Volleyball 2022 Women’s World Championship: Preview, schedule and stars to watch
This year’s edition of the Volleyball Women's World Championship is taking place in two host nations – Netherlands and Poland – from 23 September to 15 October. Find out everything you need to know below.
Volleyball
Defending champions Serbia are among the 24 nations competing in the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship taking place in dual host countries, Netherlands and Poland, starting Friday 23 September.
The 2018 winners are looking to retain the title while Team USA want to add the moniker of world’s best to their Tokyo 2020 Olympic win, while reclaiming the title they last won in 2014.
An early indication of the form of both teams will be the Pool C game between Serbia and USA, which takes place on 1 October in Lodz, Poland.
Three-time world champions Japan, two-timers People’s Republic of China and European gold medallists Italy will also be in the mix while Colombia will make their debut in the competition.
When and where is the Volleyball Women's World Championship taking place?
The Volleyball Women’s World Championship is taking place from 23 September to 15 October in the Netherlands and Poland.
The tournament is split into a preliminary phase, a second phase, and a final phase that incorporates the quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches.
All 24 nations – who have been drawn in four groups – will play their first game at the GelreDome in Arnhem, Netherlands before squads from Pools B and C transfer to the Polish cities of Gdansk and Lodz, respectively. Pools A and D will stay in Arnhem.
The Netherlands' seaport of Rotterdam will host the second phase of competition, in conjunction with Lodz, between 4-9 October.
The quarter-finals onwards will be played in Apeldoorn, Netherlands and Gliwice, Poland, with all medal matches hosted by the former.
The quarter-finals take place 11 October, semi-finals the 12 and 13 October with the bronze medal play-off and gold and silver-medal match taking place on 15 October.
How does the competition format work?
The first 10 days of the tournament sees the 24 qualified teams split into four groups, as below:
- Pool A – Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Puerto Rico, Cameroon, Kenya
- Pool B – Poland, Turkey, Dominican Republic, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Croatia
- Pool C – United States, Serbia, Germany, Bulgaria, Canada, Kazakhstan
- Pool D – Brazil, People's Republic of China, Japan, Colombia, Argentina, Czech Republic
After each nation completes its five-match schedule, the four best-ranked squads in each pool progress to the second phase.
These 16 remaining teams form two groups and will play four matches against teams they did not face in the first phase.
The four best in each pool will then face the elimination matches of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches.
Athletes to watch at the Volleyball Women’s World Championship
Tijana Boskovic will again be one to watch, particularly after her showing at last summer’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Top scorer on 192 points in eight matches, the Serbian averaged a staggering 24 points per match. She also currently holds the women's world record for spike speed of 110.3 km/h.
One of the bearers of the Olympic Flag at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, Paola Egonu of Italy, is back to try and claim the gold that her side came so close to winning last time out, going down to Serbia 3-2 in the final.
At the 2020 Summer Olympics European Qualification tournament, Polish playmaker Joanna Wolosz was named ‘best setter’ and she’ll be hoping to show some of that form for a home crowd. Dutch libero Myrthe Schoot will also be looking for home support.
America’s Jordan Larson, who has won the Olympic triumvirate of gold (Tokyo 2020), silver (London 2012) and bronze (2016), flirted with retirement after success in Japan but looks to be eyeing Paris 2024.
Are there any Paris 2024 Olympic qualification spots on offer at the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship?
There are no qualification places for Paris 2024 at this event.
France have already qualified a women’s and a men’s team as hosts.
For the remaining 11 quotas for each gender, six will be defined by three Olympic Qualification Tournaments, to be played in September and October 2023.
The five remaining Olympic places will be decided using the FIVB rankings in June 2024.
2022 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championships schedule
All times are in CEST (UTC +2)
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Sunday 25 September 2022 – Sunday 2 October 2022
First phase, Arnhem, Netherlands / Gdansk and Lodz, Poland -
Tuesday 4 October 2022 – Sunday 9 October 2022
Second phase, Rotterdam, Netherlands / Lodz, Poland -
Tuesday 11 October 2022
Quarter-final 1, 5pm Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Quarter-final 2, 5.30pm Gliwice, Poland
Quarter-final 3, 8pm Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Quarter-final 4, 8.30pm Gliwice, Poland -
Wednesday 12 October 2022
Semi-final 1, 8.30pm Gliwice, Poland -
Thursday 13 October 2022
Semi-final 2, 8pm Apeldoorn, Netherlands -
Saturday 15 October
3rd - 4th place match, 4pm Apeldoorn, Netherlands
1st - 2nd place match, 8pm Apeldoorn, Netherlands
For full timings and locations see here.
For more details about the tournament see here.