Places at Paris 2024 will be up for grabs when the FIVB Men’s Volleyball Olympic Qualification Tournaments are staged this autumn.
Brazil, Japan and China have been chosen to host three tournaments, each of which will see two teams qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics next year.
Reigning champions France have already been allocated a place as the hosts for next year’s event, and other spots are available via different qualification routes.
Read on as we look at the format, pools and fixtures for the tournament, before assessing which teams will likely progress to the Olympic Games.
FIVB Men’s Volleyball Olympic Qualification Tournaments – Format
The men’s volleyball qualification tournaments for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will run from September 30 to October 8.
Three pools of eight teams will contest the tournaments. The teams in each pool face each other once, with the top two in each section qualifying for Paris 2024.
FIVB Men’s Volleyball Olympic Qualification Tournaments – Pools
The 24 teams have been drawn into three pools of eight teams. These are as follows:
- Pool A: Brazil, Italy, Iran, Cuba, Ukraine, Germany, Czech Republic, Qatar.
- Pool B: Japan, United States, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Finland.
- Pool C: China, Poland, Argentina, Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, Belgium Bulgaria.
FIVB Men’s Volleyball Olympic Qualification Tournaments – Fixtures
The fixtures for the three tournaments are as follows:
Pool A
- Sept 30: Brazil vs Qatar, Italy vs Czech Republic, Iran vs Germany, Cuba vs Ukraine.
- Oct 1: Brazil vs Czech Republic, Cuba vs Germany, Italy vs Qatar, Iran vs Ukraine.
- Oct 3: Iran vs Qatar, Cuba vs Czech Republic, Italy vs Ukraine, Brazil vs Germany.
- Oct 4: Iran vs Czech Republic, Italy vs Germany, Cuba vs Qatar, Brazil vs Ukraine.
- Oct 6: Brazil vs Cuba, Italy vs Iran, Ukraine vs Qatar, Germany vs Czech Republic.
- Oct 7: Brazil vs Iran, Italy vs Cuba, Ukraine vs Czech Republic, Germany vs Qatar.
- Oct 8: Brazil vs Italy, Iran vs Cuba, Ukraine vs Germany, Czech Republic vs Qatar.
Pool B
- Sept 30: Slovenia vs Tunisia, Serbia vs Turkey, United States vs Egypt, Japan vs Finland.
- Oct 1: Slovenia vs Turkey, Serbia vs Tunisia, United States vs Finland, Japan vs Egypt.
- Oct 3: Slovenia vs Finland, Serbia vs Egypt, United States vs Turkey, Japan vs Tunisia.
- Oct 4: Slovenia vs Egypt, Serbia vs Finland, United States vs Tunisia, Japan vs Turkey.
- Oct 6: Turkey vs Finland, Tunisia vs Egypt, United States vs Slovenia, Japan vs Serbia.
- Oct 7: Turkey vs Egypt, Tunisia vs Finland, United States vs Serbia, Japan vs Slovenia.
- Oct 8: Egypt vs Finland, Turkey vs Tunisia, Slovenia vs Serbia, Japan vs United States.
Pool C
- Sept 30: Argentina vs Mexico, Netherlands vs Canada, Poland vs Belgium, China vs Bulgaria.
- Oct 1: Argentina vs Canada, Netherlands vs Mexico, Poland vs Bulgaria, China vs Belgium.
- Oct 3: Argentina vs Bulgaria, Netherlands vs Belgium, Poland vs Canada, China vs Mexico.
- Oct 4: Netherlands vs Bulgaria, Argentina vs Belgium, Poland vs Mexico, China vs Canada.
- Oct 6: Canada vs Bulgaria, Mexico vs Belgium, Poland vs Argentina, China vs Netherlands.
- Oct 7: Canada vs Belgium, Mexico vs Bulgaria, Poland vs Netherlands, China vs Argentina.
- Oct 8: Belgium vs Bulgaria, Argentina vs Netherlands, Canada vs Mexico, China vs Poland.
FIVB Men’s Volleyball Olympic Qualification Tournaments – Preview
Brazil are fancied to emerge victorious in Pool A, although world champions Italy undoubtedly have the talent to give them a run for their money.
The South Americans are generally a force to be reckoned with in men’s volleyball, having won Olympic gold in 1992, 2004 and 2016.
Iran and Cuba should also be competitive, but is difficult to imagine either of the big two teams in this section failing to progress to the Olympics.
Pool B is much more difficult to predict and will likely attract plenty of interest among bettors on the leading online betting sites.
The United States, Japan, Slovenia and Serbia are ranked between 6-11th in the world, which sets up the prospect of several closely fought fixtures.
Having won gold and bronze in the last four editions of the Olympics, the US will expect to claim one of the two qualification places.
However, home advantage may give Japan a crucial edge, which makes them an intriguing proposition for any punters using the bwin welcome offer to wager on Pool B.
World Championship runners-up Poland are the bookmakers’ favourites to win Pool C, but the remaining seven teams are all fairly evenly matched.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Argentina should be extremely competitive and may edge out the Netherlands and Mexico in the race for second spot.
