The 2022 FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup was the third edition of the FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup, an annual women's international volleyball tournament contested by eight national teams that acts as a qualifier for the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League. The tournament was held at Krešimir Ćosić Hall in Zadar, Croatia, between 28 and 31 July 2022.
Four teams made their first appearance in the women's Challenger Cup in this edition: Belgium, Cameroon, France and Kazakhstan.
Croatia won the title, defeating Belgium in the final, and earned the right to participate in the 2023 Nations League replacing Belgium, the last placed challenger team in the 2022 edition. Puerto Rico defeated Colombia in the 3rd place match.
Qualification A total of eight teams qualified for the tournament.
CountryConfederationQualified asQualified onPrevious appearancesPrevious best performanceTotalFirstLastCAVB1st World ranked team from CAVB31 March 20220NoneCSV1st World ranked team from CSV31 March 202212018 (2018)AVC1st World ranked team from AVC31 March 20220NoneNORCECA1st World ranked team from NORCECA31 March 202212018 (2018)CEVHost country8 April 202212019 (2019)CEV1st World ranked team from CEV19 June 202212019 (2019)CEV2022 Golden League champions19 June 20220NoneCEV2022 Nations League last placed challenger team3 July 20220None
Format The tournament will compete in a knock-out phase (quarterfinals, semifinals, and final), with the host country (Croatia) playing its quarterfinal match against the lowest ranked team among the participating teams. The remaining seven teams are placed from 2nd to 8th positions as per the FIVB World Ranking as of 3 July 2022. Rankings are shown in brackets except the hosts.
MatchTop rankerBottom rankerQuarterfinal 1 (Hosts) (36)Quarterfinal 2 (12) (23)Quarterfinal 3 (17) (22)Quarterfinal 4 (18) (20)
Rule changes Court switch at the end of the sets to be eliminated due to COVID-19 safety guidelines and for a better television broadcasts. Each team is allowed to call only one time-out during each set in the preliminary. The time-out lasts 30 seconds long. During the finals, each team is granted one time-out before the technical and one time-out after the technical, except in a fifth set. Only one technical time-out is made when the leading team reaches 12 points, but no technical in a fifth set.
Squads
Venue All matchesZadar, CroatiaKrešimir Ćosić HallCapacity: 8,500
Knockout stage All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
3rd place match
Final
Final standing
RankTeam45678 Qualified for the 2023 Nations League Source: VCC 2022 final standings
14–woman RosterMika Grbavica, Ema Strunjak, Božana Butigan, Klara Perić, Laura Miloš, Lucija Mlinar, Dijana Karatović, Beta Dumančić, Josipa Marković, Samanta Fabris (c), Martina Šamadan, Lea Deak, Izabela Štimac, Natalia TomićHead coach Ferhat Akbaş
See also 2022 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League 2022 FIVB Men's Volleyball Challenger Cup 2022 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League
Notes A.Cameroon withdrew and forfeited their match against Puerto Rico from the competition because they could not acquire entry visas to Croatia.
References
External links Fédération Internationale de Volleyball – official website 2022 Challenger Cup – official website