OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2015 Grand Prix Party in the USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

USA will host the Final Round of the 2015 Women’s World Volleyball Grand Prix and Omaha, Nebraska has been chosen as the host city. Guess what? the FIVB has approved such proposal.

Start saving and mark this on your calendar:

2015 FIVB World Grand Prix Finals
Omaha, Nebraska (USA)
World Grand Prix Final Round (1st group)
July 22nd – 26th, 2015

USA Volleyball Fans & Players! Start planning because you have less than 2 years to save & make sure your loved ones will be there to witness the #GrandPrix a year before the 2016 Olympics!

More from the FIVB:

The FIVB Sports Events Council completed its annual two-day meeting on Saturday by confirming a four-year volleyball calendar through to 2017 for proposal to the FIVB Executive Committee, which meets on Sunday.

The Council meeting, which was attended by FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F°, FIVB 1st Executive Vice President and NORCECA President Cristobal Marte Hoffiz, FIVB 2nd Executive Vice President and CEV President Andre Meyer, FIVB Treasurer and CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani and Confederation Presidents Saleh Ahmad Bin Nasser (AVC) and Dr. Rafael Lloreda Currea (CSV), confirmed that the FIVB Volleyball Club World Championships will take place from May 6 to 11 in 2014 – the men’s competition held in Betim, Brazil and the women’s edition in Zurich, Switzerland as per 2013.

The other major events in 2014 were already confirmed – the FIVB Volleyball World League (May 23 to July 20), the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix (July 25 to August 24), the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Poland (September 3 to 21) and the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Italy (September 23 to October 12).

In 2015, the FIVB Volleyball World League will take place from May 29 to July 19 followed by the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix from June 29 to July 26. The FIVB Volleyball Club World Championships will take place from May 5 to 10 in 2015 while the first Olympic qualification tournament – the FIVB Volleyball World Cup is scheduled from August 22 to September 20.

The 2016 calendar sees the FIVB Volleyball Club World Championships move to October 18 to 23 due to the Olympic Games qualification process while the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix will take place from June 10 to July 10, preceded by the FIVB Volleyball World League, for which the dates are still to be determined.

The confirmed dates in 2017 are the FIVB Volleyball World League from June 2 to July 16 and the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Finals from August 23 to 27.

FIVB INTERNATIONAL SPORTS EVENTS CALENDAR (2014 -2017)

2014

Men’s Club World Championship 6 – 11 May
Women’s Club World Championship 6 – 11 May
World League Intercontinental Round 23 May – 6 July
World League Final Round (3rd group) 27 – 29 June
World League Final Round (1st & 2nd group) 16 – 20 July
World Grand Prix Preliminary Round 25 July – 17 August
World Grand Prix Final Round (2nd & 3rd group) 15 – 17 August
World Grand Prix Final Round (1st group) 20 – 24 August
FIVB Men’s World Championship – Poland 3 – 21 September
FIVB Women’s World Championship – Italy 23 Sept. – 12 October

2015

Men’s Club World Championship 5 – 10 May
Women’s Club World Championship 5 – 10 May
World League Intercontinental Round 29 May – 12 July
World League Final Round (3rd group) 3 – 5 July
World League Final Round (2nd group) 10 – 12 July
World League Final Round (1st group) 15 – 19 July
World Grand Prix Preliminary Round 29 June – 19 July
World Grand Prix Final Round (2nd & 3rd group) 17 – 19 July
World Grand Prix Final Round (1st group) 22 – 26 July
Under Age World Championships (tentative) July – August
Women’s World Cup 22 August – 5 September
Men’s World Cup 6 – 20 September

2016

World League Intercontinental Round (tentative) TBC
World League Final Round (3rd group) 1 – 3 July (TBC)
World League Final Round (2nd group) 8 – 10 July (TBC)
World League Final Round (1st group) 8 – 10 July (TBC)
World Grand Prix Preliminary Round 10 June – 3 July
World Grand Prix Final Round (2nd & 3rd group) 1 – 3 July
World Grand Prix Final Round (1st group) 6 – 10 July
Men’s & Women’s World Olympic Qualifications 16 May – 5 June (TBC)
Men’s & Women’s Olympic Games 5 – 21 August
Men’s Club World Championship 18 – 23 October
Women’s Club World Championship 18 – 23 October

2017

Men’s Club World Championship 1 – 14 May (TBC)
Women’s Club World Championship 1 – 14 May (TBC)
World League Intercontinental Round 2 June – 8 July
World League Final Round (3rd group) TBC
World League Final Round (2nd group) TBC
World League Final Round (1st group) 12 – 16 July
World Grand Prix Preliminary Round 28 July – 20 August
World Grand Prix Final Round (2nd & 3rd group) TBC
World Grand Prix Final Round (1st group) 23 – 27 August
Under Age World Championships (tentative) July – August

The Sports Events Council, which is presided by FIVB Executive Vice-President Aleksandar Boricic, also approved the use of the Challenge system, which was used for the FIVB Volleyball World League and FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in 2013, for all competitions in 2014 whilst also confirming the proposed participation criteria for the FIVB Volleyball Club World Championships as per the following:

FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship: (8 vacancies) 1 host team, 5 Continental Champions and 2 Invitations

FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship: (6 vacancies) 1 host team, 3 Continental Champions (CEV, CSV and AVC) and 2 Invitations

In addition to reviewing the 2013 Age Group World Championships, which included the inaugural FIVB Volleyball U23 World Championships, the Sports Events Council confirmed a proposal to streamline the number of teams participating in the Age Group World Championships as per the following:
FIVB Volleyball Girls U18 & Boys U19 World Championships – 20 teams
FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 & Men’s U21 World Championships – 16 teams
FIVB Volleyball Men’s and Women’s U23 World Championships – 12 teams

Whilst also confirming the qualification criteria:

Note: minimum 8 teams (or 50%) in qualification process. If not fulfilling the requirements, one out of the two vacancies of the Confederation concerned will be distributed according to the World Ranking (as of 1st January 2015)

The Sports Events Council also ratified the decisions made by the FIVB World League and FIVB World Grand Prix Councils concerning the expansion of the competitions to 28 teams whilst receiving updates on the FIVB’s flagship tournaments: the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship Poland 2014 and the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championship Italy 2014 and the first tournament in the 2016 Olympic Games qualification process – the FIVB Volleyball World Cup Japan 2015.

The participation criteria for the FIVB Volleyball World Cup Japan 2015, from which two teams will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, includes the host country, two teams from each confederation, which are to be decided by a tournament or continental ranking (determined by each confederation) plus the world champion.

An update on the 2016 Olympic Games was also provided to the members, highlighting the outstanding facilities at the Maracanãzinho where volleyball is expected to be one of the showcase events during Rio 2016.

This is the article which mentions USA as host country of the 2015 Grand Prix Finals.

The FIVB Executive Committee approved key initiatives during its annual meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on Sunday to continue the vibrant vision and direction of the FIVB under the leadership of President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° towards a dynamic and modern era with the focus on providing opportunities for player participation.

The FIVB Executive Committee meeting opened with President Graça praising the members and the FIVB federations for their dedication in taking volleyball and beach volleyball on a new path with transparency, innovation and technology key principles.

“Everybody has worked hard this year,” he said. “I visited all the continents and I participated in all the Confederations Congresses to talk with everybody, to exchange ideas and there I saw that people are embracing progress and change which is being undertaken.”

The Executive Committee began by approving the following key proposals from the Beach Volleyball Commission:

1) To introduce an FIVB BVB Grand Slam Final, held annually at the end of the Grand Slam season which will include the participation of the eight best teams as per the season’s FIVB Grand Slam Ranking, with a country quota of two teams per national federation and with prize money of $500,000 for both genders.

2) To introduce an Under 17 category of the Age Group World Championships.

3) To hold the Age Group World Championships every two years and alternate with the schedule of volleyball

4) To allow coaches to sit behind the players’ bench to provide support for the young athletes at the FIVB Beach Volleyball Age Group World
Championships and Beach Volleyball Continental Cup. The accredited coach may interact with his/her players only during warm-up, time-outs, change of set and the switch of the court.

5) The FIVB to invest up to $2.5m in the first and second phase of the 2014-2016 Beach Volleyball Continental Cup towards participating national federations, based on the level of participating category 1, 2 and 3 national federations. The FIVB will pay the financial support only if a Confederation involves a minimum 60 % of its affiliated national federations.

The FIVB Executive Committee also approved the proposals from the Sports Council, which had met on Friday and Saturday, including the new 2014-2017 volleyball calendar as well as the introduction of the new innovative technology including the Challenge System for all FIVB events in 2014. They also approved the qualification criteria process for the Club World Championships and the city of Omaha, USA as the host of the World Grand Prix Finals in 2015.

Other approved proposals from the Sports Events Council included the move to provide five separate world rankings for the U18, U19, U20, U21 and U23 age group categories in addition to the senior world rankings as well as approving the Age Group World Championships structure such as:

FIVB Volleyball Girls U18 & Boys U19 World Championships – 20 teams
FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 & Men’s U21 World Championships – 16 teams
FIVB Volleyball Men’s and Women’s U23 World Championships – 12 teams

Meanwhile, the FIVB Executive Committee approved the Treasurer’s report and the 2013 accounts’ report and balance sheet (January – September 2013) in addition to approving the tentative 2014 Budget for proposal to the Board of Administration, which includes plans for a proposed underground extension to Château Les Tourelles in 2014 for an innovative International Volleyball Museum and Hall of Fame.

President Graça paid tribute to FIVB Honorary Life President Jizhong Wei for his work as an FIVB Board of Administration member from 1986 to 2008, Executive Committee member from 1996 to 2008, FIVB President from 2008 to 2012 and the work he continues to do in his honorary role, by unveiling his portrait inside the Presidential Hall at the FIVB head office.

The members also observed a minute silence in memory of former FIVB Vice President Dr. B. Sivanthi Adityan of India who passed away earlier this year.

No words could express how happy we are about the 4 year calendar and also with USA hosting the GP.

This is like the BEST NEWS ever!