The Hague, Netherlands, April 13, 2015 – Time is drawing closer to the start of the most unique, memorable event in the history of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). This summer’s 10th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, to be held in four cities in the Netherlands, is bringing together the world’s top professionals from 40 nations with some astonishing notes and special statistics.
FormatWith a total of 96 tandems (48 in each gender), two-person teams will be competing for part of a $1 million purse as the Netherlands hosts an FIVB international event for the sixth consecutive year. Anchored in The Hague round-robin Pool Play will be played in The Hague, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn and Rotterdam along with the first two rounds of elimination play for the 32 teams remaining per gender following three rounds of pool play. The semifinals and finals for each gender will be played on the stadium court in The Hague. The event will run from June 26-July 5.
Hot ticketsWith sales rapidly increasing, tickets for the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands 2015 are available for purchase at: netherlands2015.fivb.org/en/tickets.
2015 FIVB World TourWith seven significant events played prior to June 26, starting next Tuesday with the FIVB Fuzhou Open in China and ending in mid-December, the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar will include five FIVB Grand Slams, the new FIVB Swatch Major Series of three events, six FIVB Opens and a special Swatch FIVB World Tour Season Final in the United States. The showcase event will be the $1 million 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands.
Before the FIVB World Tour understandably starts grabbing most of the headlines, here is look at some of the interesting items from the men’s field in this year’s FIVB World Championships.
2015 Men's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships notes
A total of 48 teams from 28 countries will be participating in the men’s 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
• Host Netherlands will have five teams in the competition.
• Brazil and the United States will have four teams each in the FIVB World Championships.
• Russia will have three teams in the competition.
• Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, Germany, Kazakhstan, Poland and Spain will have two teams each.
• Sixteen (16) countries with one team each in the competition are Argentina, Cuba, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Ghana, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Qatar, South Africa, Switzerland, Tunisia and Venezuela.
Led by the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV), all five FIVB confederations will have entries in the competition.
• A total of 20 teams of 10 CEV countries will be represented in the competition, including Austria (2 teams), France (1), Germany (2), Italy (1), Latvia (1), Netherlands (5), Poland (2), Russia (3), Spain (2) and Switzerland (1).
• The North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) will have 10 teams from six countries, including Canada (2), Cuba (1), El Salvador (1), Mexico (1), Puerto Rico (1) and the United States (4).
• The Confederation South America Volleyball (CSV) will have eight teams from four countries, including Argentina (1), Brazil (4), Chile (2) and Venezuela (1).
• The Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) will have six teams for four countries, including Australia (2), Kazakhstan (2), New Zealand (1) and Qatar (1).
• The Confederation African Volleyball (CAVB) will have four teams from four countries, including Egypt, (1), Ghana (1), South Africa (1) and Tunisia (1).
Men's roster notes
The current average age for the field is 28 years old.
• The oldest players in the field are John Hyden (42) of the United States, and the Brazilian team of Emanuel Rego (41, turns 42 on April 15) and Ricardo Santos (40).
• The oldest team (combined age) will Emanuel Rego (41, turns 42 on April 15) and Ricardo Santos (40) of Brazil (currently 81).
• The youngest players in the field are 20-year old Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands and 21-year old Nivaldo Diaz of Cuba.
The average height is 6-foot-4 (193 cm).
• Evandro Goncalves of Brazil joins Dutchmen Michiel van Dorsten and Christiaan Varenhorst as the tallest players in the field at 6-foot-11 (211 cm).
• The shortest players in the field at 5-foot-11 (180 cm) - David Vargas of El Salvador, Francisco Alfredo Marco of Spain, Jefferson Santos Pereira of Qatar and Alexander Huber of Austria.
Emanuel Rego (22th season), Ricardo Santos (20) and Clemens Doppler (18) of Austria are the most experienced players in the world championship field.
Men's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships participation notes
Eighteen (18) of the 48 teams entered in the competition have competed in previous FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships led by four participations by Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos of Brazil.
• Emanuel and Ricardo captured the 2003 world championships in Rio de Janeiro. The pair was fourth in 2007, fifth in 2009 and 17th in 2005. The pair has a 21-5 record in the FIVB World Championships with eight-straight match wins in Rio.
• With nine total appearances in the FIVB World Championships, Emanuel is a three-time gold medalist. He captured the 1999 crown with Jose Loiola and 2011 with Alison Cerutti.
• Ricardo is an eight-time participant in the FIVB World Championships. In addition to the 2003 gold medal with Emanuel, Ricardo placed second with Loiola in 2001, Marcio Araujo in 2011 and Alvaro Filho in 2013.
• The pairs of Jonathan Erdmann/Kay Matysik of Germany and Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera of Spain have each participated in three world championships together.
• Erdmann and Matysik placed third in 2013 after finishing ninth in 2011 and 33rd in 2009.
• Gavira and Herrera posted fifths in the worlds in 2009, 2011 and 2014. The Spaniards have a 14-4 record in the world championships and where eliminated from the competition in the 2011 and 2013 events by pairs led by Ricardo.
• Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko of Kazakhstan, and the Polish pair of Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel and Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz have each participated in two world championships.
• Teams with at least one appearance together in the FIVB World Championships are Americans Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson, Isaac Kapa/Christopher McHugh of Australia, Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst of Austria, Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk of Canada, Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt of Chile, Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai of Italy, Alexey Kuleshov/Dmitriy Yakovlev of Kazakhstan, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins of Latvia, Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen of Mexico, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of Netherlands, and Igor Hernandez/Jesus Villafane of Venezuela.
• Brouwer and Meeuwsen netted the gold medal at the 2013 FIVB World Championships by defeating Ricardo and Filho in the title match. The Dutch won seven of eight matches in the competition with their only setback to Poland’s Kadziola/Szalankiewicz in pool play. Netherlands’ Brouwer/Meeuwsen defeated Germany’s Erdmann/Matysik in the semifinals.
Of the current 94 individual entries for the competition, 56 have previous experience in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
• Of the 56 players with world championship participation, 34 have appeared in two or more of the events.
• Emanuel is the only player (men or women) to participate in all nine world championships with three gold medals and five “final four” finishes.
• Ricardo and American Todd Rogers have participated in eight world championships.
• Ricardo has four medals (one gold, three silvers) and five “final four” finishes.
• Rogers has one gold (2007) and one bronze (2009) medal placements with Phil Dalhausser to his credit in the worlds.
• Clemens Doppler of Austria has appeared in seven FIVB World Championships highlighted by ninths with Peter Gartmayer (2007), Matthias Mellitzer (2011) and Alexander Horst (2013).
• Pablo Herrera has appearance in six FIVB World Championships with fifth-place finishes with Adrian Gavira in 2009, 2011 and 2013.
• Dmitri Barsouk of Russia, and Americans Dalhausser and Jake Gibb have appeared in five FIVB World Championships.
• Dalhausser and Rogers defeated Barsouk and Igor Kolodinsky in the gold medal match at the 2007 FIVB World Championships.
• Brazil’s Alison Cerutti has advanced to the “final world” in each of his three FIVB World Championships participations. He was second with Harley in 2009, and first and fourth with Emanuel in 2011 and 2013, respectively.
• Players with podium placements in their only FIVB World Championships appearance are Dutchmen Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (2013 gold medal together) and Brazilian Alvaro Filho (2013 silver medal with Ricardo).
Men's FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour participation notes
• A total of 13 men’s teams entered in the 2015 FIVB World Championships have captured FIVB World Tour gold medals.
• Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos are the most experience and accomplished partnership in the 2015 World Championships.
• The pair has competed in 90 total FIVB-sanctioned events, including 89 on the FIVB World Tour and one challenger/satellite event.
• The pair has 67 total “final four” finishes with 34 gold medals.
• On the FIVB World Tour, Emanuel and Ricardo have team for 58 podium placements and 66 “final four” finishes.
• Emanuel and Ricardo have won a record 33 FIVB World Tour gold medals with 13 silvers and 12 bronzes.
• In their last appearance together at the end of the 2014 season in Brazil, Emanuel/Ricardo placed second in the FIVB São Paulo Grand Slam where they dropped the gold medal match to Dutchmen Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst.
• Emanuel and Ricardo’s last FIVB gold medal together was 2009 at Brasilia were they defeated Americans Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers in the finals in a confrontation of Olympic and FIVB World Champions.
• Emanuel is the only men’s or women’s player to participate in all five Olympic and all nine FIVB World Championships.
• Emanuel teamed with Ricardo to capture medals at the 2004 (gold) and 2008 (bronze) Olympic Games.
• Emanuel captured the silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games with Alison Cerutti.
• Ricardo has three Olympic medals, including a 2000 silver with Ze’Marco de Melo.
• Led by Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal of the United States, four teams in the 2015 FIVB World Championships have multi-FIVB World Tour gold medals.
• Dalhausser and Rosenthal have four gold medal finishes with eight podium placements in 18 FIVB events together, including three gold medals in 2015.
• Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins of Latvia have captured four FIVB World Tour gold medals with nine podiums placements and 11 “final four” finishes.
• Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai of Italy and Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst of Netherlands have paired for two gold medals each.
• Lupo/Nicolai captured the first two events on the 2014 FIVB World Tour in China.
• In addition to winning the FIVB São Paulo Grand Slam by defeating Emanuel and Ricardo in the finals, Nummerdor/Varenhorst captured the 2014 season-ending event in South Africa by defeating the Chilean cousins Esteban and Marco Grimalt in the title match.
• Other teams with FIVB World Tour gold medals in the 2015 FIVB World Championships are Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil, Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter of Canada, Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson of France, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of Netherlands, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel of Poland, Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Konstantin Semenov of Russia, and Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson and Tri Bourne/John Hyden of the United States.
Men’s FIVB Beach Volleyball Age Group World Championships
• The team of Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz have never won a FIVB World Tour event in 67 starts together with a best finish of fourth at the 2013 Shanghai stop, but the Polish pair captured FIVB Age Group World Championships in 2007 (under-19) and 2009 (under-21).
• Other players in the 2015 FIVB World Championships with gold medal finishes in the FIVB Age-Group World Championships are Pedro Salgado and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil, Canadian Sam Schachter, Jonathan Erdmann of Germany, Paolo Nicolai of Italy, Aleksandrs Samoilovs of Latvia and Pablo Herrera of Spain.
• Salgado captured both the under-21 titles (2006 with Bruno and 2003 with Pedro Cunha) and under-19 (2002 with Ian Borges).
• Schachter teamed with Garrett May to win the under-21 in 2010
• Erdmann topped the under-19 podium in 2006 with Marin Klass.
• Nicolai won back-to-back FIVB under-21 World Championships in 2007 and 2008 with Francesco Giontella.
• Samoilovis teamed with Martin Plavins to win the 2004 under-21 title.
• Herrera, the silver medalist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games with Javier Bosma, and Raul Mesa won the 2002 under-21 title.
Men's tournaments in the Netherlands
FIVB World Tour events have been staged five times in The Netherlands with Brazilian men's team capturing two gold medals with one each for host Netherlands, Poland and the United States.
• 2015 FIVB World Championships participants Reindeer Nummerdor (2009 with Richard Schuill) of The Netherlands and Ricardo Salgado (2011 with Pedro Cunha) of Brazil captured gold medals.
• Brazilians Pedro Salgado and Bruno Oscar Schmidt captured the 2013 gold medal, but are entered with different partners for the 2015 world championships. Salgado is playing with Evandro Goncalves while Bruno is teamed with Alison Cerutti, who captured the 2011 world title with Emanuel Rego.
• Alison captured a bronze medal at the 2009 FIVB World Tour stop in The Hague with Harley Marques.
• Emanuel placed third in the 2014 event with Pedro Salgado.
• Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel captured Poland’s first-ever FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour gold medal by winning the 2014 event at The Hague. The Polish pair also placed third in 2013.
• Teams entered in the 2015 FIVB World Championships that have won silver medals at The Hague stops were Adriana Gavira/Pablo Herrera of Spain (2009), Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins of Latvia (2013) and Phil Dalhausser/Sean Rosenthal of the United States (2014).
• Players in the FIVB World Championships with silver medal finishes in The Hague are Bruno (2010 with Benjamin Insfran) and Nummerdor (2011 with Schuill).
• Players in the FIVB World Championships with bronze medal finishes in The Hague are Alison Cerutti of Brazil (2009 with Harley Marques), American Nick Lucena (2010 with Matt Fuerbringer) and Russian Konstantin Semenov (2011 with Yaroslav Koshkarev).