Volleyball Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Road to Paris 2024: Preview, full schedule, and how to watch live action
The Men’s Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifier is hosted by Brazil, Japan and the People’s Republic of China from 30 September to 8 October with Olympic quotas at stake. Find out the key things you to know below.
Volleyball
The men's FIVB Road to Paris Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournament (OQT) showcases the 24 best nations in volleyball.
The qualifying tournaments will be played in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Tokyo (Japan) and Xi'an (People’s Republic of China) between 30 September and 8 October 2023.
Only twelve teams will compete for gold at Paris 2024, including Tokyo 2020 Olympic champions France, who are are automatic qualifiers as hosts. The top two teams of each of the three groups will gain qualification berths for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The reigning world champions Italy will travel to play in Brazil, while newly crowned European champions Poland will be contesting in People’s Republic of China.
Read on to learn more about the competition format, the schedule, and the teams to watch.
Men’s Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournament 2023: Format
The 24 teams are placed in three pools of eight, for a round-robin tournament.
In each group, every team will face each other once, after which the top two ranked teams will obtain a quota for Paris 2024.
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil will host all games of Pool A.
The teams in Pool B will play in Tokyo, Japan, while nations in Pool C are going to play in Xi’an, People’s Republic of China.
On 30 September the event will begin with the first matches in each group, and the OQT's will run until 8 October.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Men’s Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournaments 2023: Pools for the Road To Paris 2024 qualifier
Men’s Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournaments 2023: Teams and stars to watch
Brazil are hosting the matches of Pool A and will be hoping to extend their perfect Olympic Games appearance record to 16.
They have just lost the South American Championship final to Argentina, so the “Canarinhos” will be eager to get back on track at the Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournaments. Veteran Alan de Souza was the top scorer in the loss to Argentina, where he registered 19 points.
Bruno Rezende, regarded as one the best setters in the world, will lead the offence with help from the experienced Ricardo Lucarelli and Yoandy Leal. Flavio Gualberto and Lukas Saatkamp will assist both in defence and offense.
Reigning world champions Italy will do what they can to spoil a Brazilian samba party. The Italians are coming into the tournament following a loss at the European Championship final to Poland in straight sets.
However, Gli Azzurri (The Blues) have performed well this year, also reaching the semi-finals at the Volleyball Nations League (VNL).
Setter Simone Giannelli will orchestrate the plan for hitters Alessandro Michieletto, Yuri Romano and Daniele Lavia. Brazil and Italy last faced off at the 2023 VNL with the world champions winning 3-1.
2023 Asian Volleyball champions Japan will have the home-field advantage in Pool B. The team have reinvented themselves and are standing strong as a unit with a new generation of players.
Ran Takahashi, Yuki Ishikawa, and Yuji Nishida are all playing key roles in the Japanese offense. They claimed a bronze medal a the 2023 VNL, defeating the world champions Italy.
The United States are placed in Pool C with Japan, and the VNL runners-up are hoping to secure one of the spots for Paris 2024 and improve their result from Tokyo 2020, where they finished tenth.
Star setter Micah Christenson was awarded Most Valuable Player, as he took his team to victory at the 2023 NORCECA Championship, their first continental title since 2017.
Head coach John Speraw will put his trust in Matt Anderson, Aaron Russell, TJ Defalco, and Christenson, who is the talisman of the team. Max Holt and Erik Shoji will lead the defence.
European Championship bronze medallist Slovenia are an outsider in Pool B to finish in the top two and make it to the Olympics for the first time.
Pool C favourites Poland will be playing in People’s Republic of China. The Poles have had an extraordinary year, winning the 2023 VNL and the European Championship, just like the Türkiye women’s team did.
Poland beat the world champions Italy in the European Championship final with star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon awarded Most Valuable Player.
Bartosz Kurek is leading the squad of new stars that includes Alexander Sliwka, Jakub Kochanowski, and Lukas Kaczmarek.
Newly crowned South American champions Argentina will be looking to challenge the Poles, after they dethroned Brazil, ending a 56-year title drought at the event. Facundo Conte produced 15 points to become Argentina’s main scorer in the victory over Brazil. Luciano Vicentin took the Most Valuable Player award.
Luciano De Cecco is the experienced leader, who will set up plays for hitter Bruno Lima. Meanwhile, Agustin Loser will defend at the net and contribute as a hitter.
Men’s Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournaments: Schedule for Paris 2024 qualifiers
All three Olympic Qualifying Tournament pools are taking place from 30 September to 8 October 2023.
Men’s Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournaments: Pool A fixtures
Pool A games are all played in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All times are in Brasília Time (UTC−3).
Men’s Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournaments: Pool B fixtures
Pool B games are all played in Tokyo, Japan. All times are in Japan Standard Time (UTC+9).
Men’s Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournaments: Pool C fixtures
Pool C games are all played in Xi'an, People's Republic of China. All times are in China Standard Time (UTC+8).
How to watch the Men’s Olympic Volleyball Qualifying Tournaments 2023
All matches from the Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will be streamed live on VBTV.
In the USA, you can watch the action on NBC-Peacock.