Lausanne, Switzerland, September 1, 2017 - The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour returns to the Netherlands from October 25 to 29, 2017 for the double-gender FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star Open. This will be the third event on the 2017 portion of the calendar for the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
The Aalsmeer event will mark the eighth time for a men’s competition in the Netherlands and eighth women’s tournament held in the country.
Quick links - Beach volleyball:FIVB Beach Volleyball World TourFIVB.com - Beach VolleyballLatest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia Guides The five-star structure instituted starting with the 2017 FIVB World Tour is one of the many steps taken by the FIVB to modernize and streamline its competitions in a golden period for beach volleyball on the heels of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° said, “The aim of the new structure is to provide a platform and formation of events that increase the number of competitions in a growing number of hosting countries and create a sustainable business model while providing additional commercial flexibility and opportunities.”
It will be the eighth FIVB international competition held in the Netherlands with the other seven double-gender events all held in The Hague in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and June of 2017. The event in 2015, anchored in The Hague, with preliminary rounds in Amsterdam, Apeldoorn and Rotterdam, was the 10th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Through the 2017 event in June, Netherlands has hosted a total of 14 FIVB World Tour events (seven men, seven women) with Brazil leading the medal count in both genders. In the men’s totals after seven events, Brazil has seven medals, followed by the Netherlands and the United States with three each, Poland, Russia and Spain with two each, and with one men’s medal each in the Netherlands are Italy and Latvia.
After seven FIVB World Tour women’s events held in Netherlands through the June 2017 tournament, Brazil leads the medal parade with 15 total medals followed by Germany and the USA with two each and with one women’s medal in the Netherlands are China and Switzerland.
Aalsmeer is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Its name is derived from the Dutch for eel (aal) and lake (meer). Aalsmeer is bordered by the Westeinderplassen Lake, the largest open water of the Randstad and the Ringvaart Canal. The town is located 13 km (8 mi) southwest of Amsterdam.
With a population of nearly 31,000, the city is sometimes referred to as the flower capital of the world, as the largest flower auction in the world is based in Aalsmeer, along with numerous nuseries and experimental stations for floriculture. The municipality of Aalsmeer consists of the following cities, towns, and villages: Aalsmeer, Kudelstaart, Oosteinde, as well as the hamlet Calslagen.
The format, adopted in January of 2017 has all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments using the Star System from 1-5 having qualifying and a 32-team single-elimination tournament for 5-Star tournaments starting with qualifying followed by pool play and then single elimination knockout rounds. The 1-Star through 4-Star tournaments will modify as needed the basic format to accommodate the particular event with most having a single-elimination tournament. Country Quota playoffs returned as needed in 2015 to determine the final teams for the qualification tournament.
Part of the 2017 edition of the FIVB Sports Regulations for beach volleyball, the new FIVB World Ranking system is based on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points earned at the eight best performances as a team in all FIVB sanctioned or homologated Beach Volleyball Events over a 365-days period. The FIVB World Ranking is updated every Monday after an FIVB sanctioned or homologated event granting FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points.
The first men’s FIVB World Tour event was played February 17-22, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while the first women’s FIVB World Tour event in Brazil was played in 1993 in Rio de Janeiro. The women’s FIVB World Tour held its first tournament in Spain in 1992.