2016 World Grand Prix draw results announced

The World Grand Prix Council met in Lausanne on Wednesday

Lausanne, Switzerland, August 19, 2015 – A draw was held to decide the pools for the 2016 edition of the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix after the participants in Groups 1,2 and 3 were confirmed at a meeting of the World Grand Prix Council at the FIVB headquarters on Wednesday.

Next year's edition of the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix, which takes place in the immediate build-up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, will run over a period of six weeks from June 3 through to July 10. The number of participating teams remains unchanged with a total of 28 competing for honours. Group 1 will feature 12 teams, while Groups 2 and 3 will each feature eight teams.

The teams have been split into Groups 1,2 and 3 as follows. A draw was held to decide which pool each team will play in.

Group 1
Group 1 includes the following teams: USA (2015 winners), Russia, Brazil, China, Italy, Japan, Germany, Serbia, Thailand, Belgium, Turkey, the Netherlands (promoted from Group 2).

* Pool hosts are highlighted

Group 2Group 2 includes: the Dominican Republic (relegated from Group 1), Poland, the Czech Republic, Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, Canada, Argentina, Kenya (promoted from Group 3).

Group 3Group 3 includes: Croatia (relegated from Group 2), Peru, Colombia, Australia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Mexico.

Competition calendar
The 2016 edition of the World Grand Prix will be played over a period of just six weeks from June 3 through to July 10. The preliminary round in Groups 2 and 3 will take place over two weeks from June 3-12. The Group 2 and 3 Finals will follow on the weekend of June 17-19. The Group 1 Intercontinental Round will be played out over three weeks from June 10-26. The Group 1 Finals will take place from July 6-10.

Six teams will play the Group 1 Finals, split into two pools of three. In a departure from last year's format, pool play will be followed by semifinals and finals. The top five teams from the Intercontinental Round will be joined by the Finals hosts.

The format of the Group 2 and 3 Finals remains unchanged. The three best teams from the preliminary round rankings will be joined by the competition hosts - in each case, the four teams will play semifinals and finals.

Finals bidding process opened
The bidding process for the 2016 World Grand Prix Finals is in progress. It is open to all Group 1 participants and will guarantee a berth for the hosts at the event. Information about the bidding process is available from the FIVB.

The World Grand Prix featured eight teams in its debut season of 1993 and from 1995 to 2002, while 12 teams were in action in 1994 and from 2003 to 2010. Sixteen teams were involved in the 2011 and 2012 editions before expanding to 20 in 2013. The competition has featured 28 teams since 2014.