The 2026 AVC Boys' U18 Volleyball Championship was the 16th edition of the AVC Boys' U18 Volleyball Championship, a biennial international volleyball tournament organised by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) with China Volleyball Association (CVA). The tournament took place at Haikou Wuyuan River Gymnasium in Haikou, China from 12 to 18 July.
This tournament served as the qualification tournament for the FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2027 FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship as the AVC representatives.
Players must be born on or after 1 January 2009. Asian U18 players who have already played once in the FIVB U19 Championship cannot play in AVC U18 Championship as it is a qualification event for the following year of FIVB U19 event. In principle, the players can participate in the AVC U18 and FIVB U19 only once.
China are the defending champions after beating Iran 3–2 at the final in Manama, Bahrain.
Host selection The host selection process for the 2026 championship underwent a late venue transition. On December 20, 2025, the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) initially unveiled its international calendar following meetings in Bangkok, announcing Manama, Bahrain, as the official host city. The Bahrain Volleyball Association was originally entrusted with the tournament's operational guidelines, released in January 2026.
However, the hosting rights were later transferred to China. On May 31, 2026, the China Volleyball Association (CVA) opened a public bidding process seeking host cities within China that could meet the tournament's criteria, which included having two competition courts with at least 3,000 seats. Following a comprehensive evaluation of proposals submitted by June 5, 2026, the CVA finalized its bidding procedures with the continental governing body. On June 12, 2026, it was officially confirmed that Haikou, the capital city of Hainan, had secured the hosting rights, designating the Haikou Wuyuanhe Gymnasium as the official competition venue. This marked the first time Hainan would host the continental youth championship.
Qualification A total of 16 teams qualify for the championship. The Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) capped the tournament at 16 entries, utilizing specific qualification criteria to determine the participating nations.
The slot allocation was distributed as follows: Host Country: 1 team Previous Championship: The top 5 ranked teams from the 2024 edition. Zonal Qualification: 10 teams divided equally among the five AVC zonal associations (2 teams per zone). Slots were awarded to either the winners of the respective Zonal Association Cups (ZA Cup) or the next highest-ranking teams in the zonal qualification tournaments. CAVA: 2 teams EAVA: 2 teams OZVA: 2 teams SAVA: 2 teams WAVA: 2 teams
All zonal qualifiers were required to be finalized by 31 May 2026. In the event that a zone failed to enter its allotted teams, the vacancies were to be filled based on the final rankings of the previous continental championship, followed by the FIVB Boys' U19 World Rankings. If no such rankings were available, the respective Zonal President would designate the representative team.
+CountryQualified asQualified onAppearancesPrevious best performanceFirstLast2024 Asian U18 Championship champions and host country2 August 20241519972024Champions (2024)2024 Asian U18 Championship runners-up1320012024Champions (2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)2024 Asian U18 Championship 3rd placers3201820243rd place (2024)2024 Asian U18 Championship 4th placers1419972024Champions (2017, 2018, 2022)2024 Asian U18 Championship 5th placers4 August 20241419972024Champions (1999)2024 Asian U18 Championship 6th placers13199720245th place (1997, 2003, 2018)CAVA representatives10 June 20261220012024Champions (2003)7200820249th place (2008, 2014)1NoneEAVA representatives1519972024Champions (1997)62007202411th place (2007, 2017)OZVA representative14199720246th place (1997, 2003)WAVA representatives5199920244th place (1999)3201420247th place (2024)SAVA representatives1None4199720248th place (1997, 1999)
Pools composition The draw of lots was released on 10 June 2026 on Asian Volleyball Confederation YouTube channel. Teams were split into four pools with four teams each.
Seeding +Seeded teamsPot 1Pot 2 (1; Hosts) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (12) (13) (15) (–)SE.Z1SE.Z2
Draw result +Pool APool BPool CPool D
Venue + Haikou, China Haikou Wuyuan River Gymnasium Capacity: 12,000
Pool standing procedure Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost) In the event of a tie, the following first tiebreaker will apply: The teams will be ranked by the most point gained per match as follows: Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points (0–25, 0–25, 0–25) for the loser If teams are still tied after examining the number of victories and points gained, then the AVC will examine the results in order to break the tie in the following order: Set quotient: if two or more teams are tied on the number of points gained, they will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of the number of all set won by the number of all sets lost. Points quotient: if the tie persists based on the set quotient, the teams will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of all points scored by the total of points lost during all sets. If the tie persists based on the point quotient, the tie will be broken based on the team that won the match of the Round Robin Phase between the tied teams. When the tie in point quotient is between three or more teams, these teams ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.
Preliminary round All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
Pool A
Pool B
Pool C
Pool D
Final round All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
9th–16th places
9th–16th quarterfinals
13th–16th semifinals
9th–12th semifinals
15th place match
13th place match
11th place match
9th place match
Final eight
Quarterfinals
5th–8th semifinals
Semifinals
7th place match
5th place match
3rd place match
Final
Final standing
Rank Team 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Qualified for the 2027 U19 World Championship and 2028 U18 Volleyball Championship Qualified for the 2027 U19 World Championship
14–man roster Amirreza Hosseinzadehbosra, Amir Mohammad Hemmati, Aydin Chodarkhoei, Benyamin Olfat, Ali Reza Valaei Oryani, Arash Ghahremani, Abolfazl Pashaamiri, Milad Salaritoumaj, Nima Piri, Kamyab Abdollahifar, Ali Sheikhzadeh, Sajjad Asadidarounkola, Amirali Shams, Pedram Heydari Sefat Head coach Abdolreza Alizadeh Ghiloo
Awards
Most valuable player
Best setter
Best outside spikers
Best middle blockers
Best opposite spiker
Best libero
Source:
Qualified teams for FIVB U19 World Championship The following teams from the AVC qualified for the 2027 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship. + Team Qualified on Previous appearances in the FIVB U19 World Championship1 16 July 2026 13 (1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2025) 16 July 2026 15 (1989, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025) 16 July 2026 8 (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2025) 16 July 2026 5 (1995, 1997, 2001, 2015, 2019) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year.
See also 2026 AVC Men's Volleyball Continental Championship 2026 AVC Men's Volleyball Cup
Notes
References
External links