The highlight of the international beach volleyball season has arrived as the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, set to be held in Tlaxcala, Mexico, from October 6-15, will draw all the spotlights for the next ten days.

The top teams on the planet will battle for their share of the 1 million US dollars in prize money and, perhaps most importantly, a coveted spot for their countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics – the winners in both genders will qualify their nations for next year’s Games.

• Watch the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships live on VBTV.

There will be some intense and exciting days in Mexico, with the best players on the planet facing each other with a lot on the line and here’s all you need to know about the event ahead of Friday’s opening matches:

The tournament

The 14^th edition of the World Championships marks the return of the event to Latin America for the first time in 20 years. The tournament will have 48 teams in each gender, who will start their campaigns in the pool stage, which will be held in a round-robin format. The winners and second-placed teams from each of the 12 pools in each gender will advance to the elimination rounds, as well as the four best-ranked third-placed tandems. The eight remaining third-placed duos will need to play in a lucky loser round, with four of them moving forward. From the Round of 32 on, the event continues in a single elimination format.

Beach Volleyball World Championships - Competition Formula

By the numbers

As many as 192 players will be in action in the 2023 World Championships – 40 countries and all five continents are represented. The tournament will feature 216 matches, which will be held across ten days in four venues – two in Tlaxcala and one in each of the two neighboring cities Apizaca and Huamantla.

The favorites

With all of the top teams in the world in contention, anything can happen. However, defending champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos of Brazil are in strong positions to defend their titles – the Beach Volley Vikings took gold in three of the seven Volleyball Word Beach Pro Tour events they played in 2023 while the South Americans triumphed in four of their eight events. Sweden’s David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig, Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner and USA’s Andy Benesh/Miles Partain are other strong candidates among the men while USA’s Taryn Kloth/Kristen Nuss and Kelly Cheng/Sara Hughes and Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes/Brandie Wilkerson are among the top women’s teams.

Beach Volleyball World Championships - Men's Entry List

Beach Volleyball World Championships - Women's Entry List

Matches to watch on the opening day

All matches of the World Championships will be streamed live on VBTV from subscribers from around the world. The tournament starts on Friday, with 24 matches, and half of the competing teams will be on the court. On the men’s side, Mol and Sørum will play in the opening match against Mozambique’s Ainadino Martinho/Jorge Monjane at 14:30 local time (20:30 UTC). At the same time, Åhman and Hellvig will battle Ecuador’s Dany Leon/Marcos Tenorio. The women’s event will have Germans Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippman against Japanese Miki Ishii and Sayaka Mizoe at 16:30 (22:30 UTC) and Cheng and Hughes facing the home team of Esperanza Albarran/Yeray Vidaurrazaga at 19:00 local time (01:00 UTC, Saturday).

Beach Volleyball World Championships - Match Schedule

The history

The World Championships was first played in 1997, in Los Angeles, and has since then taken the elite of international beach volleyball to 11 different countries on three continents. Brazil is the most successful country, with 34 medals won (17 in each gender), followed by the United States, with 16 (11 women’s and five men’s). As many as 13 different nations have stepped on the podium so far.

Beach Volleyball World Championships - Past Winners

Be part of the game

Official beach volleyball merchandise is on sale at Volleyball World's online store. A limited-edition version of the official Mikasa game ball is also available for purchase.

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2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships
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