The FIVB Volleyball World League was an annual international men's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

competition. Created in 1990, it was the longest and richest of all the international events organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The women's version of the competition was called

FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was an annual women's volleyball competition created in 1993. The men's version of the competition was called FIVB Volleyball World League, World League. This event should not be confused with the other intern ...

. This event should not be confused with the other international volleyball competitions, the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and the World Grand Champions Cup. From 2018, the World League and World Grand Prix was replaced by the men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

Nations League and men's and

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History

Origins

The World League was created in 1990 as part of the intensive marketing programme that would become a distinctive mark of the FIVB's activities near the end of the century. The idea was to promote the

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

of volleyball by establishing an annual competition that would appeal to audiences all over the world.

Winners

In the 1990s, the

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dominated the World League, winning the first three tournaments in 1990, 1991 and 1992. Playing at home, Brazil, at the time the Olympic champions, managed to take the gold in 1993, but Italy regained the title in 1994 and 1995. In 1996, foreshadowing what would happen just a couple of months later at the Volleyball at the 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta Olympic Games, the Netherlands beat them in an extremely tight five-set match, before Italy once again won the gold in 1997. In 1998, the winners were Cuba, while in 1999 and 2000 Italy won again. As can be seen, Italy were clearly the dominant team in the first decade of the World League: from 1990 to 2000, the World League was played 11 times, and Italy took gold eight times, while the remaining three titles were won by three different teams. Italy's supremacy in the World League began to wane in 2001, when Brazil won a second gold medal, beating the Italians in three straight sets. With further titles each year from 2003 to 2007, and winning another titles in 2009 and 2010, the Brazilians were the preeminent at the start of the 21st century, being also World and Olympic Champions. The interruptions to Brazil's dominance came in 2002, when Russia took the title, and in 2008, with the United States of America, United States winning gold and gaining positive momentum going into the Volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing Olympics.

Competition formula

The FIVB is constantly adapting the World League's competition formula to improve competitiveness and to make the games more attractive to the audience. Nevertheless, a few basic rules and restrictions will probably remain unchanged in the following years. *Teams who participate must provide local media coverage and live TV broadcasting. *The competition is divided in at least two phases: a preliminary round (usually called "Intercontinental Round"), with a system of rotating host cities; and one or more final rounds, with one or more host nations. *In the preliminary round, teams are organized in pools. Each team plays a total of four matches against all other teams in its pool, two at home, two as visitors. Each pair of matches is played over a weekend. *When all the matches of the preliminary round have been played, the top ''n'' teams in each pool qualify for the final round(s), and the remaining ones leave the competition. The value of ''n'' depends on the number of participating teams and the format that will be employed in the finals. *Host nation(s) automatically qualify for the final round(s). *The FIVB has tried various formats for the final round(s): Top Six, Top Four, Quarter-Semi-finals (Olympic format). For some years now (2004), the most commonly used is a mixed format: quarterfinalists are organized in two pools, and the top two teams in each pool play semifinals and finals according to the Olympic format. *In the preliminary round, a team is usually given the right to work with a list of nineteen players, from which the coach builds the fourteen-player line-up included two liberos (if the team include only one libero in the roster, their max roster number is limited to 12) that will be employed in a particular weekend. For the final round(s), only fourteen players included two liberos are allowed.

Hosts

List of hosts by number of final round championships hosted.

Appearance

Brazil men's national volleyball team, Brazil and Italy men's national volleyball team, Italy are the only teams that participated in all editions of the World League.

Results summary

Medals summary

Most valuable player, MVP by edition

*1990 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1990 – *1991 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1991 – *1992 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1992 – *1993 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1993 – *1994 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1994 – *1995 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1995 – *1996 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1996 – *1997 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1997 – *1998 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1998 – *1999 FIVB Volleyball World League, 1999 – *2000 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2000 – *2001 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2001 – *2002 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2002 – *2003 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2003 – *2004 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2004 – *2005 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2005 – *2006 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2006 – *2007 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2007 – *2008 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2008 – *2009 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2009 – *2010 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2010 – *2011 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2011 – *2012 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2012 – *2013 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2013 – *2014 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2014 – *2015 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2015 – *2016 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2016 – *2017 FIVB Volleyball World League, 2017 –

Gallery

BGArena4.jpg, FIVB World League Final Match Brazil vs Serbia and Montenegro, July 10, 2005 World League Final 2011 (5927365279).jpg, Cup Ceremony FIVB World League 2011 (Russia Champions) Biało-czerwoni kibice (9293436666).jpg, Poland fans at FIVB World League 2013 World League Semifinals (5921250377).jpg, Spike by Giba Brazil - World League 2009.jpg, Brazil Champion FIVB World League 2009 World League Finals Day 3 (5918500024).jpg, Dive by Bartosz Kurek Fourth match between Iran and The United States national volleyball teams in 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League (7).jpg, Iran and United States teams in FIVB World League 2015 World League Final 2011 (5927893012).jpg, Poland at FIVB World League Final 2011 World League Finals Day 3 (5917863407).jpg, Italy, Italian Player in FIVB World League 2012 World League Finals Day 3 (5918441626).jpg, Spike style by Bulgaria, Bulgarian Player

Notes

References

External links

Fédération Internationale de Volleyball
– official website
FIVB Volleyball World League
– official website
Results Archive
– comprehensive results for all tournaments {{Volleyball FIVB Volleyball World League, Recurring sporting events established in 1990 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2017 International men's volleyball competitions Annual sporting events Multi-national professional sports leagues