The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup was an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's and women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament was created in 1993 after radical changes made on the biggest tournaments organised by the FIVB. The main goal was not to have a single year without two high-profile world-level volleyball competitions, alongside the pre-existing men's and women's world championship, men's and women's world cup and the volleyball tournament at the Olympic Games which are all quadrennial and the annual men's and women's Nations League.
 | |
| Sport | Volleyball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1993 |
| First season | 1993 (Men, Women) |
| Ceased | 2017 (Men, Women) |
| Replaced by | FIVB Volleyball World Championship |
| No. of teams | 6 |
| Continent | International (FIVB) |
| Last champion(s) | M:  Brazil (5th title) W:  China (2nd title) |
| Most titles | M: Brazil (5 titles) W: Brazil China (2 titles each) |
The World Grand Champions Cup was therefore played quadrennially the year after the Olympic Games and is always hosted by the Japan Volleyball Association. It did not give any points for the World Ranking.
Brazil has been the most successful team in the men's tournament, having won five of the seven editions. Brazil has also finished runners-up to Cuba and Italy in the only two occasions claimed by other national teams. The women's tournament history is more balanced with Brazil andChina having won the tournament twice, while Cuba, Italy, and Russia have won one title each.
History
The World Grand Champions Cup was created in 1993 after radical changes made on the biggest tournaments organised by the FIVB. The main goal was not to have a single year without a world FIVB competition. This is the only FIVB tournament that doesn't give FIVB points for the world ranking.
On 22 June 2023, Volleyball Calendar 2025–2028 approved by FIVB shown that World Championships to be played biannually in odd years. That meant the World Grand Champions Cup was discontinued and replaced by World Championships.[1]
Winners
Brazil has been the most successful team with the men's team winning five and the women's team two titles.
Competition formula
The World Grand Champions Cup has always had the same formula since the first edition:
- The competition takes place in Japan.
- Six teams participate in each event: host nation, four continental champions and one wild card.
- Japan is always pre-qualified as the host nation.
- Four continental champions from continents whose teams reached the highest ranking at the preceding Olympic Games.
- The remaining team participates through a wild card granted by the FIVB.
- A round robin format is used for this competition.
- Final standings are calculated by usual volleyball criteria: until 2013 match points, numbers of matches won, sets ratio (the total number of sets won divided by the total number of sets lost), points ratio, direct confrontation; since 2017 the first criterion became the number of matches won, followed by match points, sets ratio etc.
Results summary
Men
| Year | Round-robin | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Runners-up | 3rd place | 4th place | 5th place | 6th place | ||
| 1993 Details |  Italy |  Brazil |  Cuba |  Japan |  United States |  South Korea | |
| 1997 Details | Brazil |  Netherlands | Cuba |  China | Japan |  Australia | |
| 2001 Details | Cuba | Brazil |  Yugoslavia |  South Korea |  Japan |  Argentina | |
| 2005 Details | Brazil | United States | Italy | Japan |  Egypt | China | |
| 2009 Details | Brazil | Cuba | Japan |  Poland |  Iran | Egypt | |
| 2013 Details | Brazil |  Russia | Italy | Iran | United States | Japan | |
| 2017 Details | Brazil | Italy | Iran | United States |  France | Japan | |
Women
| Year | Round-robin | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Runners-up | 3rd place | 4th place | 5th place | 6th place | ||
| 1993 Details | Cuba | China |  Russia | Japan | United States |  Peru | |
| 1997 Details | Russia | Cuba | Brazil | China | Japan | South Korea | |
| 2001 Details | China | Russia | Japan | Brazil | United States | South Korea | |
| 2005 Details | Brazil | United States | China | Poland | Japan | South Korea | |
| 2009 Details | Italy | Brazil |  Dominican Republic | Japan | South Korea |  Thailand | |
| 2013 Details | Brazil | United States | Japan | Russia | Thailand | Dominican Republic | |
| 2017 Details | China | Brazil | United States | Russia | Japan |  South Korea | |
Medals summary
Men
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 5 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| 2 |  Cuba | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
 Italy | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| 4 |  Netherlands | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Russia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 United States | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 7 |  Iran | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Yugoslavia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (9 entries) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 | |
Women
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | China | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Russia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Cuba | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | United States | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 |  Dominican Republic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (8 entries) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 | |
All-time team records
| 1 | Japan | 35 |
| 2 | Brazil | 30 |
| 3 | Republic of Korea | 25 |
| 4 | China | 25 |
| 5 | Russia | 25 |
| 6 | United States | 25 |
| 7 | Cuba | 10 |
| 8 | Dominican Republic | 10 |
| 9 | Thailand | 10 |
| 10 | Poland | 5 |
| 1 | Brazil | 22 |
| 2 | China | 19 |
| 3 | Russia | 14 |
| 4 | United States | 14 |
| 5 | Japan | 13 |
| 6 | Cuba | 9 |
| 7 | Italy | 5 |
| 8 | Dominican Republic | 4 |
| 9 | Republic of Korea | 3 |
| 10 | Poland | 1 |
| 1 | Italy | 100 % |
| 2 | Cuba | 90 % |
| 3 | China | 76 % |
| 4 | Brazil | 73 % |
| 5 | Russia | 56 % |
| 6 | United States | 56 % |
| 7 | Dominican Republic | 40 % |
| 8 | Japan | 37 % |
| 9 | Poland | 20 % |
| 10 | Republic of Korea | 12 % |
(Based on W=2 pts and D=1 pts)
| Team | S | Firs | Best | Pts | MP | W | L | GF | GA | diff | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 6 | 1997 | 1st | 52 | 30 | 22 | 8 | 76 | 32 | +44 |
| 2 | Japan | 7 | 1993 | 3rd | 48 | 35 | 13 | 22 | 55 | 74 | -19 |
| 3 | China | 5 | 1993 | 1st | 44 | 25 | 19 | 6 | 61 | 32 | +29 |
| 4 | Russia | 5 | 1993 | 1st | 39 | 25 | 14 | 11 | 55 | 45 | +10 |
| 5 | United States | 5 | 1993 | 2nd | 39 | 25 | 14 | 11 | 52 | 48 | +4 |
| 6 | Republic of Korea | 5 | 1997 | 5th | 28 | 25 | 3 | 22 | 14 | 71 | -57 |
| 7 | Cuba | 2 | 1993 | 1st | 19 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 28 | 10 | +18 |
| 8 | Dominican Republic | 2 | 2009 | 3rd | 14 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 20 | -5 |
| 9 | Thailand | 2 | 2009 | 5th | 11 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 28 | -20 |
| 10 | Italy | 1 | 2009 | 1st | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 |
| 11 | Poland | 1 | 2005 | 5th | 6 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 14 | -7 |
| 12 | Peru | 1 | 1993 | 6th | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 15 | -9 |
Most valuable player by edition
See also
- Volleyball at the Summer Olympics
- FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League
- FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship
- FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup
- FIVB Volleyball Men's Challenger Cup
- FIVB Volleyball World League
- FIVB World Grand Prix
- FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League
- FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship
- FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup
- FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup
- List of indoor volleyball world medalists