Continental qualification update

You may have read our guide to qualifying for the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, which this year will be hosted by Hamburg and presented by comdirect and ALDI Nord. If you haven’t read it, then read it!

But, what’s the latest with who’s actually made it? Well this week the picture will all become a little clearer with African hosting their qualification tournament plus the important four-star World Tour event in Xiamen, China.

Remember, the top 23 teams in the FIVB World Ranking automatically book their ticket to Hamburg, but for those who must qualify via other means, here’s a rundown of the latest qualification details continent-by-continent.

Africa

Four African teams per gender will head to Hamburg, with the top four finishing teams in this week’s Beach Nations Cup filling those positions. With no African teams in contention for positions via the World Ranking, the event in Nigeria takes on huge significance for the competing teams.

Alongside Nigeria, teams from Algeria, Morocco, Uganda, Rwanda, Gambia, Benin, Sudan, Mauritius, Niger, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mozambique, South Africa, Sierra Leone and Lesotho will fight for a place in the top four which will be enough to rubber stamp their ticket to the Rothenbaum.

Asia

The AVC qualification period ended at the weekend with the final event counting towards ranking points for the World Championships. Japan’s Megumi Murakami and Miki Ishii topped the podium in the Vietnam Tho open, beating Varapatsorn Radarong and Khanittha Hongpak of Thailand. 

The women's teams confirmed heading to Hamburg will be represented by two Chinese teams and one each from Australia and Japan.

On the men's side, teams from Qatar, Iran, Australia and Japan advance to the Rothenbaum.

The idenities of those teams who will represent those national federations will be announced in due course.

Europe

The European method of qualification is reasonably straightforward, with the CEV putting forward the European Championships of 2018, plus the next three highest European teams in the World’s top 23.

Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway and the Netherlands’ Madeleine Meppelink and Sanne Keizer already have their places fixed thanks to their European titles last year, but with both teams guaranteed a top-23 spot, it means the four highest European teams outside of the top-23 in the world will qualify for Hamburg – and that means the fight is on for points in Xiamen.

North America/Caribbean

Nations earned qualification ranking points on the NORCECA Beach Tour, with the four top nations each earning one spot in Hamburg.

This has now been fixed, with the United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba all winning a place at the Rothenbaum.

Like in other confederations, the national federation will make the decision which team makes it to Germany. Canada made their decision earlier this month following a trials competition.

South America

The qualification period for nations in South America ended at the weekend when the CSV held their final tour stop of the season in Brazil. Four of the highest ranked national federations each booked one spot in Hamburg. Now these nations will wait to see who qualifies through the World Ranking before deciding each team will receive their place.

In the men’s ranking, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela all booked one team a ticket to the World Championships, which is particularly important to Brazil since their men’s teams have struggled for form over the past 18 months following a string of break-ups.

For the women, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay all earned top four places to seal a spot in Hamburg. In the women’s FIVB Ranking, there are currently four Brazilian teams among the top 23. With only four teams per nation allowed to enter the World Championships, should that stay the same when the qualification closes, then the additional CSV place will be awarded to the fifth-ranked team, which is Uruguay.