World Champs seeding announced

New German team Sandra Ittlinger and Chantal Laboureur and beach volleyball Vikings Anders Mol and Christian Sørum have been installed as the number one seeds for the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Hamburg 2019 presented by comdirect and ALDI Nord.

The much-anticipated tournament kicks off on June 28 with the 96 teams learning their fate at the Drawing of Lots on June 4 – and you can learn how the draw will work by watching our explanation video below.

Brazil dominate top seeds

Ittlinger/Laboureur were ranked as the number one seeds as best hosts, followed by Czech Republic stars Marketa Sluková and Barbora Hermannová. There are four Brazilian teams in the women’s top 12 seeds, who are automatically placed at the top of pools A-L, as well as two teams from the United States.

Reigning World and Olympic champion Laura Ludwig and partner Maggie Kozuch are seeded number 30, meaning the pair could face a potentially tricky pool when draw takes place inside Hamburg’s Rathaus next week.

Top 12 (# seed):

Ittlinger/Laboureur (1), Hermannová/Sluková (2), Bansley/Wilkerson (3), Ana Patricia/Rebecca (4), Klineman/Ross (5), Agatha/Duda (6), Clancy/Artacho (7), Keizer/Meppelink (8), Pavan/Humana-Paredes (9), Maria/Carol (10), Hughes/Summer (11), Barbara/Fernanda (12).

Draw 1:

Sweat/Walsh Jennings (13), Sponcil/Claes (14), Larsen/Stockman (15), Hüberli/Betschart (16), Lahti/Parkinnen (17), Makroguzova/Kholomina (18).

Draw 2:

Borger/Sude (19), Kociolek/Wojtasik (20), Lilian/Elsa (21), Xia/Wang (22), Behrens/Tillmann (23), Menegatti/Orsi Toth (24).

Draw 3:

Bieneck/Schneider (25), Strbova/Dubovcoca (26), Ukolova/Birlova (27), Stubbe/Van Iersel (28), Ishii/Murakami (29), Kozuch/Ludwig (30), Graudina/Kravcenoka (31), Heidrich/Verge-Depre (32), Xue/Wang (33), McNamara/McNamara (34), Laird/Palmer (35), Zeng/Lin (36).

Draw 4:

Gallay/Pereya (37), Revuelta/Oreellan (38), Körtzinger/Schneider (39), Leila/Maylen (40), Yuli/Diana (41), Mendoza/Lolette (42), Michelle/Pati (43), Fortunati/Rotti (44), Nnorgua/Franco (45), Randa/Doaa (46), Maita/Letendrie (47), Nzayisenga/Judith (48).

German youngsters among top seeds

The hopes of host nation Germany will lie on the shoulders of Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler at the Rothenbaum with the young pair ranked among the top 12 seeds for the tournament.

Norwegian stars and current world number ones Mol and Sørum top the list of top 12 seeds, which come from 10 different countries – none of which feature teams from Brazil.

Reigning champions Evandro Gonçalves and Andre Loyola, now playing with new partners, are seeds 13 and 16 respectively and will be among the first teams drawn from Draw 1.

Germans Nils Ehlers and Lars Flüggen are also likely to face a tough pool having been seeded 40 and will be among the final 12 teams drawn.

Top 12 (# seed):

Mol/Sørum (1), Fijalek/Bryl (2), Stoyanovskiy/Krasilnikov (3), Cherif/Ahmed (4), Semenov/Leshukov (5), Lucena/Dalhausser (6), Gibb/Taylor Crabb (7), Nicolai/Lupo (8), Herrera/Gavira (9), Grimalt/Grimalt (10), Samoilovs/Smedins (11), Thole/Wickler (12).

Draw 1:

Evandro/Bruno (13), Bourne/Trevor Crabb (14), Kantor/Losiak (15), Andre/George (16), Pedlow/Schachter (17), Liamin/Myskiv (18).

Draw 2:

Koekelkoren/van Walle (19), Brouwer/Meeuwsen (20), Doppler/Horst (21), Pedro Solberg/Vitor Felipe (22), Alison/Alvaro Filho (23), Plavins/Tocs (24).

Draw 3:

Perusic/Schweiner (25), Seidl/Waller (26), Heidrich/Gerson (27), Saxton/O’Gorman (28), Allen/Slick (29), Bergmann/Harms (30), Hudyakov/Velichko (31), Ontiveros/Virgin (32), Walkenhorst/Winter (33), Ranghieri/Caminati (34), Durant/Schumann (35), Salemi/Vakili (36)

Draw 4:

Tigrito/Charly (37), Gonzalez/Reyes (38), Azaad/Capogrosso (39), Ehlers/Flüggen (40), Gottsu/Ageba (41), Tamer/Mamoud (42), Vieyto/Cairus (43), Zalava/Lammel (44), Abicha/Elgraoui (45), Kavalo/Ntagengwa (46), Soares/Nguvo (47), Kamara/Bangura (48).