Lausanne, Switzerland, October 30, 2009 – The FIVB has awarded Argentina the honour of hosting the Final Round of the 2010 FIVB World League, the 21st edition of Volleyball’s flagship annual men’s competition.

The Final Round is set to take place from July 21-25, 2010, in Argentina’s second largest city Córdoba, which was a host city at the 2002 FIVB Men's World Championships.

With the World League formula remaining unchanged, the Final Round will be contested by the automatically qualified host team, the four top-ranked teams from the Intercontinental Round pools and the best second-placed team across the four pools.

Córdoba’s Orfeo Superdomo, which was officially opened in 2002, will be the second Argentine venue to host the World League Final Round after Mar del Plata’s Polodeportivo in 1999.

“The FIVB is extremely pleased to be able to confirm Argentina as the host country for next year’s World League finals,” FIVB Sports Event Council President and FIVB 2nd Executive Vice-President Mr. Theofanis Tsiokris said. “After the reformation of the Argentina Volleyball Federation, this is just reward for its hard work and excellent proposal.”

FIVB World League Council President Mr. Francesco Franchi said; “Argentina presented an excellent proposal during the bidding process for this prestigious event and it is of enormous credit to the Argentina Volleyball Federation that they were the ones chosen.”

Argentina Volleyball Federation President Mr. Alejando Bolgeri said; “For the Argentina Federation this means a lot for us to be awarded the responsibility of hosting the World League Final Round. Volleyball in Argentina is on a new high after being welcomed back into the World League this year and now to be awarded the Final Round in 2010 is another great boost for the sport and shows the great respect the FIVB has for us now after the great transformation that has been undertaken by the Federation in recent years.”

“We look forward to welcoming the best of international Volleyball to Argentina,” Organizing Committee President Mr. Marcelo Tinelli said. “Volleyball has a special place in the hearts of the Argentina sports fans and we’re can’t wait to give all Argentineans a great spectacle in July next year.”

In other World League news to come out of the 2009 World League Council meeting which finished on Friday, the pools for the 2010 edition were also confirmed as per the following:

Group A: Brazil, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Korea
Group B: Serbia, Italy, France, China
Group C: Russia, USA, Finland, Egypt
Group D: Argentina, Cuba, Poland, Germany

– ENDS –

For more information contact:
FIVB Deputy Communications Director
Richard Baker
Phone: +41 21 345 3535
Fax: +41 21 345 3545
Email: press@fivb.org