The 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League was the 28th edition of the annual men's international volleyball tournament played by 36 teams between 2 June and 8 July. The Group 1 Final Round was held in Curitiba, Brazil.
In front of a crowd of 23,149 fans, France lifted the FIVB Volleyball World League trophy for the second time in their history, prevailing in an epic battle over hosts Brazil 3–2. This marked the fifth time in the last seven editions that Brazil reached the final and did not win the gold medal. Canada wrapped up their best ever World League campaign by seizing the bronze medal (their first medal at an international FIVB event) after a come-from-behind 3–1 win over the United States. Earvin N'Gapeth was elected the Most Valuable Player for the second time, after also being the MVP in 2015.
Slovenia defeated Japan in the Group 2 finals in Gold Coast, Australia to achieve their second straight group title since their debut last year (the team had previously won Group 3 in 2016).
Moreover, Estonia finished atop Group 3 in their first ever World League participation after a convincing 3–0 win over Spain in the final match in León, Mexico.
On 11 June 2017, the new one-set-score world record for national teams was established in the Group 3 intercontinental round match between Qatar and Venezuela. They spent 49 minutes in a 45–43 third set that was won by Qatar. The previous highest set score was 44–42, which had happened twice (in the 1999 FIVB Volleyball World League match between Canada and Brazil, and in the 2016 World Olympic Qualifying Tournament match between France and Australia).
Qualification Excluding and , which withdrew from the tournament, the remaining 34 teams from the 2016 edition directly qualified. and qualified through the 2016 European League.
AfricaAsia and OceaniaEuropeNorth AmericaSouth America1
1 1 Teams making their debuts.
Format
Intercontinental round Group 1, the 12 teams were drawn into 9 pools of 4 teams. In each pool, all teams will compete in a round robin format. The results of all 9 pools will combine in 1 ranking table. The hosts and the top five ranked teams will play in the final round. The last ranked team after the Intercontinental Round could be relegated if the winners of the Group 2 Final Round can meet the promotion requirements set by the FIVB. Group 2, the 12 teams were drawn in 9 pools of 4 teams. In each pool, all teams will compete in round robin format. The results of all 9 pools will combine in 1 ranking table. The hosts and the top three ranked teams will play in the final round. The last ranked team after the Intercontinental Round could be relegated if the winners of the Group 3 Final Round can meet the promotion requirements set by the FIVB. Group 3, the 12 teams were drawn into 6 pools of 4 teams. In each pool, all teams will compete in round robin format. The results of all 6 pools will combine in 1 ranking table. The hosts and the top three ranked teams will play in the final round.
Final round Group 1, the 6 teams in the final round will be divided in 2 pools determined by the serpentine system. The host team will be at the top position and the other teams will be allocated by their rankings in the preliminary round. The top 2 teams from each pool will play in the semifinals. The winning teams will play in the final match for the gold medals. Group 2 and Group 3, the host team will face the last ranked team among the qualified teams in the semifinals. The other 2 teams will play against each other in the other semifinal. The winning teams will play in the final match for the gold medals and a chance for promotion.
Pools composition The pools were announced on 13 September 2016.
Group 1 Week 1Pool A1 ItalyPool B1 SerbiaPool C1 RussiaWeek 2Pool D1 IranPool E1 BulgariaPool F1 FranceWeek 3Pool G1 ArgentinaPool H1 PolandPool I1 Belgium
Group 2 Week 1Pool A2 South KoreaPool B2 SlovakiaPool C2 TurkeyWeek 2Pool D2 FinlandPool E2 JapanPool F2 Czech RepublicWeek 3Pool G2 ChinaPool H2 EgyptPool I2 Netherlands
Group 3 Week 1Pool A3 SpainPool B3 MontenegroPool C3 GermanyWeek 2Pool D3 EstoniaPool E3 TunisiaPool F3 Austria
Final round Week 6Group 1BrazilPool J1
Pool K1Week 4Week 3Group 2AustraliaGroup 3Mexico
Competition schedule ●Intercontinental round●Final round
Week 12–4 JunWeek 28–11 JunWeek 315–18 JunWeek 424–25 JunWeek 64–8 JulGroup 118 matches18 matches18 matches10 matchesGroup 218 matches18 matches18 matches4 matchesGroup 318 matches18 matches4 matches
Squads
Pool standing procedure Number of matches won Match points Sets ratio Points ratio If the tie continues as per the point ratio between two teams, the priority will be given to the team which won the last match between them. When the tie in points ratio is between three or more teams, a new classification of these teams in the terms of points 1, 2 and 3 will be made taking into consideration only the matches in which they were opposed to each other.
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser
Intercontinental round
Group 1 Ranking
Week 1
Pool A1 Venue: Adriatic Arena, Pesaro, Italy All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool B1 Venue: SPC Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool C1 Venue: Kazan Volleyball Centre, Kazan, Russia All times are Moscow Time (UTC+03:00).
Week 2
Pool D1 Venue: Azadi Indoor Stadium, Tehran, Iran All times are Iran Daylight Time (UTC+04:30).
Pool E1 Venue: Palace of Culture and Sports, Varna, Bulgaria All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).
Pool F1 Venue: Palais des Sports de Pau, Pau, France All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Week 3
Pool G1 Venue: Orfeo Superdomo, Córdoba, Argentina All times are Argentina Time (UTC−03:00).
Pool H1 Venues: Spodek, Katowice, Poland (15 June) and Atlas Arena, Łódź, Poland (17–18 June) All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool I1 Venue: Lotto Arena, Antwerp, Belgium All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Group 2 Ranking
Week 1
Pool A2 Venue: Jangchung Arena, Seoul, South Korea All times are Korea Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
Pool B2 Venue: Aréna Poprad, Poprad, Slovakia All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool C2 Venue: Başkent Volleyball Hall, Ankara, Turkey All times are Turkey Time (UTC+03:00).
Week 2
Pool D2 Venue: Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).
Pool E2 Venue: Takasaki Arena, Takasaki, Japan All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
Pool F2 Venue: Budvar Arena, České Budějovice, Czech Republic All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Week 3
Pool G2 Venue: Kunshan Sports Center Gymnasium, Kunshan, China All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
Pool H2 Venue: Cairo Stadium Indoor Hall 2, Cairo, Egypt All times are Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool I2 Venue: Sportcampus Zuiderpark, The Hague, Netherlands All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Group 3 Ranking
Week 1
Pool A3 Venue: Pavelló de la Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool B3 Venue: Nikoljac Sports Center, Bijelo Polje, Montenegro All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool C3 Venue: Fraport Arena, Frankfurt, Germany All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Week 2
Pool D3 Venue: Kalevi Spordihall, Tallinn, Estonia All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).
Pool E3 Venue: El Menzah Sports Palace, Tunis, Tunisia All times are West Africa Time (UTC+01:00).
Pool F3 Venue: TipsArena Linz, Linz, Austria All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Final round
Group 3 Venue: Domo de la Feria, León, Mexico All times are Central Daylight Time (UTC−05:00).
Final four (Week 3)
Semifinals
3rd place match
Final
Group 2 Venue: Carrara Indoor Stadium, Gold Coast, Australia All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10:00).
Final four (Week 4)
Semifinals
3rd place match
Final
Group 1 Venue: Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brazil All times are Brasília Time (UTC−03:00).
Pool play (Week 6) Pool J1
Pool K1
Final four (Week 6)
Semifinals
3rd place match
Final
Final standing
RankTeam45789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536
14-man Roster for Group 1 Final RoundGrebennikov, Clévenot, Toniutti (c), Lyneel, N'Gapeth, Le Roux, Brizard, Boyer, Le Goff, Bultor, Quesque, T. Rossard, N. Rossard, ChinenyezeHead coachL. Tillie
Awards
Most valuable player Earvin N'Gapeth Best setter Benjamin Toniutti Best outside spikers Ricardo Lucarelli Earvin N'Gapeth Best middle blockers Graham Vigrass Kévin Le Roux Best opposite spiker Wallace de Souza Best libero Blair Bann
Statistics leaders The statistics of each group follows the vis reports P2 and P3. The statistics include 6 volleyball skills; serve, recept, set, spike, block, and dig. The table below shows the top 5 ranked players in each skill by group plus top scorers as of 24 June 2017.
Best scorers Best scorers determined by scored points from spike, block and serve. GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 Rank Name Points Name Points Name Points 1 Stéphen Boyer 165 Wouter ter Maat 176 Andrés Villena 124 2 Tsvetan Sokolov 147 Paul Carroll 173 Simon Hirsch 119 3 Taylor Sander 146 Jiang Chuan 164 Jorge Barajas 106 4 Bram Van Den Dries 133 Tine Urnaut 152 Hamza Nagga 104 5 Dawid Konarski 129 Nathan Roberts Masahiro Yanagida 142 Robert Täht 101
Best spikers Best spikers determined by successful spikes in percentage. GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 Rank Name Name Name 1 Marko Ivović 53.94 Nathan Roberts 55.34 Alexander Berger 58.87 2 Stéphen Boyer 53.15 Masahiro Yanagida 54.90 Papemaguette Diagne 58.75 3 Benjamin Patch 52.86 Wouter ter Maat 54.38 Liu Hong-jie 56.88 4 Michał Kubiak 50.64 Metin Toy 54.32 Robert Täht 56.85 5 Taylor Sander 50.43 Paul Carroll 53.79 Christian Fromm 56.35
Best blockers Best blockers determined by the average of stuff blocks per set. GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 Rank Name Name Name 1 Nikolay Nikolov 0.74 Peter Ondrovič 0.77 Ardo Kreek 0.83 2 Ilyas Kurkaev 0.71 Tommi Siirilä 0.77 Andri Aganits 0.72 3 David Smith 0.66 Chen Longhai 0.63 Anton Kuznetsov 0.64 4 Daniel Jansen Van Doorn 0.59 Jasper Diefenbach 0.63 Simon Hirsch 0.59 5 Graham Vigrass 0.56 Aleš Holubec 0.56 Božidar Ćuk 0.58
Best servers Best servers determined by the average of aces per set. GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 Rank Name Name Name 1 Stéphen Boyer 0.52 Masahiro Yanagida 0.49 Pedro Rangel 0.55 2 Dmitry Volkov 0.43 Jiang Chuan 0.43 Simon Hirsch 0.41 3 Maurício Souza 0.39 Ahmed Abdelhay 0.37 Emerson Rodríguez 0.38 4 Ricardo Lucarelli 0.39 Nathan Roberts 0.36 Samuel Córdova 0.34 5 Thibault Rossard 0.39 Ahmed Shafik 0.34 Robert Täht 0.34
Best setters Best setters determined by the average of running sets per set. GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 Rank Name Name Name 1 Bruno Rezende 6.58 Naonobu Fujii 8.43 Borislav Georgiev 9.00 2 Nikola Jovović 5.09 Arslan Ekşi 6.92 Khaled Ben Slimene 8.59 3 Saeid Marouf 5.06 Eemi Tervaportti 6.14 Simo Dabović 8.17 4 Fabian Drzyzga 4.44 Tiago Violas 5.19 Kert Toobal 6.14 5 Luciano De Cecco 3.27 Hossam Abdalla 5.14 Tai Ju-chien 6.08
Best diggers Best diggers determined by the average of successful digs per set. GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 Rank Name Name Name 1 Paweł Zatorski 2.14 Dirk Sparidans 1.93 2 Blair Bann 1.88 Tong Jiahua 1.91 3 Maurício Borges 1.81 Wouter ter Maat 1.75 4 Milad Ebadipour 1.65 Daniel Pfeffer 1.44 5 Ricardo Lucarelli 1.64 Luke Perry 1.39
Best receivers Best receivers determined by efficient receptions in percentage.