FIVB World League
2006
The 2006 Volleyball World League reaches new heights!
After the historic decision by
the Volleyball World League Council in 2005, prize money for the
2006 World League was set at a record USD 20 million and thus
set an unprecedented level for a global team sport event. USD 2
million of the 20 million total will fund a special bonus pool
in order to reward the participating National Federations.
Equally unprecedented is the
total of 16 countries (previously only 12 national teams
participated) that will be taking part in the event. The FIVB
selected from among 18 candidates the following 16 countries
that were bidding for one of the vacancies in this prestigious
event: BRAZIL, CUBA, POLAND, SERBIA & MONTENEGRO (the four 2005
World League finalists in Belgrade), RUSSIA and the UNITED
STATES, both coming back after several years of absence due to
an internal reorganization, FRANCE, ITALY, PORTUGAL, FINLAND and
BULGARIA are the other European powers in the League that will
face JAPAN, KOREA and CHINA from Asia plus ARGENTINA from South
America and EGYPT – the first ever representative from Africa in
the competition.
The participation of Egypt
makes the World League the first international sport event to be
played across all five continents. The tournament will see a
total of 96 matches, with four pools of four teams, each team
playing the other teams in the pool twice in home and away
matches. The winners of each pool will go through to join the
host team and a wild card in the final round.
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