Jump to content

Beach Volleyball Major Series

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beach Volleyball Major Series
Full nameBeach Volleyball Major Series
RegionInternational
Date spanFebruary–September
TournamentsMen & Women
TypeBeach volleyball
CEOHannes Jagerhofer
History
First tour2015
Number of tour stops4 (2015), 5 (2016), 4 (2017), 4 (2018), 2 (2019)
Most tournament wins
Women (team)Brazil Talita/Larissa (5 wins)
Men (team)Norway Mol/Sørum (5 wins)
Present World Tour Final winners
WomenGermany Ludwig/Kozuch
MenRussia Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy

The Beach Volleyball Major Series (or Beach Major Series and formerly the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series) was an international series of beach volleyball tournaments from 2015 to 2020. The tournaments consisted of Tour Stops and formed part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The series concluded with the FIVB World Tour Finals.

Each tournament in the series had a prize pool of US$300,000 per gender, except for the World Tour Finals which had a prize pool of US$400,000 per gender.[1]

History

[edit]

The Beach Volleyball Major Series arose out of a joint-venture between Austrian companies Red Bull and the ACTS Group.[2]

Red Bull was established in 1987 by Dietrich Mateschitz. Aside from the energy drink, Red Bull's direct marketing focuses heavily on sports and lifestyle.

ACTS Group is a marketing agency founded in 1990 by Hannes Jagerhofer.[3] It offers services including event-marketing, event-organization, external-communication and public relations. The group has also been responsible for the organizing beach volleyball tournaments, including the FIVB Grand Slams in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria.

Swatch was the title sponsor of the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series between 2015 and 2017.

The Series will not continue because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Relation to the FIVB

[edit]

The competition was overseen by the FIVB, the international governing body for the sports of indoor, beach and grass volleyball.[4]

In the category of Beach Volleyball, the FIVB oversees three competitions, namely: the FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and lastly the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.

The Beach Volleyball Major Series formed part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.

Olympic qualification

[edit]

Beach volleyball was formally recognized as an Olympic discipline in 1996. In order for a beach volleyball athlete to participate in the Olympics, minimum requirements must be met and one of these requirements as stipulated by the FIVB is that all athletes must have participated in a minimum of 12 official FIVB Olympic qualification tournaments as an individual.

Also an athlete hoping to participate in the Olympics must earn FIVB World Ranking points which tallies up to make up the Olympic Ranking.

Participation in Major Series tournaments counts towards Olympic qualification tournaments and also earns athletes FIVB World Ranking points. An exception is the FIVB World Tour Finals – participating teams do not earn FIVB World Ranking points for this event.

In 2016, the smart Major Hamburg was the final tournament where Olympic ranking points for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro could be obtained.[5]

Tournaments

[edit]

2015

[edit]

The first Beach Volleyball Major Series began in 2015. There were Tour Stops in Poreč, Croatia; Stavanger, Norway and Gstaad, Switzerland. The Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals took place in Fort Lauderdale Florida, United States.

Dates Tour Stop Major Host country Men's winners Women's winners
2–7 June Poreč Poreč Major Croatia Croatia Brouwer/Meewusen Netherlands[6] Larissa/Talita Brazil[7]
9–12 June Stavanger Stavanger Major Norway Norway Evandro/Pedro Solberg Brazil[8] Juliana/Antonelli Brazil[9]
7–12 July Gstaad Gstaad Major Switzerland Switzerland Alison/Bruno Schmidt Brazil[10] Larissa/Talita Brazil[11]
29 September – 4 October Fort Lauderdale Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals United States United States Alison/Bruno Schmidt Brazil[12] Larissa/Talita Brazil[13]

2016

[edit]

The 2016 Major Series schedule began in Hamburg, Germany, and took in further stops in Croatia, Switzerland and Klagenfurt in Austria. The Series culminated with the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto.

Dates Tour Stop Major Host country Men's winners Women's winners
7–12 June Hamburg smart Major Hamburg Germany Germany Lucena/Dalhausser United States[14][15] Ludwig/Walkenhorst Germany[16][17]
28 June – 3 July Poreč Poreč Major Croatia Croatia Alison/Bruno Schmidt Brazil Laboureur/Sude Germany
5–10 July Gstaad Gstaad Major Switzerland Switzerland Evandro/Pedro Solberg Brazil Larissa/Talita Brazil
26–31 July Klagenfurt A1 Major Klagenfurt/Kärnten Austria Austria Samoilovs/Smedins Latvia Ludwig/Walkenhorst Germany
13–18 September Toronto Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals Canada Canada Alison/Bruno Schmidt Brazil Ludwig/Walkenhorst Germany

2017

[edit]

The 2017 Major Series schedule was released in October 2016.[18] As part of the FIVB World Tour, the Swatch Major Series did include trips to Poreč and Gstaad. The 2017 tour began in February in Fort Lauderdale, the site of the 2015 World Tour Finals. The 2017 Finals were held in August in Hamburg. The Swatch Major Series was also responsible for the organization of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna in July and August.[19]

Dates Tour Stop Major Host country Men's winners Women's winners
7–12 February Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale Major United States United States Alvaro/Saymon Brazil Larissa/Talita Brazil
27 Jun – 2 July Poreč Poreč Major Croatia Croatia Guto/Pedro Solberg Brazil Pavan/Humana-Paredes Canada
4–9 July Gstaad Gstaad Major Switzerland Switzerland Lucena/Dalhausser United States Laboureur/Sude Germany
22–27 August Hamburg Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals Germany Germany Lucena/Dalhausser United States Ludwig/Walkenhorst Germany

2018

[edit]
Dates Tour Stop Major Host country Men's winners Women's winners
27 February – 4 April Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale Major United States United States Lucena/Dalhausser United States Seixas/Alves Brazil
5–10 July Gstaad Gstaad Major Switzerland Switzerland Mol/Sørum Norway Humana-Paredes/Pavan Canada
31 July – 5 August Vienna Vienna Major Austria Austria Mol/Sørum Norway Hermannová/Sluková Czech Republic
14–19 August Hamburg FIVB World Tour Finals Germany Germany Mol/Sørum Norway Agatha/Duda Brazil

2019

[edit]
Dates Tour Stop Major Host country Men's winners Women's winners
9–14 July Gstaad Gstaad Major Switzerland Switzerland Mol/Sørum Norway Klineman/Ross United States
31 July – 4 August Vienna Vienna Major Austria Austria Mol/Sørum Norway Pavan/Melissa Canada

2020

[edit]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all three tournaments as well as the whole Beach Volleyball Major Series was cancelled.[20] [21]

Dates Tour Stop Major Host country Men's winners Women's winners
7–12 July Gstaad Gstaad Major Switzerland Switzerland Cancelled Cancelled
12–16 August Vienna Vienna Major Austria Austria Cancelled Cancelled
19–23 August Hamburg Hamburg Major Germany Germany Cancelled Cancelled

Mascot

[edit]

The Major Series' official mascot was Marnin. Unveiled prior to the 2016 season, Marnin is described as a cross between a kangaroo and a fox.[22] Marnin made his debut courtside on the FIVB Tour at the Hamburg Major.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "FIVB Sports Regulations: Beach Volleyball" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. November 30, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  2. ^ Beach Majors GmbH (2015-09-17). "Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series | About". Swatch Major Series. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
  3. ^ "Event Agentur Wien, Web Agentur Wien, Marketing Agentur Wien". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  4. ^ "FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2015". www.fivb.org.
  5. ^ "smart Major Hamburg". www.fivb.org.
  6. ^ "Porec MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  7. ^ "Porec MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  8. ^ "Stavanger MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  9. ^ "Stavanger MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  10. ^ "Gstaad MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  11. ^ "Gstaad MAJOR". www.fivb.org.
  12. ^ "Ft. Lauderdale Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals". www.fivb.org.
  13. ^ "Ft. Lauderdale Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals". www.fivb.org.
  14. ^ "Dalhausser/Lucena close 2016 Olympic qualification with a gold". Archived from the original on June 24, 2016.
  15. ^ "smart Major Hamburg". www.fivb.org.
  16. ^ beach-volleyball.de. "beach-volleyball.de: Gold für Ludwig/Walkenhorst beim Hamburg Major". www.beach-volleyball.de.
  17. ^ "smart Major Hamburg". www.fivb.org.
  18. ^ "News". www.fivb.com.
  19. ^ "FIVB - Volleyball". www.fivb.org.
  20. ^ "Beachvolleyball: Major auf Wiener Donauinsel abgesagt". 25 March 2020.
  21. ^ ""Aus diesem Grund haben wir auch den Gedanken der Major Series ad acta gelegt..."". www.leadersnet.at (in German). Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  22. ^ "Hi everybody, I'm Marnin!".
[edit]