2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup

FIVB Women's Volleyball World Cup (1973–2019)
Most recent season or competition: 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup
Sport	Volleyball
Founded	1973 (1973)
First season	1973
Folded	2019 (2019)
Replaced by	FIVB Women's Volleyball World Cup (2027–present)
No. of teams	12
Continent	International (FIVB)
Last champions	China (5th title)
Most titles	China (5 titles)
Streaming partner	Volleyball TV (2019)

The FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup was 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, from 1973 to 2019. 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 historical format of the competition involved 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 (with exception of the 2019 edition) acted as the first qualification event for the following year's Olympic Games with the top two teams qualifying.

The 14 World Cup tournaments were won by six different national teams. China have won five times. The other World Cup winners are Cuba, with four titles; Italy, with two titles; Japan, Russia (as Soviet Union) and Turkey 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 won its third title in 2003.

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 and then successfully defended it in 2019.

Competition formula

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

The competition took place in Japan.
Twelve teams participated in each event: ten qualified, two per invitation.
- Japan were always pre-qualified as host nation.
- The winners of the FIVB World Championship in the previous year were automatically granted a spot.
- The champion and runner-up of each continental tournament of that year were granted two spots.
- Since the 1999 edition, only teams not yet qualified for the following Olympic Games could compete in the World Cup; hence hosts of the following year's Olympic Games were not allowed to compete. There was an exception for the 2019 World Cup, as the tournament was hosted by Japan and the country hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics.
The competition was divided in exactly two phases (called "legs").
- Teams were divided in two pools.
  - At the first leg, each team played one match against all other teams in its pool.
  - At the second leg, each team played one match against all the teams in the other pool.
- Matches took place continuously through two weeks, with one-day breaks every two or three days. Each day, six matches were played.
- Final standings were 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.
The top two teams in overall standings, regardless of pools, qualified for the following Olympic Games.
The tournament implemented very tight line-up restrictions: only twelve players were allowed, and no replacement was permitted, even in the case of injuries.

Results summary

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

Medals summary


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	5	1	3	9
2	Cuba	4	2	0	6
3	Italy	2	0	0	2
4	Japan	1	2	0	3
5	Soviet Union	1	1	3	5
6	Brazil	0	3	1	4
7	United States	0	2	3	5
8	Russia	0	1	1	2
9	Serbia	0	1	0	1
10	South Korea	0	0	2	2
Totals (10 entries)		13	13	13	39

Debut of national teams

Year	Debutants	Total
1973	Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Japan, Peru, South Korea, Soviet Union, United States, Uruguay	10
1977	Hungary, China	2
1981	Bulgaria	1
1985	Tunisia	1
1989	East Germany	1
1991	Germany, Kenya, Spain	3
1995	Croatia, Egypt, Netherlands	2
1999	Italy, Russia	2
2003	Dominican Republic, Poland, Turkey	4
2007	Serbia, Thailand	2
2011	Algeria	1
2015	None	0
2019	Cameroon	1
2023	Belgium, Puerto Rico	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)	2019 (12)	Total
Algeria	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	11th	12th	•	2
Argentina	8th	•	•	•	•	•	•	11th	11th	•	10th	8th	10th	6
Brazil	9th	•	8th	6th	•	8th	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd	5th	•	4th	10
Bulgaria	•	•	7th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	2
Cameroon	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	12th	1
Canada	7th	•	•	•	8th	10th	9th	•	•	•	•	•	•	4
China	•	4th	1st	1st	3rd	2nd	3rd	5th	1st	•	3rd	1st	1st	11
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	7th	5
Egypt	•	•	•	•	•	•	12th	•	12th	•	•	•	•	2
Germany	See East Germany and West 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	5th	13
Kenya	•	•	•	•	•	12th	11th	•	•	12th	12th	10th	11th	6
Netherlands	•	•	•	•	•	•	8th	•	•	•	•	•	8th	2
Peru	4th	5th	•	5th	5th	5th	10th	10th	•	11th	•	11th	•	9
Poland	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	8th	6th	•	•	•	2
Russia	Part of Soviet Union						•	2nd	•	•	•	4th	3rd	3
Serbia	Part of Yugoslavia						Part of SCG			5th	7th	2nd	9th	4
South Korea	3rd	3rd	5th	7th	7th	6th	5th	4th	9th	8th	9th	6th	6th	13
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	2nd	11
Uruguay	10th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Discontinued nations
East Germany	•	•	•	•	6th	defunct								1
Soviet Union	1st	8th	3rd	3rd	2nd	3rd	defunct							6