Warsaw, Poland, January 27, 2014 – Three time defending world champions and world No. 1 Brazil will take on Germany (WR10), Korea (WR21) and Finland (WR30) in addition to the second ranked NORCECA team and the top ranked CAVB side (NORCECA and CAVB host their qualification events in May and February respectively) in Group B following the Drawing of Lots which was held at Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science on Monday.
A total of 24 countries were drawn across four pools for the first round of the 18th edition of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, which will be held across six different cities (Katowice, Lodz, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Bydgoszcz, Krakow) in Poland from August 30-September 21.
The top 12 teams in the world ranking as of January 2014, were placed across the four pools in accordance with the serpentine system. Hosts Poland (world ranking 5) were placed in position 1 before the remaining 11 teams followed.
The remaining 12 teams were drawn thanks to the help of volleyball legends Vladimir Grbric of Serbia, FIVB Player of the Century from Italy Lorenzo Bernardi and Poland’s Tomasz Wojtowicz.
Hosts Poland received a favourable draw with Australia (WR14), CAVB 3 and Venezuela (WR31) joining them in Pool A along with Argentina (WR7) and Serbia (WR9) who were allocated positions via the serpentine system.
Olympic champions and world No. 2 Russia lead Pool C alongside Bulgaria (WR6) and NORCECA 3 and the drawn CAVB 2, China (WR18) and NORCECA 5.
Pool D is arguably the toughest of the four groups with three time champions Italy joined by NORCECA 1, Iran (WR12), France (WR16), NORCECA 4 and Belgium (WR37).
Pools for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship Poland 2014
Pool A - Poland, Argentina, Serbia, Australia, CAVB 3, Venezuela
Pool B - Brazil, NORCECA 2, Germany, CAVB 1, Korea, Finland
Pool C - Russia, Bulgaria, NORCECA 3, CAVB 2, China, NORCECA 5
Pool D – Italy, NORCECA 1, Iran, France, NORCECA 4, Belgium
The Draw was carried out in the presence of FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° and Poland’s Minister of Sport and Tourism Andrzej Biernat.
A record number of 279 teams participated in the qualification process for the 2014 FIVB Volleyball World Championships. This total, coming from 166 national federations across the five FIVB confederations, represents an increase of 65 teams from the previous best of 214 teams from 119 federations for the 2010 World Championships (compared with 102 in 2006, 72 in 2002 and 63 in 1998).
There were 148 teams that have played in the qualification process for the Men’s World Championship.
Brazil sealed their third straight FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship title in Italy in 2010 after beating Cuba in the final. Serbia completed the podium after beating the home side in the bronze medal match.