Although we are slowly approaching the end of the 2015 season, the initially announced World Tour calendar released by FIVB has been affected by changes. As it turned out, the dates and the existence of the last Opens after the Swatch World Tour Finals was a matter of negotiation and even further plans for the 2016 season were made public just a few weeks ago.
The first changes were applied in the ongoing season already. The international debut of the Istanbul Open had been scheduled for 11-16 August. As you have certainly realized, we did not inform you about this event because it was rescheduled. The organizer was also altered and thus the Antalya Open took place this past week in Turkey (a tournament update to follow). Additionally, the South African Mangaung Open (8-13 December) was cancelled due to financial constraints encountered by the organizers. Whereas Turkey had been granted the privilege to host a World Tour event after all, a South African stop will not appear on the circuit, following the Durban and the Mangaung Opens in the previous two years.
Another major update we should inform you about is that, mainly because of next year’s Olympic Games in Brazil, the Swatch World Tour Finals officially marked the end of the 2015 season. This means that all events now scheduled after Fort Lauderdale – the Opens in Puerto Vallarta (Mexico), Antalya (Turkey), and Doha (Qatar), will be counted towards the 2016 season.
Last, FIVB released the preliminary events and dates for the 2016, or rather the 2015-2016 season as it should be referred to. There will not be a long break for teams looking for Olympic points after the last Opens in 2015 as there are official tournaments planned for January and February already. Never before has the World Tour started so early. There are multiple events in Brazil at the beginning of the season which will prolong sensibly the game calendar and will allow participants to gain both more points for Rio 2016 and some appropriate preparation on Brazilian sands. The World Tour Finals at the end of October will again mark the season’s closure. Before that, however, there are changes concerning some of the usual hosts. The Qatari Open in Doha will not scheduled late and should appear, according to the provisional plans, at the beginning of March. Despite the honour and the burden of having to organize the 2016 Games, Rio de Janeiro will nevertheless host the first Grand Slam in March. The Brazilian cities of Vitoria and Fortaleza are supposed to return to the World Tour, whereas Maceio will be a completely new location. Counting in the Games as well, Brazil should welcome the world’s best beach volleyball athletes five times in total, a surely unprecedented number.
The World Tour will also visit Iran for the first time with the Kish Island Open whilst the FIVB Swatch Major Series will return for a second year, with tournaments in Gstaad, Porec and Klagenfurt.
The provisional list of events could be downloaded here. As you can see, some locations are still to be confirmed later on.
Hosts of age-group World Championships confirmed
The Cypriot town of Larnaka will maintain its proud record of hosting age-group beach volleyball World Championships as it was named the host of the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championship. The tournament will take place in the period 26-31 July and it is the third time that the highest planetary age-group tournament will visit the sands of Cyprus after Larnaka hosted the 2012 U19 World Championship and the 2014 U21 World Championship.
It will be an eventful season for beach volleyball enthusiasts in the Rio de Janeiro region as Cabo Frio, a town situated very closely to the Copacabana beach, will organize the U17 World Championship (12-17 July).
The U21 World Championship has been assigned to Lucerne. The Lucerne Open was a highly successful inaugural event in 2015 and FIVB have rewarded the Swiss city with another spectacle in 2016, albeit a junior one.
No information has been released with regards to the U23 World Championship. The 2013 and 2014 editions, both in the Polish town of Myslowice, remain the only ones so far in history.
All three age-group events are designed to act as a pathway for players’ progression to playing regularly on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, with the winners receiving wild cards to participate in that competition. Additionally, the three age-group tournaments in 2016 are also the run-up to the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018 and the respective beach World Championships in the same year.
