| Beach Volleyball Major Series | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Beach Volleyball Major Series |
| Region | International |
| Date span | February–September |
| Tournaments | Men & Women |
| Type | Beach volleyball |
| CEO | Hannes Jagerhofer |
| History | |
| First tour | 2015 |
| Number of tour stops | 4 (2015), 5 (2016), 4 (2017), 4 (2018), 2 (2019) |
| Most tournament wins | |
| Women (team) |  Talita/Larissa (5 wins) |
| Men (team) |  Mol/Sørum (5 wins) |
| Present World Tour Final winners | |
| Women |  Ludwig/Kozuch |
| Men |  Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy |
TheBeach Volleyball Major Series (orBeach Major Series and formerly theSwatch Beach Volleyball Major Series) was an international series ofbeach volleyball tournaments from 2015 to 2020. The tournaments consisted of Tour Stops and formed part of theFIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The series concluded with theFIVB World Tour Finals.
Each tournament in the series had a prize pool of US$300,000 per gender, except for the World Tour Finals which had a prize pool of US$400,000 per gender.[1]
The Beach Volleyball Major Series arose out of a joint-venture between Austrian companiesRed Bull and the ACTS Group.[2]
Red Bull was established in 1987 byDietrich Mateschitz. Aside from theenergy drink, Red Bull's direct marketing focuses heavily on sports and lifestyle.
ACTS Group is a marketing agency founded in 1990 byHannes Jagerhofer.[3] It offers services including event-marketing, event-organization, external-communication and public relations. The group has also been responsible for the organizing beach volleyball tournaments, including the FIVB Grand Slams inKlagenfurt,Carinthia, Austria.
Swatch was the title sponsor of the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series between 2015 and 2017.
The Series will not continue because of theCOVID-19 pandemic.
The competition was overseen by theFIVB, the international governing body for the sports of indoor, beach and grassvolleyball.[4]
In the category of Beach Volleyball, the FIVB oversees three competitions, namely: theFIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, theFIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and lastly theFIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
The Beach Volleyball Major Series formed part of theFIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Beach volleyball was formally recognized as anOlympic discipline in 1996. In order for a beach volleyball athlete to participate in the Olympics, minimum requirements must be met and one of these requirements as stipulated by the FIVB is that all athletes must have participated in a minimum of 12 official FIVB Olympic qualification tournaments as an individual.
Also an athlete hoping to participate in the Olympics must earn FIVB World Ranking points which tallies up to make up the Olympic Ranking.
Participation in Major Series tournaments counts towards Olympic qualification tournaments and also earns athletes FIVB World Ranking points. An exception is the FIVB World Tour Finals – participating teams do not earn FIVB World Ranking points for this event.
In 2016, the smart Major Hamburg was the final tournament where Olympic ranking points for the2016 Olympic Games inRio de Janeiro could be obtained.[5]
The first Beach Volleyball Major Series began in 2015. There were Tour Stops inPoreč,Croatia;Stavanger, Norway andGstaad, Switzerland. The Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals took place inFort LauderdaleFlorida, United States.
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2–7 June | Poreč | Poreč Major |  Croatia | Brouwer/Meewusen [6] | Larissa/Talita[7] |
| 9–12 June | Stavanger | Stavanger Major | Norway | Evandro/Pedro Solberg[8] | Juliana/Antonelli[9] |
| 7–12 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major |  Switzerland | Alison/Bruno Schmidt[10] | Larissa/Talita[11] |
| 29 September – 4 October | Fort Lauderdale | Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals |  United States | Alison/Bruno Schmidt[12] | Larissa/Talita[13] |
The 2016 Major Series schedule began inHamburg, Germany, and took in further stops inCroatia, Switzerland andKlagenfurt in Austria. The Series culminated with the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto.
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7–12 June | Hamburg | smart Major Hamburg | Germany | Lucena/Dalhausser[14][15] | Ludwig/Walkenhorst[16][17] |
| 28 June – 3 July | Poreč | Poreč Major | Croatia | Alison/Bruno Schmidt | Laboureur/Sude |
| 5–10 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland | Evandro/Pedro Solberg | Larissa/Talita |
| 26–31 July | Klagenfurt | A1 Major Klagenfurt/Kärnten |  Austria | Samoilovs/Smedins | Ludwig/Walkenhorst |
| 13–18 September | Toronto | Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals |  Canada | Alison/Bruno Schmidt | Ludwig/Walkenhorst |
The 2017 Major Series schedule was released in October 2016.[18] As part of the FIVB World Tour, the Swatch Major Series did include trips toPoreč andGstaad. The 2017 tour began in February inFort Lauderdale, the site of the 2015 World Tour Finals. The 2017 Finals were held in August inHamburg. The Swatch Major Series was also responsible for the organization of theFIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships inVienna in July and August.[19]
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7–12 February | Fort Lauderdale | Fort Lauderdale Major | United States | Alvaro/Saymon | Larissa/Talita |
| 27 Jun – 2 July | Poreč | Poreč Major | Croatia | Guto/Pedro Solberg | Pavan/Humana-Paredes |
| 4–9 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland | Lucena/Dalhausser | Laboureur/Sude |
| 22–27 August | Hamburg | Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals | Germany | Lucena/Dalhausser | Ludwig/Walkenhorst |
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 February – 4 April | Fort Lauderdale | Fort Lauderdale Major | United States | Lucena/Dalhausser | Seixas/Alves |
| 5–10 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland | Mol/Sørum | Humana-Paredes/Pavan |
| 31 July – 5 August | Vienna | Vienna Major | Austria | Mol/Sørum | Hermannová/Sluková |
| 14–19 August | Hamburg | FIVB World Tour Finals | Germany | Mol/Sørum | Agatha/Duda |
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9–14 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland | Mol/Sørum | Klineman/Ross |
| 31 July – 4 August | Vienna | Vienna Major | Austria | Mol/Sørum | Pavan/Melissa |
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, all three tournaments as well as the whole Beach Volleyball Major Series was cancelled.[20][21]
| Dates | Tour Stop | Major | Host country | Men's winners | Women's winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7–12 July | Gstaad | Gstaad Major | Switzerland | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 12–16 August | Vienna | Vienna Major | Austria | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 19–23 August | Hamburg | Hamburg Major | Germany | Cancelled | Cancelled |
The Major Series' official mascot was Marnin. Unveiled prior to the 2016 season, Marnin is described as a cross between a kangaroo and a fox.[22] Marnin made his debut courtside on the FIVB Tour at the Hamburg Major.
Internationalbeach volleyball | ||
|---|---|---|
| Asia and Oceania |  | |
| Africa | ||
| Europe | ||
| North America | ||
| South America | ||
| Others | ||
| Discontinued |
| |