2017 Girls’ U18 World Championship: Women’s volleyball enjoying a boom in Argentina

Lausanne, Switzerland, November 29, 2016 – A year after the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Argentina will host the 2017 edition of the FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U18 World Championship from August 18 to 27. It will be the first time Argentina hosts an Age-Category World Championship for female players, just one year after the country’s women’s volleyball team’s first ever participation in the Olympics. Argentina has established itself as a powerhouse in the men’s game and hosted the FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championships for the second time in four years in 2015. Cheered on by thousands of fans, the hosts reached the final, where they lost to Poland in the final in five sets. The Argentinean girls would obviously love to achieve a similar success next year, but have yet to finish higher than eighth in nine appearances (2005 and 2011). They finished tenth in the 2015 edition of the championship. A total of 20 teams will qualify for the 2017 Girls’ U18 World Championship, including six countries from the European Volleyball Confederation, four from the Asian and North, Central American and Caribbean (NORCECA) Confederations, three from South America, and two from Africa. Argentina qualify automatically as the competition hosts. Brazil and Peru were the latest teams to qualify for the World Championship in August, joining Egypt, the Dominican Republic and the USA. There is no doubt that this championship will be a very special event. Argentina has hosted many magnificent volleyball competitions including final rounds of the FIVB World League in Cordoba (2010) and Mar del Plata (2013). However, the absolute highlight – and also the start of the national enthusiasm for volleyball – was certainly the impressive …

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