FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour (known between 2003 and 2012 as the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour for sponsorship reasons[5]) was the worldwide professional beach volleyball tour for both men and women organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The World Tour was introduced 1989 for men and in 1992 for women being held yearly since then until 2021 when it was replaced by the new Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour.

Beach Volleyball World Tour
Full nameFIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
RegionWorld
Date spanFebruary–September (2021)
Tournaments(Men & Women)
(Men)
(Women)
TypeBeach volleyball
History
First tour1989
Last tour2021
Final edition33rd (2021)
Most World Tour titles
Men (team)Brazil EmanuelRicardo
(5 World Tour titles)
2002–2009
Women (team)Brazil LarissaJuliana
(7 World Tour titles)
2004–2012
Men (individual)Brazil Emanuel Rego
(10 World Tour titles)
1996–2012
Women (individual)Brazil Larissa França
Brazil Juliana Silva
(8 World Tour titles each)
2004–2017
Final World Tour champions
MenSweden David ÅhmanJonatan Hellvig (2023)
WomenUnited States Kristen NussTaryn Kloth (2023)
Most tournament titles
Men (team)Brazil EmanuelRicardo
(34 titles)
2002–2009[1]
Women (team)Brazil LarissaJuliana
(45 titles)
2004–2012[2]
Men (individual)Brazil Emanuel Rego
(77 titles)
1996–2012[3]
Women (individual)Brazil Larissa França
(62 titles)
2005–2017[4]

Several tournaments were staged throughout the year. All athletes who competed in the qualifying and main draws of the tournaments earned points in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings, and after the last stage the pair that accumulated the most points during the year was declared the champion of the World Tour (only points from 75% of the tournaments in the season were considered for the ranking). Winning the World Tour was considered to be one of the highest honours in international beach volleyball, being surpassed only by the World Championships, and the Beach Volleyball tournament at the Summer Olympic Games. The Tour was historically dominated by Brazilian teams.

History

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The international professional tour was originally known as the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Series, and began in 1989 for men and 1992 for women. It was rebranded as the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in 1997.[6] The World Tour was previously accompanied by FIVB Challenger and Satellite events, which served as a developmental circuit for up-and-coming players.[7] The FIVB handed over the organizing of Challenger and Satellite events to the continental confederations in 2009.[8]

Tournaments in the World Tour were previously categorized as either Grand Slams, Majors or Opens. This was replaced by the star rating structure in 2017.[9]

FIVB established the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour in October 2021 to replace the World Tour, starting with the inaugural 2022 edition.[10]

Tournament categories

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The star ranking tournament structure was introduced in 2017.[11] World Tour tournaments were ranked from 1 to 5 stars, with 5-star tournaments offering the most prize money. The 2018 World Tour had 47 international tournaments with a total prize purse of over US$7 million.[12] Competing in the World Tour as well as other FIVB-recognized tournaments such as the Summer Olympics allowed players to earn FIVB Ranking Points, with higher-star events being worth more points.[13] The World Tour concluded with the World Tour Finals at the end of each season.[13] A new tournament classification was introduced in 2022.

Tournaments 1989-1996 1997-2014 2015−2016 2017−2021 2022−present
Tiers 0 World Tour Finals
I Opens Grand Slams Grand Slams/Major Series 5-star/Major Series Elite 16
II Opens 4-star tournaments Challengers
III Challengers 3-star tournaments Futures
IV Satellites 2-star tournaments
V 1-star tournaments
Prize money (2023 season)
Event category Prize money
(per gender)
World Tour Finals US$800,000
World Championships US$500,000
Elite 16 US$150,000
Challenger US$75,000
Futures US$5,000

Champions

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Year Men's Champions Women's Champions
1989   Sinjin Smith (1) / Randy Stoklos (1)
1990   Sinjin Smith (2) / Randy Stoklos (2)
1991   Sinjin Smith (3) / Randy Stoklos (3)
1992   Sinjin Smith (4) / Randy Stoklos (4)   Karolyn Kirby (1) / Nancy Reno
1993   Roberto Lopes (1) / Franco Neto (1)   Karolyn Kirby (2) / Liz Masakayan
1994   Jan Kvalheim / Bjørn Maaseide   Mônica Rodrigues / Adriana Samuel
1995   Roberto Lopes (2) / Franco Neto (2)   Sandra Pires (1) / Jackie Silva (1)
1996   Zé Marco de Melo (1) / Emanuel Rego (1)   Sandra Pires (2) / Jackie Silva (2)
1997   Zé Marco de Melo (2) / Emanuel Rego (2)   Adriana Behar (1) / Shelda Bede (1)
1998   Rogério Ferreira / Guilherme Marques   Adriana Behar (2) / Shelda Bede (2)
1999   José Loiola / Emanuel Rego (3)   Adriana Behar (3) / Shelda Bede (3)
2000   Zé Marco de Melo (3) / Ricardo Santos (1)   Adriana Behar (4) / Shelda Bede (4)
2001   Tande Ramos / Emanuel Rego (4)   Adriana Behar (5) / Shelda Bede (5)
2002   Mariano Baracetti / Martín Conde   Misty May / Kerri Walsh
2003   Emanuel Rego (5) / Ricardo Santos (2)   Kerri Walsh Jennings (1) / Misty May-Treanor (1)
2004   Emanuel Rego (6) / Ricardo Santos (3)   Kerri Walsh Jennings (2) / Misty May-Treanor (2)
2005   Emanuel Rego (7) / Ricardo Santos (4)   Larissa França (1) / Juliana Silva (1)
2006   Emanuel Rego (8) / Ricardo Santos (5)   Larissa França (2) / Juliana Silva (2)
2007   Emanuel Rego (9) / Ricardo Santos (6)   Kerri Walsh Jennings (3) / Misty May-Treanor (3)
2008   Harley Marques / Pedro Solberg Salgado   Shelda Bede (7) / Ana Paula Connelly (2)
2009   Julius Brink / Jonas Reckermann   Larissa França (3) / Juliana Silva (3)
2010   Phil Dalhausser / Todd Rogers   Larissa França (4) / Juliana Silva (4)
2011   Alison Cerutti (1) / Emanuel Rego (10)   Larissa França (5) / Juliana Silva (5)
2012   Jake Gibb / Sean Rosenthal   Larissa França (6) / Juliana Silva (6)
2013   Aleksandrs Samoilovs (1) / Jānis Šmēdiņš (1)   Talita Antunes (1) / Taiana Lima
2014   Aleksandrs Samoilovs (2) / Jānis Šmēdiņš (2)   Maria Elisa Antonelli / Juliana Silva (7)
2015   Alison Cerutti (2) / Bruno Oscar Schmidt   Ágatha Bednarczuk (1) / Bárbara Seixas
2016   Aleksandrs Samoilovs (3) / Jānis Šmēdiņš (3)   Laura Ludwig / Kira Walkenhorst
2017   Evandro Oliveira / André Stein   Talita Antunes (2) / Larissa França (7)
2018   Anders Mol (1) / Christian Sørum (1)   Ágatha Bednarczuk (2) / Eduarda Lisboa
2019   Anders Mol (2) / Christian Sørum (2)   Melissa Humana-Paredes / Sarah Pavan
2020 No official champions due to several events being postponed or canceled amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.[14][15][16]
2021   Cherif Samba (1) / Ahmed Tijan (1)   Ágatha Bednarczuk (3) / Eduarda Lisboa (2)
2022   Anders Mol (3) / Christian Sørum (3)   Sara Hughes / Kelly Cheng

FIVB World Tour Finals

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The Tour Finals were the season-ending championships of the FIVB World Tour and featured only the top performing teams during the regular season. The tournament was first held in 2015.

Men's results

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Tournament Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place
2015 Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals[17]
Fort Lauderdale, United States
29 September – 4 October 2015
  Alison Cerutti (BRA)
  Bruno Oscar Schmidt (BRA)
21–13, 21–15
  Phil Dalhausser (USA)
  Nicholas Lucena (USA)
  Evandro Oliveira (BRA)
  Pedro Solberg Salgado (BRA)
21–19, 21–14
  Alexander Brouwer (NED)
  Robert Meeuwsen (NED)
2016 Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals[18]
Toronto, Canada
13–18 September 2016
  Alison Cerutti (BRA)
  Bruno Oscar Schmidt (BRA)
21–19, 21–19
  Evandro Oliveira (BRA)
  Pedro Solberg Salgado (BRA)
  Tri Bourne (USA)
  John Hyden (USA)
21–14, 22–20
  Ben Saxton (CAN)
  Chaim Schalk (CAN)
2017 Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals[19]
Hamburg, Germany
US$400,000
22–27 August 2017
  Phil Dalhausser (USA)
  Nick Lucena (USA)
21–15, 21–13
  Evandro Oliveira (BRA)
  André Stein (BRA)
  Daniele Lupo (ITA)
  Paolo Nicolai (ITA)
21–17, 19–21, 15–12
  Piotr Kantor (POL)
  Bartosz Łosiak (POL)
2018 FIVB World Tour Finals[20]
Hamburg, Germany
US$400,000
14–19 August 2018
  Anders Mol (NOR)
  Christian Sørum (NOR)
21–19, 21–17
  Michał Bryl (POL)
  Grzegorz Fijałek (POL)
  Piotr Kantor (POL)
  Bartosz Łosiak (POL)
19–21, 21–15, 15–13
  Julius Thole (GER)
  Clemens Wickler (GER)
2019 FIVB World Tour Finals[21]
Rome, Italy
US$300,000
28 August – 8 September 2019
  Viacheslav Krasilnikov (RUS)
  Oleg Stoyanovskiy (RUS)
21–16, 21–16
  Julius Thole (GER)
  Clemens Wickler (GER)
  Anders Mol (NOR)
  Christian Sørum (NOR)
21–16, 21–15
  Taylor Crabb (USA)
  Jake Gibb (USA)
2021 FIVB World Tour Finals[22]
Cagliari, Italy
US$300,000
6—10 October 2021
  Anders Mol (NOR)
  Christian Sørum (NOR)
22–20, 23–21
  Ondřej Perušič (CZE)
  David Schweiner (CZE)
  Steven van de Velde (NED)
  Christiaan Varenhorst (NED)
23–21, 21–17
  Paolo Nicolai (ITA)
  Daniele Lupo (ITA)
2022 FIVB World Tour Finals[23]
Doha, Qatar
US$800,000
26–29 January 2023
  Anders Mol (NOR)
  Christian Sørum (NOR)
21–18, 21–18
  Michał Bryl (POL)
  Bartosz Łosiak (POL)
  Paolo Nicolai (ITA)
  Samuele Cottafava (ITA)
22–20, 19–21, 16–14
  Alexander Brouwer (NED)
  Robert Meeuwsen (NED)
2023 FIVB World Tour Finals[24]
Doha, Qatar
US$800,000
6–9 December 2023
  David Åhman (SWE)
  Jonatan Hellvig (SWE)
21–16, 21–17
  Anders Mol (NOR)
  Christian Sørum (NOR)
  George Wanderley (BRA)
  André Stein (BRA)
21–17, 21–17
  Cherif Younousse (QAT)
  Ahmed Tijan (QAT)

Women's results

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Tournament Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place
2015 Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals[25]
Fort Lauderdale, United States
29 September – 4 October 2015
  Talita Antunes (BRA)
  Larissa França (BRA)
21–17, 21–18
  Laura Ludwig (GER)
  Kira Walkenhorst (GER)
  Ágatha Bednarczuk (BRA)
  Bárbara Seixas (BRA)
22–20, 14–21, 15–10
  Heather Bansley (CAN)
  Sarah Pavan (CAN)
2016 Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals[26]
Toronto, Canada
13–18 September 2016
  Laura Ludwig (GER)
  Kira Walkenhorst (GER)
21–18, 21–16
  Joana Heidrich (SUI)
  Nadine Zumkehr (SUI)
  Isabelle Forrer (SUI)
  Anouk Vergé-Dépré (SUI)
21–19, 21–18
  Talita Antunes (BRA)
  Larissa França (BRA)
2017 Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals[27]
Hamburg, Germany
US$400,000
22–27 August 2017
  Laura Ludwig (GER)
  Kira Walkenhorst (GER)
21–17, 19–21, 15–10
  Ágatha Bednarczuk (BRA)
  Eduarda Lisboa (BRA)
  Talita Antunes (BRA)
  Larissa França (BRA)
21–17, 21–19
  Melissa Humana-Paredes (CAN)
  Sarah Pavan (CAN)
2018 FIVB World Tour Finals[28]
Hamburg, Germany
US$400,000
14–19 August 2018
  Ágatha Bednarczuk (BRA)
  Eduarda Lisboa (BRA)
21–15, 21–19
  Barbora Hermannová (CZE)
  Markéta Sluková (CZE)
  Mariafe Artacho del Solar (AUS)
  Taliqua Clancy (AUS)
21–15, 19–21, 15–8
  Maria Elisa Antonelli (BRA)
  Carolina Solberg Salgado (BRA)
2019 FIVB World Tour Finals[29]
Rome, Italy
US$300,000
28 August – 8 September 2019
  Margareta Kozuch (GER)
  Laura Ludwig (GER)
21–19, 21–17
  Ágatha Bednarczuk (BRA)
  Eduarda Lisboa (BRA)
  Rebecca Cavalcante (BRA)
  Ana Patrícia Ramos (BRA)
19–21, 21–18, 16–14
  Joana Heidrich (SUI)
  Anouk Vergé-Dépré (SUI)
2021 FIVB World Tour Finals[30]
Cagliari, Italy
US$300,000
6—10 October 2021
  Julia Sude (GER)
  Karla Borger (GER)
21–13, 23–21
  Sarah Pavan (CAN)
  Melissa Humana-Paredes (CAN)
  April Ross (USA)
  Alix Klineman (USA)
21–8, 21–17
  Nadezda Makroguzova (RUS)
  Svetlana Kholomina (RUS)
2022 FIVB World Tour Finals[31]
Doha, Qatar
US$800,000
26–29 January 2023
  Sara Hughes (USA)
  Kelly Cheng (USA)
21–18, 21–16
  Eduarda Santos Lisboa (BRA)
  Ana Patrícia Ramos (BRA)
  Katja Stam (NED)
  Raïsa Schoon (NED)
21–18, 21–10
  Taliqua Clancy (AUS)
  Mariafe Artacho del Solar (AUS)
2023 FIVB World Tour Finals[32]
Doha, Qatar
US$800,000
6–9 December 2023
  Kristen Nuss (USA)
  Taryn Kloth (USA)
21–17, 21–14
  Svenja Müller (GER)
  Cinja Tillmann (GER)
  Ana Patrícia Ramos (BRA)
  Eduarda Santos Lisboa (BRA)
21–13, 18–21, 15–12
  Mariafe Artacho del Solar (AUS)
  Taliqua Clancy (AUS)

Award winners

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Men's FIVB World Tour award winners

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Women's FIVB World Tour award winners

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Sponsorship

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References

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  1. ^ International Men's Career Team Victory Leaders, Beach Volleyball Database
  2. ^ International Women's Career Team Victory Leaders, Beach Volleyball Database
  3. ^ International Men's Career Individual Victory Leaders, Beach Volleyball Database
  4. ^ International Women's Career Individual Victory Leaders, Beach Volleyball Database
  5. ^ SWATCH-FIVB World Tour – Five Years of Success Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, The-Watchez.com
  6. ^ "Biography of Beach Volleyball". Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  7. ^ "FIVB Beach Volleyball Events ... from the World Championships to the grass roots: Challenger and Satellite Events" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  8. ^ "FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour: 2017 Media Guide" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. p. 67. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 10, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  9. ^ "FIVB Announces New 5-Star Structure For FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour". Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. November 7, 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  10. ^ "Volleyball World announces Beach Pro Tour: the ultimate beach volleyball experience". Volleyball World. October 9, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  11. ^ Competition Calendar, FIVB.org
  12. ^ "NEW TOURNAMENTS TO TAKE BEACH VOLLEYBALL FURTHER THAN EVER BEFORE". Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. November 8, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  13. ^ a b "FIVB Sports Regulations: Beach Volleyball" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. November 30, 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  14. ^ FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events postponed due to coronavirus, Inside the Games, 24 March 2020
  15. ^ FIVB announces further changes to calendar due to coronavirus pandemic, Inside the Games, 31 March 2020
  16. ^ FIVB cancel two more Beach World Tour events due to COVID-19, Inside the Games, 13 April 2020
  17. ^ Ft. Lauderdale Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals | Schedule, FIVB.org
  18. ^ SWATCH FIVB WORLD TOUR FINALS Main Draw, FIVB.org
  19. ^ SWATCH BEACH VOLLEYBALL FIVB WORLD TOUR FINALS PRESENTED BY VODAFONE, FIVB.org
  20. ^ Main Draw - World Tour Finals 2018, FIVB.org
  21. ^ Main Draw - World Tour Finals 2019, FIVB.org
  22. ^ World Tour Finals - Cagliari | Men - Main draw, FIVB.org
  23. ^ Beach Pro Tour The Finals - Doha | Men - Main draw, VolleyballWorld.com
  24. ^ BPT Finals - Doha | Men - Main draw, VolleyballWorld.com
  25. ^ Ft. Lauderdale Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals | Schedule, FIVB.org
  26. ^ SWATCH FIVB WORLD TOUR FINALS Main Draw, FIVB.org
  27. ^ SWATCH BEACH VOLLEYBALL FIVB WORLD TOUR FINALS PRESENTED BY VODAFONE, FIVB.org
  28. ^ Main Draw - World Tour Finals 2018, FIVB.org
  29. ^ Main Draw - World Tour Finals 2019, FIVB.org
  30. ^ World Tour Finals - Cagliari | Women - Main draw, FIVB.org
  31. ^ Beach Pro Tour The Finals - Doha | Women - Main draw, VolleyballWorld.com
  32. ^ BPT Finals - Doha | Women - Main draw, VolleyballWorld.com

Sources

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