Lausanne, Switzerland, September 1, 2017 - France will present the men’s only FIVB Montpelier 1-Star Open from September 7 to 9. This will be the first event on the 2017 portion of the calendar for the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Overall, France has hosted 24 total men’s FIVB World Tour events. France has also hosted several men’s FIVB Age-Group World Championships and FIVB challenger and satellite events.
Quick links - Beach volleyball:FIVB Beach Volleyball World TourFIVB.com - Beach VolleyballLatest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia GuidesMontpellier is one of six French cities to host an international men’s FIVB beach volleyball event. Others have been Cap d’Agde, La Baule, Marseille, Paris, Pornichet and Sete. Marseille has hosted 16 men’s FIVB World Tour events, Paris has hosted four men’s World Tour events and the other cities have been the site of one men’s tournament each.
The five-star structure instituted starting with the 2017 FIVB World Tour is one of the many steps taken by the FIVB to modernize and streamline its competitions in a golden period for beach volleyball on the heels of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° said, “The aim of the new structure is to provide a platform and formation of events that increase the number of competitions in a growing number of hosting countries and create a sustainable business model while providing additional commercial flexibility and opportunities.”
France has hosted 41 FIVB World Tour events through the 2017 FIVB World Tour, including 24 men’s and 17 women’s tournaments.
In the 24 FIVB men’s events through the 2017 FIVB World Tour, Brazil has won the most men’s medals with 31, followed by the United States with 12, Germany with five, Argentina, Norway and Switzerland with four each, China with two and with one each men’s medal in France have been Australia, Canada, Cuba, France, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Spain.
Montpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Herault department. Montpellier is the eighth-largest city in France and is also the fastest-growing city in the country over the past 25 years. In 2014, 589,610 people live in the urban area and 275,318 in the city itself. Nearly one third of the people are students from three universities and from three higher education institutions that are outside the university framework in the city.
Located near the south coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, Montpellier is the third-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille and Nice. Montpellier is one of the few large cities in France without any Roman heritage and also one of the few cities in southern France without a Greek foundation.
The format, adopted in January of 2017 has all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments using the Star System from 1-5 having qualifying and a 32-team single-elimination tournament for 5-Star tournaments starting with qualifying followed by pool play and then single elimination knockout rounds. The 1-Star through 4-Star tournaments will modify as needed the basic format to accommodate the particular event with most having a single-elimination tournament. Country Quota playoffs returned as needed in 2015 to determine the final teams for the qualification tournament.
Part of the 2017 edition of the FIVB Sports Regulations for beach volleyball, the new FIVB World Ranking system is based on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points earned at the eight best performances as a team in all FIVB sanctioned or homologated beach volleyball events over a 365-days period. The FIVB World Ranking is updated every Monday after an FIVB sanctioned or homologated event granting FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points.
The first men’s FIVB World Tour event was played February 17-22, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while the first women’s FIVB World Tour event in Brazil was played in 1993 in Rio de Janeiro. The women’s FIVB World Tour held its first tournament in Spain in 1992.