Portugal ready to kick start preparations for the 2014 FIVB World Championship European Qualification Round - Volleyball News

The Men's Volleyball Team of Portugal is ready to hit the first training session for the upcoming Qualification Round of 2014 FIVB World Championship, where Portugal will be joined by three other teams i.e. Serbia, Silvia, and Macedonia. The European Qualification round will last from January 3-5, 2014 and Serbia will provide the backdrop for the event. 

In the meanwhile, Portuguese team will start the training session on December 17. The squad will start preparation at the Povoa de Varzim Municipal Sports Hall. Quite recently, the
team coach Hugo Silva unveiled a 16-member squad that will go straight into their preparations for 3 consecutive friendly matches happening from December 28 to 30. Portugal will come into fight with Spain in their home city Madrid.

“At this point, the most important thing is to have all players available as soon as possible, as some of the international players are coming later, due to the scheduled matches of their respective teams,” Silva said.

“Then we must develop our strategy for each game, which will be built around our own strengths and characteristics. In order for this to work, it will be very important to work hard and to get every player playing at his best, especially the young ones.”

Beach Get Involved - News from Indonesia

The Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) recently joined hands with the Development Centre of Indonesia and organised a technical seminar entitled “Beach Get Involved”. The seminar completed its run from November 11 to 15 and turned out to be a successful venture.

The FIVB Instructor Mr Mohammed Benhamida from Qatar supervised the seminar and helped the participants to learn more the challenging sport of Beach Volleyball. The participants showed great spirit to learn and improve their skills. They regularly attended the lessons and took out notes. The technical seminar on beach volleyball perfectly served its purpose of teaching technicians (with experience as volleyball players and/or coaches), who had the urge to improve their knowledge and competences of the different volleyball techniques.

This activity was a part of the broader development plan of International Volleyball Federation to encourage more international tournaments and courses in Indonesia, which holds a great deal of potential for the sport and has numerous beaches.

The FIVB instructor Mohammed Benhamida shared his thoughts at the completion of seminar in the following manner, “With 33 provinces and more than 220 million inhabitants, Indonesia needs a strategic plan for the future of beach volleyball.”

2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships to be held in the Netherlands – Volleyball news

 The International Indoor and Beach Volleyball Governing Body (FIVB) opened the bidding process to host the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball Championships earlier this month and received a lot of bids.
Following a strict evaluation, the FIVB eventually approved of Netherlands to play host to the World Championships in 2015. The Netherlands Volleyball Association (Nevobo) has been officially selected as hosts of the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.

According to the plan of FIVB and Nevobo, the 2015 FIVB SWATCH Beach Volleyball World Championships will be a hosted by different Dutch cities such as Amsterdam, Hague, and Apeldoorn.
Furthermore, one more city will also be featured on the list of hosts but it is yet to be disclosed. Hence a total of four Dutch cities will get the privilege to host 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.

This is the first time in the history of FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships that the event will not be confined to just one city but it will be a country event in the Netherlands.
Previously, only one Dutch city Hague has played host to an Open event of SWATCH FIVB World Tour since 2009. However, the city will not be featured on the 2012 and 2013 editions of tour. Hague will rejoin the tour in 2014 and 2016 as Grand Slam host.

FIVB Executive vice-president and Beach Volleyball Commission president Dr Ary Graça shared his views about Netherlands’ bid. He stated, “The bid from the Netherlands Volleyball Association was very impressive with innovation and a keen focus on development the key behind ensuring the continued success of the FIVB’s leading beach volleyball event.”

He further added that the last edition of the championships, which was hosted by Rome, Italy, proved to be huge success. In the next run, Poland is ready to provide the backdrop for the thrilling competition in 2013, while Netherlands will host the wonderful act in 2015.

Meanwhile, the Director of FIVB Beach Volleyball Department Angelo Squeo commented, “The FIVB and the organisers are determined to implement a very unique event to combine top class competition with a powerful development program and transfer of knowledge to all national federations.”

FIVB opens registration for 2014 World Championships – Volleyball news

The International Volleyball Governing Authority (FIVB) has officially opened the registration for 2014 World Championships this week.

Poland and Italy have been selected as the host countries for respective men’s and women’s competitions. Hence, these two countries will automatically be on board for being the host nations.
However, the other aspiring teams will have to go through the qualification phase and for that they need to get registered for the playoffs in the first place.

All the relevant information about the events and playoff rounds is available on the official website of the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB). The entry forms for registration can be obtained via FIVB website. The registration is open until May 1, 2012. The entry forms should be sent to FIVB’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland within the specified time period.

The FIVB World Championship dates back to 1949 when only men’s tournament was held. The women joined the FIVB World Championship in 1952. The world’s premier volleyball competition is now held with a gap of four years. The previous edition of the World Championship took place in 2010.

A total of 24 men’s teams will enter the 2014 FIVB World Championship. Poland has qualified directly for the tournament as host, leaving 23 vacancies open for other countries of the world. On the other hand, the women’s tournament will also have 24 teams. Italian squad is already confirmed for the competition as host.

Elsewhere, tour spots in both men’s and women’s tournaments will be awarded to Asian teams. Africa will send three men’s and two women’s teams in the competition, while 9 men’s and 10 women’s teams from Europe will jump on board after successful completion of qualification phase.
Three men’s and two women’s teams from South American region will qualify for the World Championships. Likewise, the North and Central America & Caribbean Federation (NORCECA) will be represented by five men’s and six women’s teams in the 2014 FIVB World Championships.

Brazilian men’s national volleyball team and Russian ladies will defend the titles. Brazil defeated Cuba in the 2010 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship, whereas Russia sidelined top rival Brazil in women’s final of the World Championship in 2010.