Brazil will hope to improve on their World League and Olympic silver medals over the next two years
Lausanne, Switzerland, March 18, 2015 – Brazil’s volleyball fans will hope to have two titles to cheer when Rio de Janeiro hosts the FIVB Volleyball World League Final as it also doubles as the first of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games test events.
The event will run from July 14-19, the first of 44 sports featuring 7,000 athletes that will take place as the Brazilian city gears up to host the Olympic Games from August 5-21, 2016. Beach volleyball will host its test event soon after, from September 1-6 on the iconic Copacabana beach.
The 12,000 capacity Maracanazinho Arena will host the event and continue its role as the spiritual home of Brazilian volleyball. The tournament will be the culmination of six weeks of competition across the five confederations and is the third time that that Rio has hosted the culmination of the World League.
Brazil won eight World League titles between 2000 and 2010, but have yet to win gold in the four editions since. USA go into the competition as reigning champions, with the hosts aiming to improve on the silver medals that they have won in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Come 2016 the host nation will also be out to better the silver medals that they won at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games. The last time they won gold was at Athens 2004.
There will be no shortage of fans cheering them on as they seek to end their 12-year wait; in the recent ticketing ballot, 200,000 Brazilians applied for tickets for volleyball, the highest number for any of the 28 sports on offer during the Games.