The 2014 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship was held in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

from 30 August to 21 September 2014. The tournament featured 24 teams to determine the world champions in 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 ...

. In addition to the host nation Poland, 23 teams qualified for the tournament through continental and regional competitions. The matches took place in seven venues across seven Polish cities, with the final being played at

Spodek Spodek is a multipurpose arena complex in Katowice, Poland, opened on 9 May 1971. Aside from the main dome, the complex includes a gym, an ice rink, a hotel and three large car parks. It was the largest indoor venue of its kind in Poland until ...

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

. The tournament was won by the hosts

, who beat

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

(who had won the previous three titles) in the final. Poland became the third team in the history of the competition to be crowned as champions in their own country, joining the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(1952 and 1962) and

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

(1966). 563,263 fans watched the matches during the 18-day event, smashing the previous records in the competition. In Italy four years earlier, the total was 339,324, while in Japan in 2006, it was 298,352.

Host

The tournament was held in seven Polish cities.

Information

On 4 September 2008 the FIVB announced it had agreed a partnership deal for

to host the FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship in 2014. "This will be the biggest and most beautiful sports event in the world, not only in volleyball but throughout the whole sports family," said FIVB Honorary Life President Rubén Acosta. "Poland – I'm sure about it – will make this championship very special." Acosta and FIVB President Wei Jizhong agreed the deal in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

following negotiations with the Polish Minister of Sport, Mirosław Drzewiecki; Mirosław Błaszczyk, President of the Board of Administration of Polsat Television; Polsat Television Sports Department Director, Marian Kmita and Polish Volleyball Federation President, Mirosław Przedpełski. Volleyball in Poland has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity during the 2000s. The Polish Men's team finished as runners-up at the 2006 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship in Japan and a year later, Katowice hosted one of the best-ever FIVB Volleyball World League Final Rounds. The remaining 12 teams were drawn across the bottom three positions of each of the four first round pools. A record number of 279 teams participated in the qualification process for the 2014 FIVB Volleyball World Championships. This total, coming from 166 national federations across the five FIVB confederations, represents an increase of 65 teams from the previous best of 214 teams from 119 federations for the 2010 World Championships (compared with 102 in 2006, 72 in 2002 and 63 in 1998).

Qualification

The regional qualification stage determined the 24 teams that would compete in the championship competition. Hosts

were granted automatic qualification. Regional governing bodies were allocated the remaining 23 spots.

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

was granted three, Asia and Oceania four,

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

eight,

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

five, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

three places.

Pools composition

First round

Teams were seeded in the first three positions of each pool following the serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of 7 October 2013. FIVB reserved the right to seed the hosts as head of pool A regardless of the World Ranking. All teams not seeded were drawn to take other available positions in the remaining lines, following the World Ranking. The draw was held in

on 27 January 2014. Because the CAVB and NORCECA qualification process were in progress on 27 January 2014, the best world rankings of CAVB (13, 15 and 19) and NORCECA (4, 7, 11, 20 and 22) were used when the draw was made. Rankings are shown in brackets except the hosts who ranked 5th.

Second round

Third round

The third round draw was held in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

on 14 September 2014. The 1st ranked teams of pools E and F were placed in different pools, while the second and third placed teams were drawn.

Squads

Venues

It was the first time Poland had hosted an FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship. Matches were played in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

and

Pool standing procedure

# Match points # Number of matches won # Sets ratio # Points ratio # Result of the last match between the tied teams Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser

Opening match

The 2014 World Championship began on 30 August with a dream opening match between the hosts and Serbia, who played to a record 62,000 spectators at

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

First round

*All times are

Central European Summer Time Central European Summer Time (CEST, UTC+02:00), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central E ...

( UTC+02:00). *The top four teams in each pool qualified for the second round.

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

Second round

*All times are

( UTC+02:00). *The results and the points of the matches between the same teams that were already played during the first round were taken into account for the second round. *The top three teams in each pool qualified for the third round.

Pool E

Pool F

Third round

*All times are

( UTC+02:00). *The top two teams in each pool qualified for the semifinals, whereas the third ranked teams in each pool qualified for the 5th place match.

Pool G

Pool H

Final round

*All times are

( UTC+02:00).

5th–6th places

5th place match

Final four

Semifinals

3rd place match

Final

Final standing

Awards

*Most valuable player *: Mariusz Wlazły *Best setter *: Lukas Kampa *Best outside spikers *: Ricardo Lucarelli *: Murilo Endres *Best middle blockers *: Marcus Böhme *: Karol Kłos *Best opposite spiker *: Mariusz Wlazły *Best libero *: Jenia Grebennikov

Prize money

*Prize Money for the Final Standing *:Champions – $200,000 *:Runners-up – $125,000 *:3rd place – $75,000 *Prize Money for the Awards *:Most Valuable Player – $30,000 *:Best Setter – $10,000 *:Best Outside Spiker – $10,000 (2 players) *:Best Middle Blocker – $10,000 (2 players) *:Best Opposite Spiker – $10,000 *:Best Libero – $10,000

Marketing

Official song

The competition's official opening song was " Start a Fire" by

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

. She also performed the song at the 2014 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship opening ceremony on August 30 at the

National Stadium, Warsaw The Stadion Narodowy (, ), known for sponsorship reasons as the PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna, PGE Narodowy since 2015 (with patron being added in 2021), is a retractable-roof football (soccer), football stadium located in Warsaw, Poland. It is ...

, prior to the Poland v. Serbia match. This event was transmitted in over 168 countries.

Trophy

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.

Broadcasting

Source
FIVB.com
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Fans

More than a half million fans (563,263) have watched the matches so far, smashing the previous records in the competition. In Italy four years ago, the total was 339,324, while in Japan in 2006 it was 298,352. The first round alone topped the numbers achieved by the World Championship in Italy four years ago. The average number of spectators per match was 5,469. Not surprisingly, Poland have been the most popular team with a total of 173,234 fans attending their games, 60,000 more than the second-ranked team Serbia.

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Official website

Final StandingAwardsPrize MoneyStatisticsHighlights World Championship
{{World championships in 2014 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship International volleyball competitions hosted by Poland August 2014 sports events in Europe September 2014 sports events in Europe

Host

Information

Qualification

Pools composition

First round

Second round

Third round

Squads

Venues

Pool standing procedure

Opening match

First round

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

Second round

Pool E

Pool F

Third round

Pool G

Pool H

Final round

5th–6th places

5th place match

Final four

Semifinals

3rd place match

Final

Final standing

Awards

Prize money

Marketing

Sponsors

Official song

Trophy

Broadcasting

Fans

See also

Notes

References

External links