| Most recent season or competition: 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup | |
| Sport | Volleyball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1965; 60 years ago (1965) |
| First season | 1965 |
| Ceased | 2023; 2 years ago (2023) |
| Continent | International (FIVB) |
| Last champion |  Brazil(2019) |
| Most titles |  Soviet Union(4 titles) |
TheFIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup was an internationalvolleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members ofFédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. Initially, the tournament was played in the year following theOlympic Games, except for 1973 when no tournament was held, but between1991 and2019, the World Cup was awarded in the year preceding the Olympic Games. The 2023 edition, however, did not take place as thequalification tournament for the2024 Summer Olympics was not officially recognized by the FIVB as a World Cup.[1]
The last champion wasBrazil, who won their third title at the 2019 tournament. The 2019 edition of the competition involved twelve teams. The World Cup (with the exception of the 2019 edition) acted as the first qualification event for the following year's Olympic Games with the top two teams qualifying.
There have been a total of 14 World Cups, with six different national teams winning the tournament.Russia is the most successful team with six titles (four asSoviet Union). The other World Cup winners were Brazil with three titles, theUnited States with two titles, followed byCuba,Italy andEast Germany with one title each.
The World Cup was created in 1965 with the purpose of partially filling the gap between the two most important volleyball tournaments, theOlympic Games and theWorld Championship, which take place in alternating four-year cycles. The establishment of a third international competition would leave only one in every four years with no major events. The World Cup has a smaller entry than the World Championship, with at most twelve teams.
The World Cup was to be held in the year following the Olympic Games. The first two tournaments were for men's volleyball only; in 1973, a women's tournament was also introduced. Originally, each tournament had a different host, but in 1977 the competition was transferred to Japan on a permanent basis.
In the 1990s, the installment of annual international events such as theWorld League and theGrand Prix made the original motivations for the creation of the World Cup obsolete. Instead of letting a consolidated event disappear for lack of interest, theFIVB decided to change its format in 1991: it would be held in the year preceding, and not following, the Olympic Games; and it would be considered a first international Olympic qualification tournament, granting the winners a direct berth in the games.
This move saved the competition. The possibility of securing an early berth for the Olympic Games, thus avoiding extraneous and in some cases tight continental qualification procedures, became a consistent motivation for the national federations to participate in the World Cup. In 1995, the number of Olympic spots granted at the competition was increased to three, as it remained until 2011. In 2015 the number of spots was only two again.
With the change of qualification for theParis Summer Olympics, the 2023 World Cup will serve as one of thethree Olympic qualification tournaments. Only eight teams will participate in this edition, with two tickets to Paris Olympics for the top two teams.[2]
Russia (considered as the inheritors of the records of the formerSoviet Union),Brazil andUnited States are the only teams that have won the Men's World Cup more than once.
The Soviets took the gold at the opening edition of the tournament, in 1965. Four years later, the winner was also a socialist nation,East Germany.
Scheduled forUruguay, the 1973 edition was cancelled. In 1977, competition was resumed in Japan, and the Soviet Union came back for two wins in a row. In 1985, they were once again runners-up, but lost the decisive match to United States in five sets. In 1989,Cuba surprised the world and beat a risingItaly to take the gold.
With the competition now set as a qualifying event for the Olympic Games, the Soviet Union, led by Dmitri Fomin won the title in 1991, at the brink of dissolution. The Italians, who hadn't participated in this edition, finally conquered their gold medal in 1995. Inheriting a large part of the former Soviet volleyball programme, Russia were the winners in 1999.
The following two editions, played in 2003 and 2007 respectively, were won by favorites Brazil. In 2011, Russia regained the title, while the 2015 edition was won by the United States for the second time. Brazil won the title for the third time in 2019.
The World Cup is the most stable from all competition formulas employed by theFIVB. The following rules apply:
Countries initalics no longer exist.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soviet Union | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 2 | Brazil | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 |  Russia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 |  United States | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 |  Cuba | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
 Italy | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | |
| 7 |  East Germany | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 |  Poland | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 |  Japan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 |  Netherlands | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 |  Czechoslovakia | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 12 |  Bulgaria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Serbia and Montenegro | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (13 entries) | 14 | 14 | 14 | 42 | |
| Year | Debutants | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 |  Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, France, Hungary, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia | 11 |
| 1969 |  Brazil, Cuba, Tunisia, West Germany | 4 |
| 1977 |  Canada, China, Egypt, Mexico, South Korea, United States | 6 |
| 1981 | Italy | 1 |
| 1985 |  Argentina | 1 |
| 1989 |  Cameroon | 1 |
| 1991 |  Algeria, Chile, Germany, Iran | 4 |
| 1995 | None | 0 |
| 1999 | Russia, Spain | 2 |
| 2003 | Serbia and Montenegro, Venezuela | 2 |
| 2007 |  Australia, Puerto Rico | 2 |
| 2011 |  Serbia | 1 |
| 2015 | None | 0 |
| 2019 |
| Team[3] | 1965 (11) | 1969 (12) | 1977 (12) | 1981 (8) | 1985 (8) | 1989 (8) | 1991 (12) | 1995 (12) | 1999 (12) | 2003 (12) | 2007 (12) | 2011 (12) | 2015 (12) | 2019 (12) | Total |
| Algeria | • | • | • | • | • | • | 9th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Argentina | • | • | • | • | 5th | • | • | 7th | 9th | • | 7th | 7th | 5th | 5th | 7 |
| Australia | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 8th | • | 9th | 11th | 3 |
| Brazil | • | 6th | 8th | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 3rd | 5th | 1st | 1st | 3rd | • | 1st | 12 |
| Bulgaria | 9th | 4th | 6th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 3rd | • | • | • | 4 |
| Cameroon | • | • | • | • | • | 8th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Canada | • | • | 12th | • | • | • | • | 10th | 8th | 7th | • | • | 7th | 9th | 6 |
| Chile | • | • | • | • | • | • | 12th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| China | • | • | 5th | 5th | • | • | • | 9th | 11th | 10th | • | 11th | • | • | 6 |
| Cuba | • | 9th | 3rd | 2nd | • | 1st | 2nd | 6th | 2nd | • | • | 5th | • | • | 8 |
| Egypt | • | • | 11th | • | 8th | • | • | 11th | • | 12th | 10th | 12th | 10th | 10th | 8 |
| France | 11th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 5th | • | • | • | • | 2 |
| Germany | See East Germany and West Germany | 7th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 | |||||
| Hungary | 7th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Iran | • | • | • | • | • | • | 11th | • | • | • | • | 9th | 8th | 8th | 4 |
| Italy | • | • | • | 7th | • | 2nd | • | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | • | 4th | 2nd | 7th | 8 |
| Japan | 4th | 2nd | 2nd | 6th | 6th | 6th | 4th | 5th | 10th | 9th | 9th | 10th | 6th | 4th | 14 |
| Mexico | • | • | 9th | • | • | • | 10th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 2 |
| Netherlands | 10th | • | • | • | • | • | • | 2nd | • | • | • | • | • | • | 2 |
| Poland | 2nd | 8th | 4th | 4th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 7 |
| Puerto Rico | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 6th | • | • | • | 1 |
 Romania | 6th | 7th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 2 |
| Russia | Part of Soviet Union | • | 1st | • | 2nd | 1st | 4th | 6th | 5 | ||||||
| Serbia | Part of Yugoslavia | Part of FRY / SCG | • | 8th | • | • | 1 | ||||||||
 South Korea | • | • | 7th | • | 7th | 7th | 5th | 8th | 7th | 6th | 11th | • | • | • | 8 |
| Spain | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 6th | • | 5th | • | • | • | 2 |
| Tunisia | • | 11th | • | 8th | • | • | 8th | 12th | 12th | 11th | 12th | • | 12th | 12th | 9 |
| United States | • | • | 10th | • | 1st | 4th | 3rd | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 6th | 1st | 3rd | 11 |
 Venezuela | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 8th | • | • | 11th | • | 2 |
| Discontinued nations | |||||||||||||||
| Czechoslovakia | 3rd | 5th | • | • | 3rd | • | • | See Czech Republic and  Slovakia | 3 | ||||||
| East Germany | 5th | 1st | • | • | • | • | See Germany | 2 | |||||||
| Serbia and Montenegro | Part of Yugoslavia | • | • | 3rd | See Serbia and  Montenegro | 1 | |||||||||
| Soviet Union | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | See Russia etc. | 7 | ||||||
| West Germany | • | 10th | • | • | • | • | See Germany | 1 | |||||||
| Yugoslavia | 8th | • | • | • | • | • | • | See Serbia and Montenegro etc. | See Serbia etc. | 1 | |||||
Tomasz Wójtowicz (POL) Vyacheslav Zaytsev (URS) Karch Kiraly (USA) Karch Kiraly (USA) Dmitry Fomin (URS) Andrea Giani (ITA) Roman Yakovlev (RUS) Takahiro Yamamoto (JPN) Gilberto Godoy Filho (BRA) Maxim Mikhaylov (RUS) Matt Anderson (USA) Alan Souza (BRA)
