| Most recent season or competition: 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup | |
| Sport | Volleyball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1973 |
| First season | 1973 |
| CEO |  Ary Graça |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Continent | International (FIVB) |
| Most recent champions |  Turkey(1st title) |
| Most titles |  China(5 titles) |
| Streaming partner | Volleyball TV(since 2019) |
| Official website | Volleyball World Cup |
TheFIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup is an internationalvolleyball competition contested by the senior women'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 the Olympic Games, but since1991 the World Cup has been awarded in the year preceding the Olympic Games. The current champion isTurkey, which won its first title at the2023 tournament.
The historical format of the competition involves 12 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nationJapan, competing in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about two weeks. The World Cup (with exception of the 2019 edition) acts as the first qualification event for the following year'sOlympic Games with the top two teams qualifying.
The 14 World Cup tournaments have been won by six different national teams.China have won five times. The other World Cup winners areCuba, with four titles;Italy, with two titles;Japan,Russia (asSoviet Union) andTurkey with one title each.
This tournament should not be confused with theFIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship.
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 4-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 12 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 toJapan 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 winner 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 the Paris Olympics for the top two teams.[1]
The Women's World Cup has had not one great winner, like its counterpart for men's volleyball, but two:China andCuba.
The first edition of the tournament was won by theSoviet Union.Japan, the runner-up of 1973, took the gold in 1977. With the help of superstar playerLang Ping, China won the following two editions, in 1981 and 1985.
Then Cuba stepped forward to begin its amazing World Cup career, winning its first title in 1989. With the tournament now as an Olympic qualifier, there followed three more consecutive victories, in 1991, 1995 and 1999.
China came back in 2003 with a remarkably offensive team to win its third title.
Italy won the 2007 edition with an outstanding record of eleven wins in eleven games and only two sets left to the opponents (both lost againstSerbia). Italy took a second win in a row in 2011, getting the better hand on United States and China. In 2015, China regained the title and then successfully defended it in 2019.
The World Cup is the most stable from all competition formulas employed by theFIVB. The following rules apply:
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 5 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 |  Cuba | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 |  Italy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 |  Japan | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 |  Soviet Union | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | Turkey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Brazil | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 |  United States | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 |  Russia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 |  Serbia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 |  South Korea | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Totals (11 entries) | 14 | 13 | 13 | 40 | |
| Year | Debutants | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 |  Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Japan, Peru, South Korea, Soviet Union, United States, Uruguay | 10 |
| 1977 |  Hungary, China | 2 |
| 1981 |  Bulgaria | 1 |
| 1985 |  Tunisia | 1 |
| 1989 |  East Germany | 1 |
| 1991 |  Germany, Kenya, Spain | 3 |
| 1995 |  Croatia, Egypt, Netherlands | 2 |
| 1999 | Italy, Russia | 2 |
| 2003 |  Dominican Republic, Poland, Turkey | 4 |
| 2007 | Serbia, Thailand | 2 |
| 2011 |  Algeria | 1 |
| 2015 | None | 0 |
| 2019 |  Cameroon | 1 |
| 2023 |  Belgium, Puerto Rico | 2 |
| Team[3] | 1973 (10) | 1977 (8) | 1981 (8) | 1985 (8) | 1989 (8) | 1991 (12) | 1995 (12) | 1999 (12) | 2003 (12) | 2007 (12) | 2011 (12) | 2015 (12) | 2019 (12) | 2023 (8) | Total |
| Algeria | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 11th | 12th | • | • | 2 |
| Argentina | 8th | • | • | • | • | • | • | 11th | 11th | • | 10th | 8th | 10th | • | 7 |
| Belgium | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Brazil | 9th | • | 8th | 6th | • | 8th | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | • | • | 4th | • | 11 |
 Bulgaria | • | • | 7th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 2 |
| Cameroon | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 12th | • | 1 |
| Canada | 7th | • | • | • | 8th | 10th | 9th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 4 |
| China | • | 4th | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 5th | 1st | • | 3rd | 1st | 1st | • | 11 |
| Croatia | Part of Yugoslavia | 4th | 8th | • | • | • | • | • | • | 2 | |||||
| Cuba | 5th | 2nd | 6th | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 6th | 4th | • | 9th | • | • | 11 |
| Dominican Republic | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 10th | 9th | 8th | 7th | 7th | • | 5 |
| Egypt | • | • | • | • | • | • | 12th | • | 12th | • | • | • | • | • | 2 |
| Germany | See East Germany and West Germany | 9th | • | • | • | • | 6th | • | • | • | 2 | ||||
| Hungary | • | 6th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Italy | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 7th | 4th | 1st | 1st | • | • | • | 4 |
| Japan | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 4th | 4th | 7th | 6th | 6th | 5th | 7th | 4th | 5th | 5th | • | 14 |
| Kenya | • | • | • | • | • | 12th | 11th | • | • | 12th | 12th | 10th | 11th | • | 6 |
| Netherlands | • | • | • | • | • | • | 8th | • | • | • | • | • | 8th | • | 2 |
| Peru | 4th | 5th | • | 5th | 5th | 5th | 10th | 10th | • | 11th | • | 11th | • | • | 10 |
| Poland | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 8th | 6th | • | • | • | • | 2 |
| Puerto Rico | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Russia | Part of Soviet Union | • | 2nd | • | • | • | 4th | 3rd | • | 3 | |||||
| Serbia | Part of Yugoslavia | Part of SCG | 5th | 7th | 2nd | 9th | • | 4 | |||||||
| South Korea | 3rd | 3rd | 5th | 7th | 7th | 6th | 5th | 4th | 9th | 8th | 9th | 6th | 6th | • | 13 |
| Spain | • | • | • | • | • | 11th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Thailand | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 10th | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Tunisia | • | • | • | 8th | • | • | • | 12th | • | • | • | • | • | • | 2 |
| Turkey | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 7th | • | • | • | • | 1st | 2 |
| United States | 6th | 7th | 4th | • | • | 4th | 7th | 9th | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | • | 11 |
| Uruguay | 10th | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 1 |
| Discontinued nations | |||||||||||||||
| East Germany | • | • | • | • | 6th | defunct | 1 | ||||||||
| Soviet Union | 1st | 8th | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | defunct | 6 | |||||||
Jo Hea-jung (KOR)[4] Takako Shirai (JPN) Sun Jinfang (CHN) Lang Ping (CHN) Mireya Luis (CUB) Caren Kemner (USA) Mireya Luis (CUB) Taismary Agüero (CUB) Małgorzata Glinka (POL) Simona Gioli (ITA) Carolina Costagrande (ITA) Zhu Ting (CHN) Zhu Ting (CHN) Melissa Vargas (TUR)
