29.08.2008
Qatar to host FIVB World Club Volleyball Championships
The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has announced that Qatar will play host to the FIVB World Club Volleyball Championships in 2009.
Doha 2016 Bid Chairman, Mr. Hassan Ali Bin Ali said: “Doha is becoming a regional sporting hub for hosting international sporting events. We welcome the FIVB World Club Volleyball Championships coming to Doha in 2009. The Championships will build upon our thriving local volleyball community and will encourage our youth to participate in the sport on a local level”.
The top five clubs from each continent will participate in the Championship as well as the national champion of the host country in addition to two wild card teams as conferred upon by the FIVB prior to the tournament commencing. The World Club Championships will be based upon a unique format in which the sport will take on rules that are more favorable to producing longer rallies between the two teams, is more amicable to spectators and will be more conducive to a fluid style of play.
Following a recent meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland the FIVB determined that the World Club Championships should be reinstated. The new tournament style of play is expected to usher in a new era of volleyball on an international level and offer an alternative style of play to the traditional discipline currently practiced.
The decision to reinstate the Championships was based primarily upon test events that were conducted the previous year in Doha in conjunction with the national volleyball championships. The test events were held at several local sporting venues in Doha including Al Ahli, Al Rayyan, Qatar Sports Club and Al Arabi. Al Ahli Club was victorious in the VGF tournament conducted last year whilst Sandy Steel, President, FIVB Rules of the Game Commission, was present to supervise the tourney in Doha.
Al Jazeera Sport has been announced as the host broadcaster for the Championships. The Women’s World Club Championships will be held in the UAE. The dates and venues of the Men’s World Club Championships to be staged in Doha will be announced during nest month’s FIVB congress when they convene in Dubai.