Press release

Lausanne, Switzerland, May 13, 2013 – Following the completion of last weekend’s European qualifiers, the 20 countries that will compete in this year’s FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship have now been decided.  

From August 22 to September 1, the Turkish cities of Ankara and Izmir will host the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship.  The tournament, which takes place every two years, provides a platform for the next generation of stars to showcase their skills on the international stage and potentially take the big step into the senior ranks. While it is the first time that Turkey will host the 10-day Men's Under 21 World Championship, the country has hosted the Women's U20 World Championship in 2005 and the Girls' U18 World Championship in 2011.

This is the first time that the competition will be held under the revised format having been expanded from 16 to 20 teams, made up of the hosts and 19 qualifying countries. Russia are the defending champions after their success in Brazil in 2011, their eighth in 11 appearances in the competition.

The four vacancies available to the African Confederation were filled by Tunisia, Egypt, Rwanda and Morocco and were determined by the African Nations Championship, which took place from March 2 to 9, 2013 in Tunis.

Japan, China, Iran and India all advanced to the World Championship by finishing in the top four at the 2012 Asian Junior men’s Volleyball Championship held in Iran's northwestern city of Urmia from September 27 to October 5 last year.

With six vacancies available to Europe, Turkey was assured a place in the Championship as host of the tournament. Italy took the second spot after winning the Junior Men's European championship in Gdynia, Poland on September 3, 2012. The remaining four spots – determined by the CEV qualifying tournament, which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from May 7 to 12, 2013 – were filled by Estonia, France, Russia and Serbia.

Mexico, USA and Canada secured the three NORCECA spots at the Confederation’s Men's Junior Continental Championship, which took place from August 25 to September 2, 2012 in Colorado Springs, USA. 

Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela will be the three South American countries representing the CSV at the FIVB World Championships, having taken the top three spots at the Women’s Junior South American Championship in Saquerama, Brazil from October 23 to 27, 2012.

The 20 teams will be divided into four pools of five teams each and will play a round-robin tournament. The bottom-ranked team of each pool will play classification matches for 17th-20th place in a round-robin system.

The other 16 teams progress to the eight Finals which consists of a playoff (first of Pool A against fourth of Pool B etc). The winners of the playoff matches will advance to the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals to be classified from first to eighth while the losers of playoff match will play classification matches, with a similar quarterfinals, semifinals and finals system, to be classified from ninth to sixteenth.