 | |
| Sport | Volleyball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1990 |
| Ceased | 2017 |
| Replaced by | Nations League Challenger Cup |
| No. of teams | 12 in Group 1 12 in Group 2 12 in Group 3 |
| Continent | International (FIVB) |
| Last champion |  France (2nd title) |
| Most titles |  Brazil (9 titles) |
TheFIVB Volleyball World League was an annual international men'svolleyball competition. Created in 1990, it was the longest and richest of all the international events organized by theFédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The women's version of the competition was calledFIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix. This event should not be confused with the other international volleyball competitions, theWorld Championship, theWorld Cup and theWorld Grand Champions Cup.
From 2018, the World League and World Grand Prix was replaced by themen's andwomen's Nations League andmen's andwomen's Challenger Cup.[1][2]
The World League was created in 1990 as part of the intensive marketing programme that would become a distinctive mark of theFIVB's activities near the end of the century. The idea was to promote thesport of volleyball by establishing an annual competition that would appeal to audiences all over the world.[citation needed]
In the 1990s, theItalians dominated the World League, winning the first three tournaments in 1990, 1991 and 1992. Playing at home,Brazil, at the time the Olympic champions, managed to take the gold in 1993, but Italy regained the title in 1994 and 1995.
In 1996, foreshadowing what would happen just a couple of months later at theAtlanta Olympic Games, theNetherlands beat them in an extremely tight five-set match, before Italy once again won the gold in 1997. In 1998, the winners wereCuba, while in 1999 and 2000 Italy won again.
As can be seen, Italy were clearly the dominant team in the first decade of the World League: from 1990 to 2000, the World League was played 11 times, and Italy took gold eight times, while the remaining three titles were won by three different teams.
Italy's supremacy in the World League began to wane in 2001, when Brazil won a second gold medal, beating the Italians in three straight sets. With further titles each year from 2003 to 2007, and winning another titles in 2009 and 2010, the Brazilians were the preeminent at the start of the 21st century, being also World and Olympic Champions. The interruptions to Brazil's dominance came in 2002, when Russia took the title, and in 2008, with theUnited States winning gold and gaining positive momentum going into theBeijing Olympics.
TheFIVB is constantly adapting the World League's competition formula to improve competitiveness and to make the games more attractive to the audience. Nevertheless, a few basic rules and restrictions will probably remain unchanged in the following years.
List of hosts by number of final round championships hosted.
| Times hosted | Hosts | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 6 |  Italy | 1991,1992,1994,1998,2004,2014 |
| 6 | Brazil | 1993,1995,2002,2008,2015,2017 |
| 4 |  Poland | 2001,2007,2011,2016 |
| 3 |  Argentina | 1999,2010,2013 |
| 2 |  Netherlands | 1996,2000 |
| 2 |  Russia | 1997,2006 |
| 2 |  Serbia | 2005,2009 |
| 1 |  Japan | 1990 |
| 1 |  Spain | 2003 |
| 1 |  Bulgaria | 2012 |
Brazil andItaly are the only teams that participated in all editions of the World League.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 9 | 7 | 4 | 20 |
| 2 | Italy | 8 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| 3 | Russia | 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 |
| 4 |  United States | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | France | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 |  Cuba | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| 7 | Serbia | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 |  FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 11 |  Canada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Soviet Union | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (12 entries) | 28 | 28 | 28 | 84 | |
Andrea Zorzi (ITA) Andrea Zorzi (ITA) Lorenzo Bernardi (ITA) Giovane Gávio (BRA) Andrea Giani (ITA) Dmitry Fomin (RUS) Lorenzo Bernardi (ITA) Guido Görtzen (NED) Osvaldo Hernández (CUB) Osvaldo Hernández (CUB) Andrea Sartoretti (ITA) Ivan Miljković (YUG) Ivan Miljković (YUG) Ivan Miljković (SCG)
Andrea Sartoretti (ITA) Ivan Miljković (SCG) Gilberto Godoy Filho (BRA) Ricardo Garcia (BRA) Lloy Ball (USA) Sérgio Santos (BRA) Murilo Endres (BRA) Maxim Mikhaylov (RUS) Bartosz Kurek (POL) Nikolay Pavlov (RUS) Taylor Sander (USA) Earvin N'Gapeth (FRA) Marko Ivović (SRB) Earvin N'Gapeth (FRA)
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Soviet Union and
CIS. Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro.
