Vitória, Brazil welcomes FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour

The last of three successive events in Brazil on the 2015/2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar will be the double-gender FIVB Vitória Open, to be held in Vitória on March 15-20. Prior to this visit, the FIVB World Tour has held five men’s events and three women’s events in Vitória.

The last men’s event in Vitória was in 2001 and last women’s FIVB World Tour event in Vitória was in 2006.

The first men’s FIVB World Tour event was played February 17-22, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while the first women’s FIVB World Tour event in Brazil was played in 1993 in Rio de Janeiro. The women’s FIVB World Tour held its first tournament in Spain in 1992.

Quick links
• Qualification - Men
• Qualification - Women
• Main draw - Men
• Main draw - Women

Watch the semifinals and finals live on YouTube.

The 2015/2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar began with three Open events at the end of 2015. The remainder of the 2016 calendar will include multiple FIVB Open and multiple FIVB Grand Slam events along with more Swatch FIVB Major Series events, and the second Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals.  Highlight of the calendar will be the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil featuring 24 teams in each gender.

Overall, Brazil has hosted 69 total previous FIVB World Tour events, at least one has been held every season that the FIVB has played beach volleyball. Rio de Janeiro has hosted 23 total events, including the 1999 World Championships. Fortaleza has hosted 10 total events, followed by Brasília with eight total events, Vitória also with eight, and Salvador with seven. There have been 37 total men’s events and 32 total women’s events.

Entering 2016, in the medal count for events held in the South American country, Brazil is far ahead in both genders. For the men, Brazil has 63 total medals followed by the United States with 24, Switzerland 6, Germany 5, Argentina 4, Canada 2, Latvia 2, China 1, Cuba 1, Netherlands 1, Norway 1 and Poland 1.

Entering 2016, in women’s medals for FIVB events held in Brazil, Brazil tops the chart with 56 followed again by the USA with 28, Australia 3, Germany 3, Italy 2, Netherlands 2, China 1 and Japan 1.

Vitória is the capital of the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. It is located on a small island within a bay where a few rivers meet the sea. It was founded in 1551. The city proper (area 93km or 35.9 sq mi) has a population of nearly 350,000 while the greater metropolitan area has a population of more than 1.8 million, the 14th largest in Brazil. In 1998, the United Nations rated Vitória as the fourth best state capital in Brazil to live in, rating cities on health, education, and social improvement projects. The city is also home to the Federal University of Espirito Santo.

Vitória's economy is based on port activities, active trade, industry, and also providing services to business tourism. The capital of Espírito Santo has two ports that are the most important of the country: Port of Vitória and the Port of Tubarão (Shark). The most important industries are the capital's Arcelor-Mittal Tubarão and Vale. These ports form the largest port complex in Brazil.

The event continues the road to Rio that lasts until June 13, 2016 with FIVB World Tour events counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine the 15 of 24 spots for each gender that will take part in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The 2016 FIVB World Ranking system will again include FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam and Open events along with additional pre-approved events at the inter-continental, continental and national levels.

Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam or FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds. While the FIVB World Championships had 48 teams, all other tournaments have 32 teams and begin with a qualification tournament in each gender to determine the final eight teams in the main draw fields.

Country quota playoffs are also held, as needed, to determine the final teams for qualification tournaments.

The 2014-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup is back again this year as it completes its portion of the qualification process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.