Lausanne, Switzerland, March 28, 2017 – The only FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event in Brazil in 2017, the Rio de Janeiro 4-Star tournament from May 17 to 21 at the Barra Olympic Park is expected to be a hit with Carioca fans as top-level beach volleyball returns to the city for the first time since the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
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FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - Rio de JaneiroFIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2017Rio 2016 Olympic Games - Beach VolleyballFIVB.com - Beach VolleyballLatest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia GuidesThe tournament has been extended by a day to make time for country quota matches and for a change to the Main Draw format, which will feature a modified round-robin system of play leading into 24-team single elimination knockout rounds, providing fans with an added opportunity to see their favourite players in action.
Country quota matches will take place on Tuesday, May 16 and be followed by qualification matches on Wednesday. The Main Draw will follow from Thursday, May 18 to Sunday, May 21. It will begin with a phase of pool play in which the top seeded team will play the fourth seeded team in each pool, while the second seeded team will play the third seeded team in the pool. The winners of the two matches will then play each other in a second match, with the winners of the second match ranked first in the pool and the losers second. The losers in the first set of matches will also play each other, with the winners ranked third in the pool and the losers eliminated from the tournament.
The top three ranked teams from each pool will then advance to the Round of 24 and the remainder of the tournament will be played in a single elimination format.
The Rio de Janeiro event in May is the first four-star event on the 2017 World Tour schedule, which features a total of four five-star events, three four-star events, four three-star events, four two-star events and seven one-star events.
The new star system will be a feature of all FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events from 2017 to 2020. The four- and five-star events are the elite events, while the one- to three-star events will help to grow the sport around the world.
The usual Main Draw format for one- to four-star events is based on the single elimination system, where a team is eliminated if it loses a match, while for five-star events the Main Draw begins with 32 teams playing in eight pools of four in a round-robin system, before 24 teams go on to play the knockout rounds.
Highlights of the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour will also include the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna, Austria from July 28 to August 6, and the 2017 Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals from August 22 to 27.