Beach Volleyball Major Series
The Beach Volleyball Major Series is an international series of beach volleyball tournaments which began in 2015. The tournaments consist of Tour Stops and form part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The series concludes with the FIVB World Tour Finals.
Each tournament in the series has a prize pool of US$300,000 per gender, except for the World Tour Finals which has a prize pool of US$400,000 per gender.
History
The Beach Volleyball Major Series arose out of a joint-venture between Austrian companies Red Bull and the ACTS Group.Red Bull was established in 1987 by Dietrich Mateschitz. Aside from the energy drink, Red Bull's direct marketing focuses heavily on sports and lifestyle.
ACTS Group is a marketing agency founded in 1990 by Hannes Jagerhofer. It offers services including event-marketing, event-organization, external-communication and public relations. The group has also been responsible for the organizing beach volleyball tournaments, including the FIVB Grand Slams in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria.
Swatch was the title sponsor of the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series between 2015 and 2017.
The Series will not continue for a sixt year in 2020 with three Major stops because of COVID-19.
Relation to the FIVB
The competition is overseen by the FIVB, the international governing body for the sports of indoor, beach and grass volleyball.In the category of Beach Volleyball, the FIVB oversees three competitions, namely: the FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and lastly the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
The Beach Volleyball Major Series forms part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Olympic qualification
was formally recognized as an Olympic discipline in 1996. In order for a beach volleyball athlete to participate in the Olympics, minimum requirements must be met and one of these requirements as stipulated by the FIVB is that all athletes must have participated in a minimum of 12 official FIVB Olympic qualification tournaments as an individual.Also an athlete hoping to participate in the Olympics must earn FIVB World Ranking points which tallies up to make up the Olympic Ranking.
Participation in Major Series tournaments counts towards Olympic qualification tournaments and also earns athletes FIVB World Ranking points. An exception is the FIVB World Tour Finals – participating teams do not earn FIVB World Ranking points for this event.
In 2016, the smart Major Hamburg was the final tournament where Olympic ranking points for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro could be obtained.
Tournaments
2015
The first Beach Volleyball Major Series began in 2015. There were Tour Stops in Poreč, Croatia; Stavanger, Norway and Gstaad, Switzerland. The Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals took place in Fort Lauderdale Florida, United States.| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
| 2–7 June | Poreč | Poreč Major |  Croatia | Brouwer/Meewusen  | Larissa/Talita  |
| 9–12 June | Stavanger | Stavanger Major |  Norway | Evandro/Pedro Solberg | Juliana/Antonelli |
| 7–12 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major |  Switzerland | Alison/Bruno Schmidt | Larissa/Talita |
| 29-Sept-4 Oct | Fort Lauderdale | Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals |  United States | Alison/Bruno Schmidt | Larissa/Talita |
2016
The 2016 Major Series schedule began in Hamburg, Germany, and took in further stops in Croatia, Switzerland and Klagenfurt in Austria. The Series culminated with the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto.| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
| 7–12 June | Hamburg | smart Major Hamburg |  Germany | Lucena/Dalhausser | Ludwig/Walkenhorst |
| 28-Jun-3 Jul | Poreč | Poreč Major | Croatia | Alison/Bruno Schmidt | Laboureur/Sude |
| 5–10 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland | Evandro/Pedro Solberg | Larissa/Talita |
| 26–31 July | Klagenfurt | A1 Major Klagenfurt/Kärnten |  Austria | Samoilovs/Smedins  | Ludwig/Walkenhorst |
| 13–18 September | Toronto | Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals |  Canada | Alison/Bruno Schmidt | Ludwig/Walkenhorst |
2017
The 2017 Major Series schedule was released in October 2016. As part of the FIVB World Tour, the Swatch Major Series will again pay trips to Poreč and Gstaad. The 2017 tour began in February in Fort Lauderdale, the site of the 2015 World Tour Finals. The 2017 Finals were held in August in Hamburg. The Swatch Major Series was also responsible for the organization of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna in July and August.| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
| 7–12 February | Fort Lauderdale | Fort Lauderdale Major | United States | Alvaro/Saymon | Larissa/Talita |
| 27-Jun-2 Jul | Poreč | Poreč Major | Croatia | Guto/Pedro Solberg | Pavan/Humana-Paredes |
| 4–9 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland | Lucena/Dalhausser | Laboureur/Sude |
| 22–27 August | Hamburg | Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals | Germany | Lucena/Dalhausser | Ludwig/Walkenhorst |
2018
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
| 27 Feb - 4 Apr | Fort Lauderdale | Fort Lauderdale Major | United States | Lucena/Dalhausser | Seixas/Alves |
| 5–10 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland | Mol/Sørum | Humana-Paredes/Pavan |
| 31 Jul –5 Aug | Vienna | Vienna Major | Austria | Mol/Sørum | Hermannová/Sluková  |
| 14–19 August | Hamburg | FIVB World Tour Finals | Germany | Mol/Sørum | Agatha/Duda |
2019
2020
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all three tournaments have been cancelled.| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
| 7–12 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 12–16 August | Vienna | Vienna Major | Austria | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 19–23 August | Hamburg | Hamburg Major | Germany | Cancelled | Cancelled |