The 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships – Women's event is the 9th edition of the quadrennial world championship, contested by the senior women's national sitting volleyball teams, sanctioned by World ParaVolley. It was held in Hangzhou, China from 10 to 17 July 2026, marking the first time the event is held in the country and the first time it was being held in East Asia.
16 teams took for the second time since the expansion in 2018, after withdrawals reduced the number of participating teams in the previous edition. Hosts China automatically qualified as hosts. Qualification took place between May and November 2025, with continental, world tournaments and rankings being used as qualification. France, Kenya and Thailand made their debut.
This was the first edition to implement video challenge system. On 11 July, the tournament was suspended for a day after Typhoon Bavi hit Hangzhou. Play commenced the next day with an updated schedule.
The winners secure a ticket to the 2028 Summer Paralympics.
Brazil are the defending champions, after beating Canada 3–2 in the 2022 final in Sarajevo.
Host selection After withdrawing from hosting the 2022 edition, Hangzhou was given the 2026 hosting rights instead. Hangzhou had already been stated as the host on the events section of the World ParaVolley website but it was made official in July 2025. This marks the first time the event is held in the country and the first and second time it will be held in East Asia and Asia respectively.
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Preparations On 29 July 2025, the host contract was signed. On 7 July 2026, the official website went live.
Opening ceremony On 9 July 2026, a day before the competition started, the opening ceremony took place. The opening ceremony consisted of dances where the performers wore traditional costumes. Live piano and violins were also played. As tradition, the parade of nations took place.
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Qualification Slot allocation Host nation: 1 2024 Summer Paralympics champions: 1 2028 Summer Paralympics hosts: 1 ParaVolley Asia Oceania: 2 ParaVolley Africa: 2 ParaVolley Americas: 2 ParaVolley Europe: 3 2025 World Cup: 2 World rankings: 2
16 teams will take part for the second time since the expansion in 2018, after withdrawals reduced the number of participating teams in the previous edition. Hosts China automatically qualified as hosts. Qualification took place between May and November 2025, with continental, world tournaments and rankings being used as qualification. A total of 21 countries took part in qualification. As the United States took two spots after winning the 2024 Summer Paralympics and being the hosts of the 2028 Paralympics, one vacant spot was reallocated to the world rankings. Since only one team in the 2025 World Cup event hadn't already qualified, the remaining spot was once again was reallocated to the world rankings, bringing the number of teams qualifying via the world rankings to four.
Of the qualified teams, 10 took part in 2022. 2024 Paralympics host France, alongside Kenya and Thailand will make their debut, with the latter marking the first time a team from Southeast Asia qualified. Hosts, China, Japan and Netherlands return after missing out on 2022 due to Covid.
Of the absentees, former runners-up, Finland, failed to qualify after not entering any qualifier. Previous hosts Bosnia and Herzegovina and Poland missed out after their sporadic appearance in 2022. Similar to 2022, Russia was banned from taking part in qualification.
For the first time, Iran qualified for the third successive time.
The highest ranked team to not qualify was Poland, ranked 16th, while the lowest ranked team to qualify was Kenya, placed 17th.
Qualified teams Qualification Host Dates Vacancies QualifiedHost nation Hangzhou 29 July 2025 1 2024 Summer Paralympics Paris 29 August – 7 September 2024 1 0 None2028 Summer Paralympics hosts Lima 13 September 2017 1 2025 Pan American Championships Denver 24–27 May 2025 2 2025 Asia and Oceania Championships Hangzhou 9–14 June 2025 2 2025 African Championships Nairobi 4–9 July 2025 2 2025 European Championships Győr 28 July – 2 August 2025 3 2025 World Cup Fort Wayne 12–18 October 2025 2 1 World rankings 12 November 2025 2 4
World rankings The final 4 places belonged to the top 4 teams as per the sitting volleyball world rankings who had not yet qualified as of 12 November 2025.World rankings
Top 20 in world rankings Qualified for the 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships Qualified for the 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships via World Ranking
RankTeamPoints15,16524,55434,35844,10853,09162,93872,80082,78492,411102,386111,440121,418131,261141,123151,042161,03917900186621962620584
Summary of qualified teams TeamQualification methodDate of qualificationAppearance(s)2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships historyPrevious best performance Host nation 6 February 20251 72028 Summer Paralympics hosts5 12025 Pan American Championships27 May 20256 33 22025 Asia and Oceania Championships13 June 20253 914 June 20251 112025 African Championships9 July 20251stDebut93 82025 European Championships1 August 20253 41 152 August 20259 102025 World Cup18 October 20255 6World rankings12 November 20257 51stDebut121stDebut133 14
Composition of teams On 15 March 2026, the pools were announced. The groups were decided via the Serpentine system. As hosts, China is seeded into position 1.
+ Pool A Team1 7 (H)8 8 9 9 16 17 + Pool B Team2 1 7 6 10 10 15 15 + Pool C Team3 2 6 5 11 11 14 14 + Pool D Team4 3 5 4 12 12 13 13
Schedule The schedule was announced on 17 June. Due to Typhoon Bavi, the schedule was later adjusted. ScheduleRoundMatchdayDatePreliminary roundAll matches 10–13 July 2026Knockout stageRound of 16 14 July 2026Quarterfinals 15 July 2026Semifinals 16 July 20263rd place & Final 17 July 2026
Original scheduleRoundMatchdayDatePreliminary roundAll matches 10–12 July 2026Knockout stageRound of 16 13 July 2026Quarterfinals 14 July 2026Semifinals 15 July 2026Third place 16 July 2026Final 17 July 2026
Venue The World ParaVolley Development Centre in Hangzhou was the venue. The venue hosted the 2017 and 2025 Asia and Oceania Sitting Volleyball Championships, plus the 2017 World ParaVolley Women's Super 6. The venue has also hosted numerous other events in other Paralympic sports. Three courts were used during the event.
HangzhouWorld ParaVolley Development CentreCapacity: Unknown
Format 16 teams are split into four groups of four, where every team advances to the Round of 16. In the Round of 16, teams who finished 1st play the teams that finished fourth, and the teams who finished 2nd play the teams that finished third. The eight winners advance to the Quarter Finals, while the eight losers play in a 9–16 classification bracket.
Group stage All times are local. The top four teams in each pool qualify for the final round. 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
Tiebreakers Number of matches won Match points Sets ratio Points ratio If the tie continues as per the point ratio between two teams, the priority is given to the team which won the 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, 3 and 4 is made taking into consideration only the matches in which they were opposed to each other.
Pool A
Pool B
Pool C
Pool D
Knockout stage Bracket
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Third place game
Final
Classification rounds 5–8th place bracket
5–8th place semifinals
Seventh place game
Fifth place game
9–16th place bracket
9–16th place quarterfinals
9–12th place semifinals
Eleventh place game
Ninth place game
13–16th place bracket
13–16th place semifinals
15th place game
13th place game
Final standings
Best results
Rankings table
Qualification table
RankTeam45678910111213141516 Qualified for the 2028 Summer Paralympics
2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships 1st title
Team roster: Players.Head Coach: Coach
See also 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships – Men's event
Notes
References
External links Official website