2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship


The 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship was the 19th staging of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, the sport's global governing body. The final tournament was held in Italy and Bulgaria from 9 to 30 September 2018. For the first time the tournament was jointly-hosted by more than one country. The final six was hosted by Italy at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.
Poland defended their world title, defeating the reigning olympic champions Brazil in straight sets at a repeat of the 2014 final. This was Poland's third title overall, and the third time in the last four editions of the World Championship that Brazil and Poland contested the final. This was also the fifth straight World Championship with Brazil reaching at least the final. United States won the 3rd place match, defeating Serbia in four sets. Bartosz Kurek from Poland was elected the MVP.
The first round match between Russia and Tunisia set the new all-time lowest-scoring record in a World Championship set since the new volleyball scoring rules were adopted, with Russia winning the second set by 25–6. The previous record was a 25–8 achieved by United States against Puerto Rico during the 2014 World Championship.

Host selection

On 9 December 2015, FIVB announced that the tournament would be held in Italy and Bulgaria. For the first time the championship will take place in more than one country. The tournament will take place in six Italian cities and three Bulgarian cities.
Both Italy and Bulgaria have previously hosted the Men's World Championship. Italy last organised the 2010 edition, when Brazil claimed the title their third straight title. Italy also hosted the men's event in 1978 as well as the 2014 Women's World Championship. Moreover, Italy hosted the 1985 Men's U21 World Championship, the 1985 Women's U20 World Championship and the 2009 Boys' U19 World Championship. Bulgaria, on the other hand, hosted both the men's and women's senior editions in 1970. Both countries have also played hosts to other important volleyball competitions, including the Men's European Volleyball Championship and the World League final round.

Qualification

The qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the five FIVB confederations to decide 21 of the 24 teams which would play in the final tournament, with Italy and Bulgaria qualifying automatically as hosts and Poland also qualifying automatically as the defending champions. All remaining FIVB member associations were eligible to enter the qualifying process.
At first, 150 associations registered teams to compete in the qualification process, but 19 associations withdrew from the qualifying process after they registered and India were suspended and then expelled from taking part in the process as a punishment for internal problems in the India Volleyball Federation.
The five regional governing bodies were allocated the remaining 21 spots; CAVB was granted three, AVC four, NORCECA five, CSV two, and CEV seven spots.
Of the 24 nations qualified to play at the 2018 World Championship, 20 countries competed at the previous tournament in 2014. Slovenia qualified for the first time. Other teams returning after absences of the last tournament include: Dominican Republic, returning to the finals after their only previous appearance in 1974, Netherlands, who last competed in 2002, and Japan, who missed the 2014 edition.
Notable countries that failed to qualify include the 2014 third placed Germany, Venezuela, South Korea and Czech Republic.

Qualified teams

Format

;First round
In the first round, the 24 teams will be spread across four pools of six teams playing in a round-robin system. The top four teams from each pool will advance to the second round. featuring four pools of four teams playing in four cities.
;Second round
The second round will feature four pools of four teams playing once again in a round-robin system. At the end of the second round matches, the rankings of the four pools will be drawn up taking into account the points scored by each team in the first and second rounds. The four pool-winning teams of the second stage will access the third stage, together with the top two of the second ranked teams.
;Third round
The six teams competing in the third round will be divided into two three-team pools by a draw. After the matches played once again in a round-robin system, the top two in each pool will qualify for the semifinals and finals.
;Final round
The third round pool winners play against the runners-up in this round. The semifinals winners advance to compete for the World Championship title. The losers face each other in the third place match.

Opening

The opening matches of the 2018 FIVB World Championship, jointly hosted by Italy and Bulgaria held With the presence of the president Sergio Mattarella and Rumen Radev. President of Italy Mattarella was guest of honour as co-hosts Italy got their 2018 campaign off to the perfect start with a 3–0 victory over Japan. Alongside FIVB President Ary Graça, Italian National Olympic Committee President Giovanni Malago, President of the Italian Volleyball Federation Pietro Bruno Cattaneo and many more national and international dignitaries, President Mattarella joined the 11,170-strong partisan crowd at the Foro Italy in Rome and in Varna, the home side Bulgaria fared just as successfully as their co-hosts, sweeping aside Finland 3–0 to take a commanding lead in Pool D, were present President of Bulgaria Radev was joined by his Minister for Sport, Krasen Kralev, in the Palace of Culture and Sports.

Pools composition

First round

Teams were seeded in the first two positions of each pool following the serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of 7 July 2017. FIVB reserved the right to seed the hosts as heads of pools A and D regardless of the World Ranking. All teams not seeded were drawn to take other available positions in the remaining lines following the World Ranking. Each pool had no more than three teams from the same confederation. The draw was held in Florence, Italy on 30 November 2017. Rankings as of 7 July 2017 are shown in brackets, except the hosts Italy and Bulgaria who ranked 4th and 14th respectively.
;Draw
Pool APool BPool CPool D

[|Second round]

[|Third round]

The third round draw was held in Turin, Italy on 24 September 2018. The 1st ranked teams of Pools E and F were drawn in Pools I and J consecutively and the 1st ranked teams of Pools G and H were also drawn in Pools I and J consecutively. The 1st best second team among the four pools was placed in Pool I, while the 2nd best second team among the four pools was placed in Pool J.

Squads

Venues

If co-hosts Italy and Bulgaria qualify for the second round, they will play in Assago and Sofia respectively regardless of whether they finish first, second or third in their first round pools. The host cities will be adjusted accordingly.

Pool standing procedure

  1. Total number of victories
  2. In the event of a tie, the following first tiebreaker will apply: The teams will be ranked by the most points gained per match as follows:
  3. *Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser
  4. *Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser
  5. *Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser
  6. If teams are still tied after examining the number of victories and points gained, then the FIVB will examine the results in order to break the tie in the following order:
  7. *Sets quotient: if two or more teams are tied on the number of points gained, they will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of the number of all sets won by the number of all sets lost.
  8. *Points quotient: if the tie persists based on the sets quotient, the teams will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of all points scored by the total of points lost during all sets.
  9. *If the tie persists based on the points quotient, the tie will be broken based on the team that won the match of the Round Robin Phase between the tied teams. When the tie in points quotient is between three or more teams, these teams ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.

    First round

Qualified for the Second round

Pool A

Qualified for the Third round

Pool E

Qualified for the [|Semifinals]

Pool I

Pool J

Final round

3rd place match

Final

Final standing

RankTeam
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

2018 World Champions

Poland
Third title
Team roster: Piotr Nowakowski, Dawid Konarski, Bartosz Kurek, Artur Szalpuk, Damian Schulz, Damian Wojtaszek, Fabian Drzyzga, Grzegorz Łomacz, Michał Kubiak, Aleksander Śliwka, Jakub Kochanowski, Paweł Zatorski, Bartosz Kwolek, Mateusz Bieniek.
Head Coach: Vital Heynen

Awards

The statistics of each group follows the vis reports P2 and P3. The statistics include 6 volleyball skills; serve, reception, set, spike, block, and dig. The table below shows the top 5 ranked players in each skill plus top scorers at the completion of the tournament. Only players whose teams advanced to the final round are taken in consideration.

Marketing

Sponsors

Italy
Bulgaria
Comparable 2014 year the FIVB then mandated two young product designers from Switzerland, Thilo Alex Brunner and Jörg Mettler to create the new World Championship trophy. With its unique contemporary design, the trophy has set itself apart from other awards in international competitions across the sporting world. Eichenberger LTD and their mastermind, Juan Franco, have been responsible for its production. The company specialises in complex metal works mainly for the Swiss watchmaking and jewellery industry. The trophy was constructed using 12 individual pieces, representing each member of a volleyball team. The pieces are brought together in a seamless cylindrical design, symbolising the coming together of the 12 players using the rotation system on the court.

Broadcasting rights

, through several companies, sold the broadcasting rights for the 2018 World Championship to the following broadcasters.
Country/RegionBroadcaster
ArgentinaTV Pública
BelarusSaran Holding
BelgiumVRT
Bosnia and HerzegovinaSport Klub
BrazilGrupo Globo
BulgariaBNT
ChinaCCTV, Tencent
Costa RicaSky México
CroatiaSport Klub
DominicaSky México
Dominican RepublicSky México
EgyptNile Sport, TIME Sports
EuropeEurosport
GermanySky Sport
GuatemalaSky México
HondurasSky México
Hong Kongi-CABLE Sports
IranIRIB Varzesh
IsraelCharlton
ItalyRAI
JapanTBS
KazakhstanSaran Holding
South KoreaSPOTV
LibyaLibya Sport Channel
MacedoniaSport Klub
MalaysiaAstro
MENAASBU
MexicoSky México
MontenegroSport Klub
MoroccoSNRT
NetherlandsZiggo Sport
NicaraguaSky México
OmanOman Sport
PanamaSky México
PolandPolsat
Puerto RicoWAPA-TV
RussiaMatch TV
SerbiaSport Klub
SloveniaSport Klub
ThailandWorkpoint TV
Trinidad and TobagoSky México
United Arab EmiratesAbu Dhabi Sports, Dubai Sports
United StatesFloSports