Lausanne, April 3, 2009 – FIVB Executive Committee and Board of Administration members are united in their support of landmark changes to the Beach Volleyball Olympic qualification system that will designate Olympic berths to National Federations instead of individual teams.

The FIVB Board agreed Thursday to introduce a FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup consisting of three stages of continental qualifying organised by the five Confederations from which five Olympic berths will be available and a “World Cup finals” where a further two Olympic places are decided.

The FIVB will provide financial assistance to ensure the new system is in perfect working order from the very beginning.

“Olympic berths are now for the National Federations and that means they have the right to change players if they want,” said FIVB Executive Vice President Ary Graca on Friday. “Even for the 16 teams qualifying through the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, it is a National Federation berth.”

FIVB Executive Vice President Vicente Araujo said, “I think it is very important to focus on this new competition and the fantastic opportunity this competition gives to the biggest ever number of countries to compete in the Olympic qualifying process.”

The 24 qualifiers for each of the men’s and women’s Olympic Beach Volleyball tournaments will be made up of the 16 best teams from the SWATCH FIVB World Tour rankings, the five winners (one from each continent) of the continental phase of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup, the two winners of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup finals and the one host country (if not yet qualified).

The two best teams not yet qualified from each of the five continental qualifying stages will compete in the FIVB World Cup finals (total of 10 teams). The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup final stage will be played June 25 to July 1, 2012.

As before, there will be a maximum two teams per country allowed to qualify for each gender for the Olympic Beach Volleyball tournaments.