Brazil & Mexico to Host 2013 FIVB Volleyball Under 23 World Championships Open

Brazil and Mexico have been given hosting duties for the inaugural 2013 FIVB Volleyball Under 23 World Championships Open, capsule The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has announced.

Brazil will host the men’s event and Mexico the womens. 

The FIVB Sports Events Council had announced during its two-day meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, which finished on Tuesday, the introduction of a new tournament as part of the FIVB’s volleyball calendar in 2013. The FIVB Volleyball Under 23 World Championships Open for men and women will provide another opportunity for age-group players to participate in an international tournament with the goal of reducing the gap between age-group and senior level volleyball. 

The FIVB Volleyball Under 23 World Championships Open for women will take place in Mexico from July 12-21 while the men’s edition will take place from August 2-11 in Brazil. There will be 12 participants per gender, which will be filled by two countries from each continent (to be determined by the confederations’ own qualification criteria), the highest ranked country in the senior FIVB world rankings and the host country.

FIVB executive vice-president in charge of volleyball events Mr Aleksandar Boricic, told iSportconnect: “The FIVB is consistently looking at ways to enhance its volleyball competitions and products and we see the new FIVB Volleyball Under 23 World Championships crucial in achieving this goal.

“We already have a strong level of participation at the under 18 to under 21 age group levels and with this new competition, it will provide another step for the future stars of volleyball to be able to take on their way to the senior level. Volleyball continues to grow in popularity around the world and this new tournament will help satisfy the demand for a new level of competition for many new countries. The feedback from our federations is that they need this extra competition and we are pleased to be able to accommodate and help with the continued growth of our sport.”