – Champions
2nd – Runners-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
• – Did not enter / Did not qualify
– Hosts
= – More than one team tied for that rank
Q – Qualified for forthcoming tournament

Team^[1]	1973 (10)	1977 (8)	1981 (8)	1985 (8)	1989 (8)	1991 (12)	1995 (12)	1999 (12)	2003 (12)	2007 (12)	2011 (12)	2015 (12)	Total
Algeria	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	11th	12th	2
Argentina	8th	•	•	•	•	•	•	11th	11th	•	10th	8th	5
Brazil	9th	•	8th	6th	•	8th	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd	5th	•	9
Bulgaria	•	•	7th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Canada	7th	•	•	•	8th	10th	9th	•	•	•	•	•	4
China	•	4th	1st	1st	3rd	2nd	3rd	5th	1st	•	3rd	1st	10
Croatia	Part of Yugoslavia						4th	8th	•	•	•	•	2
Cuba	5th	2nd	6th	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	6th	4th	•	9th	11
Dominican Republic	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	10th	9th	8th	7th	4
Egypt	•	•	•	•	•	•	12th	•	12th	•	•	•	2
Germany	See East Germany					9th	•	•	•	•	6th	•	2
Hungary	•	6th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Italy	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	7th	4th	1st	1st	•	4
Japan	2nd	1st	2nd	4th	4th	7th	6th	6th	5th	7th	4th	5th	12
Kenya	•	•	•	•	•	12th	11th	•	•	12th	12th	10th	5
Netherlands	•	•	•	•	•	•	8th	•	•	•	•	•	1
Peru	4th	5th	•	5th	5th	5th	10th	10th	•	11th	•	11th	9
Poland	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	8th	6th	•	•	2
Russia	See Soviet Union						•	2nd	•	•	•	4th	2
Serbia	See Yugoslavia						See SCG			5th	7th	2nd	3
South Korea	3rd	3rd	5th	7th	7th	6th	5th	4th	9th	8th	9th	6th	12
Spain	•	•	•	•	•	11th	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Thailand	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	10th	•	•	1
Tunisia	•	•	•	8th	•	•	•	12th	•	•	•	•	2
Turkey	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	7th	•	•	•	1
United States	6th	7th	4th	•	•	4th	7th	9th	3rd	3rd	2nd	3rd	10
Uruguay	10th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Discontinued nations
East Germany	•	•	•	•	6th	See Germany							1
Soviet Union	1st	8th	3rd	3rd	2nd	3rd	See Russia						6