FIVB World Grand Prix
The Volleyball World Grand Prix is an international competition for national teams of women.
Rules
The rules of the Grand Prix has changed frequently over time as the World League. Thus the appeal to the public should be increased. Nevertheless, some key provisions are to be recorded.
- The participant must qualify for the contest. The rules are different depending on the Continent. Either a team must complete a specific tournament or the qualification is done according to the world rankings.
- The competition is divided into at least two phases: a preliminary round with changing hosts and one or more final round (s) at a central venue.
- The preliminary round is divided into weeks. Each week, participants will be organized into groups and play within the group against each.
- All matches of a group will be held on a weekend in the same city. The venues are mostly located in Asia. The host country may not necessarily be involved in the competition.
- After completion of the competition, the top teams to the next round. The number depends on the number of participants and the format used, but is usually five or six.
- The host is, if it is participating in the contest, automatically qualify for the finals.
- The FIVB has tried several formats for the final round. Originally it was a Top -Four system in which everyone played against each and the winner was determined by the number of wins, the set - point and the quotient and the direct duels. By now comes a mixed format for application: The quarter-finals will be played in groups and the top two teams in each group qualify for the semifinals.
- In the preliminary round, 18 players may be nominated, from those of the coach every weekend selects twelve. In the final round only twelve players are allowed.
History
The Grand Prix was introduced as a counterpart to the established three years before World League of Gentlemen, and has been held since 1993 a year. With these annual competitions taking place in the world FIVB wanted to promote the sport as part of a marketing campaign. The tournament enjoys since then, especially in East Asia great popularity and is now supported mainly by Asian investors. In the rest of the world, the popularity is significantly lower. The prize money increased steadily since 1993, but rather in small steps. 2004 were paid $ 1,295,000, compared to $ 13,000,000 in the World League, a relatively small amount. The dominance of Asian sponsors meant that most host cities of the preliminary round games are in Asia. The country of the host may, but need not be represented by a national team. In recent years, qualifiers were introduced in some continents.
Tournaments
The list of winners of the Grand Prix show that the volleyball is dominated by women since the early 1990s from Brazil. Hardworking medal collectors were also Russia, the USA, Cuba, China and Italy. The German team has so far only two win medals ( bronze in 2002 and 2009).
In the first edition in 1993, the reigning Olympic champion Cuba won the gold medal. A year later, the women were stopped from the Caribbean in the finals of Brazil. The South Americans had never won a medal at a major tournament. In the following years, Brazil has dominated more and more frequently. In 1995, she was defeated in the final of the U.S., but a year later they got their second title with tight 3-2 victories. In 1997 she gave up participation and thus allowed the Russians to win. The next two tournaments again went to Brazil and Russia. The East Europeans launched in 2002 by her third victory temporarily with the South Americans, but the women from Brazil buildings with three consecutive titles from 2004 to 2006 its leading position. In between were Cuba (2000 ), the USA (2001 ) and China ( 2003) win the Grand Prix. 2007 won after a series of victories for the first time women from the Netherlands to the World Grand Prix. 2008 and 2009, Brazil triumphed for the seventh and the eighth time. 2010 won the U.S. women.