Lausanne, Switzerland, November 13, 2018 – The FIVB is pleased to announce that Italy will host a season-ending event in Rome from September 4 to 8, providing the final highlight of the 2018-2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
With a total prize purse of $600,000 and a main draw of 32 teams per gender, as well as points counting towards qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the final tournament of the season will gather the best teams in the world in Rome for what promises to be one of the most exciting competitions of the year. The tournament will replace the 5-star stop in Rome initially scheduled to take place in June.
Rome will provide an ideal stage for the world’s leading teams. It will also provide fans in the Italian capital with a true festival of beach volleyball just over a year after the city also welcomed the spectacular opening match of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.
The event will be the sixth FIVB World Tour stop in the Italian capital after tournaments in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, when Phil Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal of the United States won gold in the men’s competition and Brazilians Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima claimed victory in the women’s event. The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships also enjoyed a big success in 2011 at the iconic location of Foro Italico.
Winners in Rome in 2013 and recently reunited, Brazilians Talita and Taiana could be a team to look out for in September
Featuring a record-breaking 52 events, the 2018-2019 beach volleyball calendar is packed with great highlights including the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Hamburg, Germany from June 28 to July 7, 5-star Beach Major Series events in Fort Lauderdale (USA), Gstaad (Switzerland) and Vienna (Austria), thirteen 4-star events and seven 3-star events, as well as the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Songkhla, Thailand from June 19 to 23 and an Olympic Qualification Tournament in Haiyang, China with the dates to be announced by the end of November. The total prize purse for the 2018-2019 season including the World Championships and the World Tour is now in excess of $8.5 million with more 1- and 2-star events expected to be added to the calendar.
Also updated on the 2018-2019 World Tour calendar, the tournament in Sydney, Australia from March 6 to 10 will now be a 3-star event, while Xiamen, China from April 24 to 28 will be a 4-star event. The two 3-star events in Lucerne, Switzerland and Alexandria, Egypt, however, which were still to be confirmed, will not take place in 2019.
The World Tour resumes in Ljubljana, Slovenia from November 29 to December 2 before the first event in 2019 in The Hague, Netherlands from January 2 to 6.
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