| Most recent season or competition: 2024 FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup | |
| Sport | Volleyball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2017; 9 years ago (2017) |
| First season | 2018 |
| Ceased | 2024 |
| CEO |  Ary Graça |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Continent | International (FIVB) |
| Last champions |  Czech Republic(1st title) |
| Most titles |  Bulgaria Canada Croatia Czech Republic France(1 title each) |
| Streaming partner | Volleyball TV |
| Promotion to | Nations League |
| Official website | Volleyball Challenger Cup |
TheFIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup was an internationalvolleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of theFédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The Challenger Cup served as a qualifying tournament for theVolleyball Nations League (VNL), with the winner earning the right to participate in the following year's VNL.[1][2]
A corresponding tournament for men's national teams was theFIVB Men's Volleyball Challenger Cup.
The Challenger Cup was first announced in October 2017 (alongside the announcement of theNations League) as a joint project between the FIVB, theIMG and 21 national federations.[3] Theinaugural tournament was played between 20 and 24 June 2018 inLima, Peru.Bulgaria won the tournament, defeatingColombia in the final and qualified for the2019 Nations League.
The 2020 and 2021 editions of the Challenger Cup were canceled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. When the tournament returned in 2022, it had a newknockout formula and the number of participating teams had increased from six to eight.[2]
In 2024, FIVB announced that theworld ranking would replace the Challenger Cup as the qualifier for the2026 Nations League and the tournament was discontinued.[4]
The six qualified teams play in 2 pools of 3 teams in a round-robin format. The top 2 teams of each pool qualify for the semifinals. The first ranked teams play against the second ranked teams in this round. The winners of the semifinals advance to compete for the Challenger Cup title. The champion team will qualify for the next year's Nations League as a challenger team.[1][5]
The eight qualified teams play in a knockout stage format. The top four teams in the quarterfinals will qualify for the semifinals. The winner of the quarterfinal 1 will play a semifinal match against the winner of the quarterfinal 4 and the winner of the quarterfinal 2 will play a semifinal match against the winner of the quarterfinal 3. The winners of the semifinals will advance to compete for the Challenger Cup title. The champion team will qualify for the next year's Nations league as a challenger team.[6]
| Confederation | Slots |
|---|---|
| AVC (Asia) | 1 |
| CAVB (Africa) | 1 |
| CSV (South America) | 1 |
| CEV (Europe) | 2 |
| NORCECA (North America) | 1 |
| Total | 8 (6+H+VNL) |
List of hosts by number of final cups hosted.
| Times hosted | Hosts | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |  Peru | 2018,2019 |
| 1 | Croatia | 2022 |
| France | 2023 | |
 Philippines | 2024 |
| Team | 2018 (6) | 2019 (6) | 2022 (8) | 2023 (8) | 2024 (8) | Total |
 Argentina | • | 3rd | • | • | 8th | 2 |
 Australia | 5th | • | • | • | • | 1 |
 Belgium | • | • | 2nd | • | 4th | 2 |
| Bulgaria | 1st | • | • | • | • | 1 |
 Cameroon | • | • | 8th | • | • | 1 |
| Canada | • | 1st | • | • | • | 1 |
 Chinese Taipei | • | 6th | • | • | • | 1 |
 Colombia | 2nd | • | 4th | 3rd | • | 3 |
| Croatia | • | 4th | 1st | 7th | • | 3 |
| Czech Republic | • | 2nd | 6th | • | 1st | 3 |
| France | • | • | 5th | 1st | • | 2 |
 Hungary | 5th | • | • | • | • | 1 |
 Kazakhstan | • | • | 7th | • | • | 1 |
 Kenya | • | • | • | 6th | 5th | 2 |
 Mexico | • | • | • | 5th | • | 1 |
| Peru | 4th | 5th | • | • | • | 2 |
| Philippines | • | • | • | • | 7th | 1 |
 Puerto Rico | 3rd | • | 3rd | • | 2nd | 3 |
 Sweden | • | • | • | 2nd | 6th | 2 |
 Ukraine | • | • | • | 4th | • | 1 |
 Vietnam | • | • | • | 8th | 3rd | 2 |
| Year | Host | Final | 3rd place match | Teams | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runners-up | 3rd place | Score | 4th place | ||||||
| 2018 Details | Lima | Bulgaria | 3–1 | Colombia | Puerto Rico | 3–2 | Peru | 6 | |||
| 2019 Details | Lima | Canada | 3–2 | Czech Republic | Argentina | 3–0 | Croatia | 6 | |||
| 2020 | Zadar | Canceled due toCOVID-19 pandemic | |||||||||
| 2021 | |||||||||||
| 2022 Details | Zadar | Croatia | 3–1 | Belgium | Puerto Rico | 3–1 | Colombia | 8 | |||
| 2023 Details | Laval | France | 3–1 | Sweden | Colombia | 3–1 | Ukraine | 8 | |||
| 2024 Details | Manila | Czech Republic | 3–1 | Puerto Rico | Vietnam | 3–1 | Belgium | 8 | |||
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Czech Republic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Bulgaria | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Canada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Croatia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| France | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 6 | Puerto Rico | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 7 | Colombia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sweden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 | Argentina | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Vietnam | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (11 entries) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | |
| Year | Relegated Challenger Team | Remaining Challenger Teams | Challenger Cup Winner | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Argentina | Belgium |  Dominican Republic |  Poland | Only 4 challenger teams in the tournament | Bulgaria | ||
| 2019 | Bulgaria | Canada | ||||||
| 2021 | None[7][8] | Canada | Cancelled[9] | |||||
| 2022 | Belgium | Bulgaria[a] | Croatia | |||||
| 2023 | Croatia | France | ||||||
| 2024 | None[4] | Czech Republic | ||||||
