Porec, Croatia to host first Swatch FIVB Major Series tournament

Visiting Porec, Croatia for the first time, the FIVB will be launching the dynamic Swatch FIVB Major Series of three key tournaments scheduled as part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015. With the FIVB international calendar opening in April in Fuzhou, China, the $800,000 Swatch FIVB Porec Major Series double-gender event will be held from June 2 to 7.

While this will mark the initial visit to Porec, the FIVB World Tour has stopped in Croatia before, presenting four men’s only events in Zagreb from 2005-2008.

Following Croatia, the two other Swatch FIVB Major Series tournaments will be held in Norway (Stavanger, June 9 to 14) and in Switzerland (Gstaad, July 7 to 12).

As part of the new sponsor partnership, the Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball Season Final will be held in the United States (Fort Lauderdale, Fla., September 29 to October 4). The first-time event will feature the top eight teams and two wildcards for each gender from the FIVB World Tour 2015. This illustrious group will compete for a total purse of $500,000 with the winning men and women’s tandems receiving $100,000 each.

Croatia has hosted four FIVB World Tour events through 2014, all men’s tournaments. In the medal count, Brazil and the United States are tied with three each and with one medal each are China, Estonia, Germany, Russia, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015 calendar will include five FIVB Grand Slams, a new FIVB Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series of three events, six FIVB Opens and a special FIVB Swatch Beach Volleyball Season Final in the United States.

The showcase event will be the $1 million FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The Netherlands 2015.

A total of 14 countries will host events this year as the FIVB World Tour 2015 also begins the Olympic qualification process with all FIVB World Tour events (except the World Tour Finals) in 2015 up until June 13, 2016 counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine the 15 vacancies for each gender that will take part in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

The 2015 FIVB World Ranking system will again include FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam and Open events along with additional pre-approved events at the inter-continental, continental and national levels.

Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam or FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds.

The 2014-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Continental Cup also returns this year as it starts its portion of the qualification process for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

Porec is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istia County, Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th century Euphrasian Basilica, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

Porec is almost 2,000 years old, and is set around a harbor protected from the sea by the small island of Saint Nicholas/San Nicolo. The town's population of approximately 12,000 resides mostly on the outskirts, while the wider Porec area has a population of approximately 17,000 inhabitants.

The municipal area covers 142 square kilometers (55 sq mi), with the 37 kilometers (23 miles) long shoreline stretching from the Mirna River near Novigrad to Funtana and Vrsar in the south. Ever since the 1970s, the coast of Porec has been the most visited tourist destination in Croatia.