FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup

The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup was an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's and women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament was created in 1993 after radical changes made on the biggest tournaments organised by the FIVB. The main goal was not to have a single year without two high-profile world-level volleyball competitions, alongside the pre-existing men's and women's world championship, men's and women's world cup and the volleyball tournament at the Olympic Games which are all quadrennial and the annual men's and women's Nations League.

FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup
SportVolleyball
Founded1993
First season1993 (Men, Women)
Ceased2017 (Men, Women)
Replaced byFIVB Volleyball World Championship
No. of teams6
ContinentInternational (FIVB)
Last
champion(s)
M:  Brazil
     (5th title)
W:  China
     (2nd title)
Most titlesM:  Brazil
     (5 titles)
W:  Brazil
       China
     (2 titles each)

The World Grand Champions Cup was therefore played quadrennially the year after the Olympic Games and is always hosted by the Japan Volleyball Association. It did not give any points for the World Ranking.

Brazil has been the most successful team in the men's tournament, having won five of the seven editions. Brazil has also finished runners-up to Cuba and Italy in the only two occasions claimed by other national teams. The women's tournament history is more balanced with Brazil and China having won the tournament twice, while Cuba, Italy, and Russia have won one title each.

History

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The World Grand Champions Cup was created in 1993 after radical changes made on the biggest tournaments organised by the FIVB. The main goal was not to have a single year without a world FIVB competition. This is the only FIVB tournament that doesn't give FIVB points for the world ranking.

On 22 June 2023, Volleyball Calendar 2025–2028 approved by FIVB shown that World Championships to be played biannually in odd years. That meant the World Grand Champions Cup was discontinued and replaced by World Championships.[1]

Winners

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Brazil has been the most successful team with the men's team winning five and the women's team two titles.

Competition formula

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The World Grand Champions Cup has always had the same formula since the first edition:

  • The competition takes place in Japan.
  • Six teams participate in each event: host nation, four continental champions and one wild card.
  • Japan is always pre-qualified as the host nation.
  • Four continental champions from continents whose teams reached the highest ranking at the preceding Olympic Games.
  • The remaining team participates through a wild card granted by the FIVB.
  • A round robin format is used for this competition.
  • Final standings are calculated by usual volleyball criteria: until 2013 match points, numbers of matches won, sets ratio (the total number of sets won divided by the total number of sets lost), points ratio, direct confrontation; since 2017 the first criterion became the number of matches won, followed by match points, sets ratio etc.

Results summary

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Year Round-robin
Champions Runners-up 3rd place 4th place 5th place 6th place
1993
Details
 
Italy
 
Brazil
 
Cuba
 
Japan
 
United States
 
South Korea
1997
Details
 
Brazil
 
Netherlands
 
Cuba
 
China
 
Japan
 
Australia
2001
Details
 
Cuba
 
Brazil
 
Yugoslavia
 
South Korea
 
Japan
 
Argentina
2005
Details
 
Brazil
 
United States
 
Italy
 
Japan
 
Egypt
 
China
2009
Details
 
Brazil
 
Cuba
 
Japan
 
Poland
 
Iran
 
Egypt
2013
Details
 
Brazil
 
Russia
 
Italy
 
Iran
 
United States
 
Japan
2017
Details
 
Brazil
 
Italy
 
Iran
 
United States
 
France
 
Japan

Women

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Year Round-robin
Champions Runners-up 3rd place 4th place 5th place 6th place
1993
Details
 
Cuba
 
China
 
Russia
 
Japan
 
United States
 
Peru
1997
Details
 
Russia
 
Cuba
 
Brazil
 
China
 
Japan
 
South Korea
2001
Details
 
China
 
Russia
 
Japan
 
Brazil
 
United States
 
South Korea
2005
Details
 
Brazil
 
United States
 
China
 
Poland
 
Japan
 
South Korea
2009
Details
 
Italy
 
Brazil
 
Dominican Republic
 
Japan
 
South Korea
 
Thailand
2013
Details
 
Brazil
 
United States
 
Japan
 
Russia
 
Thailand
 
Dominican Republic
2017
Details
 
China
 
Brazil
 
United States
 
Russia
 
Japan
 
South Korea

Medals summary

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Brazil5207
2  Cuba1124
  Italy1124
4  Netherlands0101
  Russia0101
  United States0101
7  Iran0011
  Japan0011
  Yugoslavia0011
Totals (9 entries)77721

Women

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Brazil2215
2  China2114
3  Russia1113
4  Cuba1102
5  Italy1001
6  United States0213
7  Japan0022
8  Dominican Republic0011
Totals (8 entries)77721

All-time team records

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Number of matches
1 Japan 35
2 Brazil 30
3 Republic of Korea 25
4 China 25
5 Russia 25
6 United States 25
7 Cuba 10
8 Dominican Republic 10
9 Thailand 10
10 Poland 5
Wins
1 Brazil 22
2 China 19
3 Russia 14
4 United States 14
5 Japan 13
6 Cuba 9
7 Italy 5
8 Dominican Republic 4
9 Republic of Korea 3
10 Poland 1
Number of wins in games played
1 Italy 100 %
2 Cuba 90 %
3 China 76 %
4 Brazil 73 %
5 Russia 56 %
6 United States 56 %
7 Dominican Republic 40 %
8 Japan 37 %
9 Poland 20 %
10 Republic of Korea 12 %

(Based on W=2 pts and D=1 pts)

Team S Firs Best Pts MP W L GF GA diff
1 Brazil 6 1997 1st 52 30 22 8 76 32 +44
2 Japan 7 1993 3rd 48 35 13 22 55 74 -19
3 China 5 1993 1st 44 25 19 6 61 32 +29
4 Russia 5 1993 1st 39 25 14 11 55 45 +10
5 United States 5 1993 2nd 39 25 14 11 52 48 +4
6 Republic of Korea 5 1997 5th 28 25 3 22 14 71 -57
7 Cuba 2 1993 1st 19 10 9 1 28 10 +18
8 Dominican Republic 2 2009 3rd 14 10 4 6 15 20 -5
9 Thailand 2 2009 5th 11 10 1 9 8 28 -20
10 Italy 1 2009 1st 10 5 5 0 15 3 +12
11 Poland 1 2005 5th 6 5 1 4 7 14 -7
12 Peru 1 1993 6th 5 5 0 5 6 15 -9

Most valuable player by edition

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Volleyball calendar 2025-2028 approved by the FIVB Board of Administration". www.fivb.com. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
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