The race is on: six tickets to Paris 2024 up for grabs

The women’s FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifiers are bound to grab the fans’ attention over the next nine days as a total of six tickets to next year’s Olympic Games will be issued. From Saturday 16 September, through Sunday 24 September, the world’s best 24 women’s national teams will vie for the coveted Paris 2024 places, split into three pools of eight and engaging in a total of 84 games.

The three tournaments will be hosted in two continents: Pool A in Ningbo, China, Pool B in Tokyo, Japan and Pool C in Lodz, Poland. In each pool a single round-robin will be played over seven competition days, with the pool winners and the pool runners-up joining hosts France at the Olympic Games. Each competition day will offer abundant volleyball action with a total of 12 games on the programme. 18 and 21 September are rest days.

Pool A

Reigning world champions, EuroVolley 2023 silver medallists, Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists and number three in the FIVB World Ranking Serbia will meet Mexico in the Pool A opening match in Ningbo, starting at 10:00 local time on Saturday.

In addition to the southern European team, hosts China, three-time Olympic champions, runners-up at this year’s Volleyball Nations League (VNL) and AVC Asian Championship, and number six in the world, are the other big favourite in this pool.

Serbia’s Tijana Boskovic spikes against China in their VNL 2023 encounter

The World Ranking’s numbers 9, 10 and 11 - EuroVolley 2023 bronze medallists the Netherlands, 2023 NORCECA champions the Dominican Republic and 2023 NORCECA Championship bronze medallists Canada, respectively - will also compete in Pool A. The line-up of participants in Ningbo is completed by the world’s number 17 Czechia and number 18 Ukraine.

Pool B

Pool B in Tokyo will be the first to open the action on Saturday, with an all-European clash between Belgium and Bulgaria, starting at 10:00 local time. These two teams are currently number 13 and number 16 in the World Ranking, respectively.

Another European side, Türkiye, are the big favourites to win this pool. After winning gold both in VNL 2023 and at EuroVolley 2023 and making it to the top of the World Ranking, Türkiye is looking for its third success this year and third Olympic appearance.

Japan celebrate its 3-2 win over Türkiye at the VNL 2023

Another two teams to watch in Tokyo are two-time Olympic champions, reigning South American champions, and number four in the world, Brazil. In addition, world's number eight and hosts of the tournament Japan, who are also two-time Olympic gold medallists and the women’s team with the highest number of Olympic participations so far - 13.

2023 South American Championship runners-up and number 19 in the world Argentina, 2023 NORCECA Final Four winners and number 22 Puerto Rico, and Seoul 1988 Olympic silver medallists Peru, currently number 29 in the world, are the other three teams that will race for the two Olympic tickets from Tokyo.

Pool C

Pool C is probably the most unpredictable one. The world’s number 20 Colombia, who won bronze at both Volleyball Challenger Cup 2023 and the 2023 South American Championship, will be the first to challenge defending Olympic champions and 2023 NORCECA Championship runners-up and world’s number two United States in Lodz. The opening game of the tournament in Lodz will get underway at 11:30 local time.

In addition to the USA, the main candidates for the Olympic tickets are number five in the world Italy and hosts Poland, VNL 2023 bronze medallists and number seven in the World Ranking. However, teams like number 12 Germany and number 14 Thailand, who recently triumphed as Asian champions, also have a solid potential to meddle in the race for the top two spots in the pool.

Thailand and Italy engaged in a five-set battle during VNL 2023

The line-up in Lodz is completed by the world’s number 25 Slovenia and number 36 Korea. The latter reached the semifinals of the last Olympic edition in Tokyo two years ago.

Women’s FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifiers full schedule