2015 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup

2015 Men's World Cup
Official website
2015 World Cup
Tournament details
Host nation	Japan
Dates	8–23 September
Teams	12
Venues	6 (in 5 host cities)
Champions	United States (2nd title)
MVP	Matthew Anderson
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The 2015 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup was played from September 8 to September 23 in Japan. The tournament served as a qualification process for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The top two teams, USA and Italy, qualified for the Olympics,^[1][2] and joined Brazil as they had already secured a berth as the host country.

United States secured the country's second title with 10 victories and only 1 loss. Matthew Anderson was elected the Most Valuable Player.^[3] Moreover, there were 3 record breakings. Firstly, Thomas Edgar broke the highest score points in a single match record in Australia's win over Egypt with 50 points.^[4] Secondly, in Canada's win over Australia in five sets (32-34, 25-14, 25-21, 27-29, 20-18), two tournament records were broken: the longest match (2 hours and 49 minutes) and the highest scoring game (245 points).^[5]

Information

The FIVB Volleyball World Cup began with signing a contract between Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) and Japan Volleyball Association (JVA) for hosting the tournament on 31 January 2013. In this event, Fuji TV had the right to broadcast the tournament. Moreover, the FIVB released the qualification process of the tournament:^[1]

1. Host country
2. 2014 World champions
3. 2 teams per continental confederation considered by World ranking, continental ranking, or continental championship

But, on 10 March 2015, the FIVB announced a change of the continental events following each continental confederation's agreement.^[6]

1. AVC used the World ranking as of 1 January 2015.
2. CAVB used the African Championship.
3. CEV used the European ranking as of 1 January 2015.
4. CSV held a qualification tournament.
5. NORCECA used the 2015 NORCECA Champion Cup (Final Four).

Changes

1. Olympics places
   Only the winners and runners-up of the competition could secure the berths in the 2016 Olympics games. It was different from last edition which three medalists teams joined the Olympics games.
2. Qualification format
   The 2015 World Cup changed the format of the competition following the information above. There were not 2 wild card teams like 2011 edition. One of these spots belonged to the World champions, the other one belonged to the 2nd place of a continental event (2011 edition gave tickets to 4 of 5 continents, but 2015 edition gave tickets to all 5 continents).
3. Competition format
   Competition rounds decreased from 4 in 2011 to 3. Combining rounds 1 (3 days) and 2 (2 days) in 2011 to 1 round of 5 days. The hosts also reduced the venues from 8 to 6.
4. Pool ranking criteria
   In 2011 edition, match points was the first criterion, but 2015 changed it to number of matches won. All criteria are shown in section Pool standing procedure.^[7]
5. Net touch
   In this edition, players can not touch the whole net and antennas, not just the white band like in 2011 edition.^[8]
6. Roster
   All 14 players (maximum 12 regular players and maximum 2 liberos) can play in every match and be named in score sheets.
7. Individual awards
   Individual awards were given to players by positions, unlike previous editions when awards were given to players by volleyball skills.
8. Attribution of points
   FIVB approved the proposal that in case the team hosting the Olympic Games participated in a previous World Cup then they would keep the World Ranking points gained at the previous World Cup.^[7]
9. Referee
   It was the first time in the competition when there was a challenge referee. In each match, there was a referee who controlled the challenge system.

Qualification

12 teams participated in the World Cup.^[6] Only teams who had not yet qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games could compete in the tournament.

Means of qualification	Date	Venue	Vacancies	Qualified
Host country	31 January 2013	Lausanne	1	Japan
2014 World Championship	30 Aug–21 Sep 2014	Poland	1	Poland
World Ranking for Asian Team	22 September 2014	Bangkok	2	Iran
				Australia
European Ranking[9]	15 October 2014	Luxembourg	2	Russia
				Italy
South American Qualifier	19–23 May 2015	Cali	2	Argentina
				Venezuela
2015 NORCECA Champions Cup	21–23 May 2015	Detroit	2	Canada
				United States
2015 African Championship	22–30 July 2015	Cairo	2	Egypt
				Tunisia
Total			12

Format

The competition system of the 2015 World Cup for men is the single Round-Robin system. Each team plays once against each of the 11 remaining teams. The teams were divided into 2 groups of 6 teams each. In round 1, total 30 matches in 5 days, each teams play against the other teams from the same group. For rounds 2 and 3, total 36 matches in 6 days, each team plays against the teams from another group. The pool composition followed the Serpentine system based on the World ranking where the host team was at the top position. There were no teams from CAVB on the drawing of lots day, the teams from CAVB were at the bottom position of pool composition. Numbers in brackets denoted the FIVB World Ranking as of 22 September 2014 except the hosts who ranked 21st.[10]

Group 1 Group 2  Japan (Hosts)  Russia (2)  Italy (4)  Poland (3)  United States (5)  Argentina (6)  Australia (13)  Iran (10)  Canada (14)  Venezuela (29)  Egypt (19)  Tunisia (15)

Squads

Maximum of 12 regular players and maximum of 2 liberos can be selected to play in the tournament. The rosters of 14 players of each team can be seen in the article below.

Venues

Site	First round	Second round	Third round	Hiroshima Osaka Tokyo Hamamatsu Toyama
A	Hiroshima	Osaka	Tokyo
	Hiroshima Prefectural Sports Center	Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium	Yoyogi National Gymnasium
	Capacity: 4,750	Capacity: 7,000	Capacity: 13,291
B	Hamamatsu	Toyama	Tokyo
	Hamamatsu Arena	Toyama City Gymnasium	Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
	Capacity: 8,000	Capacity: 5,000	Capacity: 10,000

Pool standing procedure

1. Number of matches won
2. Match points
3. Sets ratio
4. Points ratio
5. Result of the last match between the tied teams

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

Results

• All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).

		Matches		Pts	Sets			Points
Rank	Team	W	L		W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	United States	10	1	30	31	6	5.167	899	746	1.205
2	Italy	10	1	29	30	8	3.750	918	780	1.177
3	Poland	10	1	29	31	11	2.818	1011	884	1.144
4	Russia	8	3	23	25	12	2.083	885	794	1.115
5	Argentina	7	4	21	26	16	1.625	985	922	1.068
6	Japan	5	6	16	21	21	1.000	928	934	0.994
7	Canada	5	6	13	18	22	0.818	886	940	0.943
8	Iran	4	7	12	16	24	0.667	905	893	1.013
9	Australia	4	7	12	15	24	0.625	831	925	0.898
10	Egypt	2	9	8	13	30	0.433	889	976	0.911
11	Venezuela	1	10	3	8	32	0.250	815	981	0.831
12	Tunisia	0	11	2	5	33	0.152	747	924	0.808

First round

Site A

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
08 Sep	12:10	Canada	1–3	Italy	19–25	20–25	25–22	13–25		77–97	P2 P3
08 Sep	15:10	United States	3–0	Australia	25–23	25–12	25–15			75–50	P2 P3
08 Sep	19:20	Japan	3–2	Egypt	25–19	23–25	25–18	17–25	15–7	105–94	P2 P3
09 Sep	12:10	Australia	0–3	Italy	17–25	18–25	15–25			50–75	P2 P3
09 Sep	15:10	Egypt	2–3	Canada	22–25	23–25	25–21	26–24	12–15	108–110	P2 P3
09 Sep	19:20	United States	3–1	Japan	25–23	21–25	25–11	25–14		96–73	P2 P3
10 Sep	12:10	Italy	3–1	Egypt	20–25	26–24	25–22	25–13		96–84	P2 P3
10 Sep	15:10	Canada	0–3	United States	21–25	20–25	17–25			58–75	P2 P3
10 Sep	19:20	Japan	3–1	Australia	25–17	25–21	25–27	25–18		100–83	P2 P3
12 Sep	12:10	United States	3–0	Italy	25–18	25–23	29–27			79–68	P2 P3
12 Sep	15:10	Australia	3–2	Egypt	23–25	26–24	25–23	20–25	15–13	109–110	P2 P3
12 Sep	19:20	Japan	3–0	Canada	25–17	25–15	25–21			75–53	P2 P3
13 Sep	12:10	Egypt	0–3	United States	20–25	13–25	21–25			54–75	P2 P3
13 Sep	15:10	Canada	3–2	Australia	32–34	25–14	25–21	27–29	20–18	129–116	P2 P3
13 Sep	19:20	Italy	3–0	Japan	25–21	25–20	25–15			75–56	P2 P3

Site B

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
08 Sep	12:10	Argentina	3–1	Iran	25–27	25–22	25–22	26–24		101–95	P2 P3
08 Sep	15:10	Russia	3–0	Venezuela	29–27	25–16	25–15			79–58	P2 P3
08 Sep	18:40	Poland	3–0	Tunisia	25–17	25–15	25–20			75–52	P2 P3
09 Sep	12:10	Venezuela	2–3	Argentina	32–30	15–25	26–24	13–25	10–15	96–119	P2 P3
09 Sep	15:20	Tunisia	1–3	Iran	17–25	25–21	14–25	20–25		76–96	P2 P3
09 Sep	18:40	Poland	3–1	Russia	26–28	27–25	25–19	25–22		103–94	P2 P3
10 Sep	12:10	Iran	3–0	Venezuela	25–20	25–17	25–15			75–52	P2 P3
10 Sep	15:10	Argentina	1–3	Poland	18–25	25–19	21–25	25–27		89–96	P2 P3
10 Sep	18:40	Russia	3–0	Tunisia	25–17	25–16	29–27			79–60	P2 P3
12 Sep	12:10	Poland	3–2	Iran	18–25	23–25	25–15	25–20	15–11	106–96	P2 P3
12 Sep	15:10	Tunisia	2–3	Venezuela	25–19	18–25	25–22	26–28	13–15	107–109	P2 P3
12 Sep	18:40	Russia	3–1	Argentina	25–19	21–25	25–18	25–20		96–82	P2 P3
13 Sep	12:10	Venezuela	1–3	Poland	27–25	23–25	16–25	23–25		89–100	P2 P3
13 Sep	15:10	Argentina	3–0	Tunisia	25–20	25–19	25–20			75–59	P2 P3
13 Sep	18:40	Iran	0–3	Russia	24–26	18–25	20–25			62–76	P2 P3

Second round

Site A

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
16 Sep	12:10	United States	3–0	Venezuela	25–18	25–16	25–20			75–54	P2 P3
16 Sep	15:10	Italy	3–0	Iran	25–19	25–23	25–21			75–63	P2 P3
16 Sep	19:20	Japan	3–0	Tunisia	25–21	25–19	25–19			75–59	P2 P3
17 Sep	12:10	United States	3–1	Iran	20–25	25–19	25–22	25–21		95–87	P2 P3
17 Sep	15:10	Italy	3–0	Tunisia	25–18	25–23	25–22			75–63	P2 P3
17 Sep	19:20	Japan	3–0	Venezuela	33–31	26–24	25–19			84–74	P2 P3
18 Sep	12:10	United States	3–0	Tunisia	25–14	25–19	29–27			79–60	P2 P3
18 Sep	15:10	Italy	3–0	Venezuela	25–16	25–22	25–18			75–56	P2 P3
18 Sep	19:20	Japan	2–3	Iran	25–22	25–23	18–25	21–25	12–15	101–110	P2 P3

Site B

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
16 Sep	12:10	Egypt	0–3	Argentina	18–25	19–25	21–25			58–75	P2 P3
16 Sep	15:10	Canada	1–3	Poland	25–23	15–25	19–25	19–25		78–98	P2 P3
16 Sep	19:10	Australia	0–3	Russia	24–26	16–25	18–25			58–76	P2 P3
17 Sep	12:10	Egypt	0–3	Poland	20–25	23–25	18–25			61–75	P2 P3
17 Sep	15:10	Canada	0–3	Russia	21–25	16–25	19–25			56–75	P2 P3
17 Sep	19:10	Australia	0–3	Argentina	21–25	23–25	16–25			60–75	P2 P3
18 Sep	12:10	Egypt	0–3	Russia	20–25	24–26	18–25			62–76	P2 P3
18 Sep	15:10	Canada	1–3	Argentina	21–25	25–23	27–29	22–25		95–102	P2 P3
18 Sep	19:10	Australia	0–3	Poland	15–25	22–25	17–25			54–75	P2 P3

Third round

Site A

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
21 Sep	10:30	Italy	3–0	Russia	25–15	26–24	25–18			76–57	P2 P3
21 Sep	14:15	Japan	0–3	Argentina	24–26	22–25	21–25			67–76	P2 P3
21 Sep	17:10	United States	1–3	Poland	25–17	19–25	23–25	15–25		82–92	P2 P3
22 Sep	10:30	Italy	3–2	Argentina	22–25	25–20	25–21	20–25	16–14	108–105	P2 P3
22 Sep	14:15	Japan	1–3	Poland	26–24	25–27	21–25	19–25		91–101	P2 P3
22 Sep	17:10	United States	3–0	Russia	25–23	26–24	25–17			76–64	P2 P3
23 Sep	10:30	Italy	3–1	Poland	26–24	22–25	25–22	25–19		98–90	P2 P3
23 Sep	14:15	Japan	2–3	Russia	29–27	17–25	25–21	17–25	13–15	101–113	P2 P3
23 Sep	18:40	United States	3–1	Argentina	25–20	25–21	17–25	25–20		92–86	P2 P3

Site B

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
21 Sep	11:10	Egypt	3–2	Tunisia	23–25	25–21	23–25	25–17	15–11	111–99	P2 P3
21 Sep	14:10	Canada	3–0	Venezuela	25–18	25–22	25–23			75–63	P2 P3
21 Sep	17:10	Australia	3–0	Iran	27–25	27–25	25–22			79–72	P2 P3
22 Sep	11:10	Egypt	3–1	Venezuela	25–18	20–25	25–18	25–20		95–81	P2 P3
22 Sep	14:10	Canada	3–0	Iran	25–23	29–27	26–24			80–74	P2 P3
22 Sep	17:10	Australia	3–0	Tunisia	25–19	25–17	25–19			75–55	P2 P3
23 Sep	11:10	Egypt	0–3	Iran	18–25	11–25	23–25			52–75	P2 P3
23 Sep	14:10	Canada	3–0	Tunisia	25–19	25–21	25–17			75–57	P2 P3
23 Sep	17:10	Australia	3–1	Venezuela	25–16	25–21	22–25	25–21		97–83	P2 P3

Final standing

Rank Team  United States  Italy  Poland 4  Russia 5  Argentina 6  Japan 7  Canada 8  Iran 9  Australia 10  Egypt 11  Venezuela 12  Tunisia Qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games

2015 Men's World Cup Champions  United States 2nd title 14–man Roster Matthew Anderson, Aaron Russell, Taylor Sander, David Lee , Paul Lotman, Kawika Shoji, Micah Christenson, Russell Holmes, Jayson Jablonsky, Murphy Troy, Maxwell Holt, David Smith, Erik Shoji, Dustin Watten Head Coach John Speraw

Awards

Most Valuable Player Matthew Anderson Best Setter Micah Christenson Best Outside Hitters Osmany Juantorena Yūki Ishikawa

Best Middle Blockers Sebastián Sole Mohammad Mousavi Best Opposite Hitter Ivan Zaytsev Best Libero Erik Shoji

Statistics leaders

Best Scorers Rank Name Points 1 Ahmed Abdelhay 230 2 Facundo Conte 214 3 Ivan Zaytsev 197 4 Kunihiro Shimizu 191 5 Bartosz Kurek 190 6 Yūki Ishikawa 188 7 Thomas Edgar 176 8 Matthew Anderson 172 9 Dmitriy Muserskiy 157 10 Osmany Juantorena 156

Best Spikers Rank Name %Succ 1 Ivan Zaytsev 59.15 2 Osmany Juantorena 56.84 3 Dmitriy Muserskiy 55.93 4 Yūki Ishikawa 55.82 5 Ahmed Abdelhay 55.50 6 Maxim Mikhaylov 54.81 7 Amir Ghafour 53.55 8 Kunihiro Shimizu 53.53 9 Facundo Conte 53.40 10 Filippo Lanza 53.08

Best Blockers Rank Name Avg/set 1 Sebastián Sole 0.81 2 Mohammad Mousavi 0.80 3 Maxwell Holt 0.70 4 Matteo Piano 0.63 5 Facundo Conte 0.55 6 David Lee 0.54 7 Nehemiah Mote 0.54 8 Justin Duff 0.50 9 Abd Elhalim Mohamed Abou 0.49 10 Daniel Cornelius Jansen Vandoorn 0.48

Best Servers Rank Name Avg/set 1 Matthew Anderson 0.70 2 Ivan Zaytsev 0.55 3 Maxim Mikhaylov 0.51 4 Mateusz Bieniek 0.48 5 Masahiro Yanagida 0.45 6 Bartosz Kurek 0.45 7 Facundo Conte 0.43 8 Micah Christenson 0.43 9 Ahmed Abdelhay 0.42 10 Dmitriy Muserskiy 0.41

Best Setters Rank Name Avg/set 1 Hideomi Fukatsu 10.17 2 Micah Christenson 9.57 3 Luciano De Cecco 8.93 4 Saeid Marouf 8.58 5 Simone Giannelli 7.58 6 Tyler Sanders 7.20 7 José Carrasco 6.63 8 Fabian Drzyzga 5.90 9 Sergey Grankin 4.65 10 Grigory Sukochev 4.38

Best Diggers Rank Name Avg/set 1 Luke Perry 2.33 2 Takeshi Nagano 2.33 3 Erik Shoji 2.22 4 Massimo Colaci 2.11 5 Tayeb Korbosli 1.92 6 Paweł Zatorski 1.76 7 Mehdi Marandi 1.45 8 Moalla Ismail 1.39 9 Osmany Juantorena 1.39 10 Yūki Ishikawa 1.31

Best Receivers Rank Name %Eff 1 Badawy Mohamed Moneim 58.62 2 Milad Ebadipour 57.89 3 Mehdi Marandi 53.54 4 Rafał Buszek 52.20 5 Luciano Zornetta 52.17 6 Michał Kubiak 51.79 7 John Gordon Perrin 50.00 8 Mohamed Ali Ben Othmen Miladi 50.00 9 Nicholas Hoag 46.15 10 Osmany Juantorena 45.28

See also

• 2015 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup

References

1. "FIVB signs World Cup deal with Japan for 2015 and 2019". FIVB. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
2. "USA wrap up historic World Cup as Italy join them on road to Rio". FIVB. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
3. "USA's Anderson heads Men's World Cup Dream Team". FIVB. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
4. "EDGAR'S 50-POINT PERFORMANCE SHOOTS HIM TO TOP OF ALL-TIME LIST". FIVB. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
5. "RECORDS SMASHED AS CANADA DENY AUSTRALIA". FIVB. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
6. "World Cup 2015 qualification process confirmed". FIVB. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
7. "Change in 2015 World Cup". FIVB. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
8. "New net touch rule approved". FIVB. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
9. "European Ranking". CEV. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
10. "Drawing of lots". FIVB. Retrieved 18 September 2015.

External links

• Player Statistics