Brazil and China set to welcome 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s and Women’s Club World Championships

Both events will run in tandem with each other from 3 to 8 December with the men’s competition being held in the Brazilian city of Betim whilst the women’s equivalent is played out in Shaoxing, China.

The 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship will be the fifteenth edition of the tournament and is set to take place at the Divino Braga Gymnasium in Betim. The city is no stranger to the event having hosted three previous editions of the World Championship in 2013, 2015 and 2016, and expectations are high for another thrilling competition.

This year’s Men’s Club World Championship will adopt a different format from previous editions with only four teams fighting for the title. They consist of reigning South American champions and hosts Sada Cruzeiro, European champions Lube Civitanova of Italy, European runners-up Zenit Kazan of Russia, and Aisan qualifiers Al-Rayyan from Qatar. In the first phase, all four teams will play each other to determine the rankings before the semi-finals.

Two-time Men’s Club World Championship runners-up Cucine Lube Civitanova will take on Al-Rayyan Sports Club in the first match of the tournament on 3 December at 18.00 local time, ahead of former world champions Sada Cruzeiro Volei and Zenit Kazan renewing their rivalry in the opening day’s second match at 20.30.

Sada Cruzeiro and Zenit Kazan have met twice in the finals of the Men’s Club World Championship – in 2015 and 2016 – with the South Americans winning on both occasions. Zenit Kazan earned their first-ever World Championship title the following year, beating Lube Civitanova who finished runners-up in 2018 to Italian club Trentino.

In contrast to the men’s competition, eight clubs will participate in this year’s edition of the Women’s Club World Championship which will be played out at the Olympic Sports Centre in Shaoxing, China.

Joining host club Guangdong Evergrande Volleyball Club are Asian champions Tianjin Bohai Bank Volleyball Club of China, European champions Igor Gorgonzola Novara from Italy and South American champions Itambe Minas from Brazil. Last year’s winners VakifBank Istanbul and bronze medallists Eczacibasi Vitra Istanbul from Turkey, Imoco Volley Conegliano of Italy and Dentil Praia Clube from Brazil complete the line-up as the four teams receiving wild cards for the competition.

The eight clubs will be split into two pools of four with teams playing each other in a round robin system over four days before finals and classification matches take place on the last two days of the tournament.

Last year’s bronze medallists Eczacibasi Vitra Istanbul get things underway when they take on Imoco Volley Conegliano in the opening match on 3 December, before world champions VakifBank Istanbul begin their title defence against Dentil Praia Clube in the second match of the day.