The 17th edition of the women’s Club World Championship starts on Tuesday in China
Tianjin Bohai Bank’s star setter Yao Di in action during the 2023 Club World Championship
Less than 48 hours after Sada Cruzeiro Volei Belo Horizonte were crowned men’s 2024 club world champions at home in Brazil, the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship is set to get underway in China. With eight of the world’s top club teams participating, the annual competition returns to the city of Hangzhou for its 17th edition from December 17 to 22.
- Watch the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship on VBTV
The eight squads are split into two single round-robin pools of four for the first stage of the tournament to be played from Tuesday through Friday. The top two teams from each pool will advance to Saturday’s crossed semifinals before the World Championship climaxes with the medal matches on Sunday.
Pool A
Brazil’s Gerdau Minas Belo Horizonte and Italy’s Numia Vero Volley Milan will be the first to hit the court at the Huanglong Sports Center in Hangzhou on Tuesday morning at 09:00 local time (01:00 UTC) for the Pool A opening match.
The stellar Minas line-up, featuring the likes of Thaisa Menezes, Priscila Daroit, Kisy Nascimento, Julia Kudiess, Dominican Republic’s Yonkaira Pena, Netherlands’ Celeste Plak and many others, represents South America as 2024 continental club champions. It will be the Belo Horizonte club’s sixth consecutive and seventh overall appearance at the Club World Championship. They have previously made it to the podium twice, with silver medals in 1992 and 2018.
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Vero Volley qualified for the Club World Championship as representatives of Europe after finishing 2024 CEV Champions League runners-up. It will be their first participation in the event. They also have an impressive line-up to put on the court in Hangzhou, spearheaded by Paola Egonu and boasting stars like Anna Danesi, Myriam Sylla, Alessia Orro, Elena Pietrini, France’s Helena Cazaute or Netherlands’ Nika Daalderop, among others.
The second Pool A match of the first competition day will offer a remake of the 2024 AVC Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship final between Japan’s NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki and Vietnam’s LP Bank Ninh Binh.
For the continental champions from Kawasaki, it will be the second appearance at the Club World Championships, after their debut in the 2017 edition. Asian runners-up LP Bank will participate in the global event for the first time. In fact, it will be only the second time a team from Vietnam competes in the Club World Championships, after last year’s appearance of Sport Center 1 Hanoi.
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Continental championship MVP Yoshino Sato and Thailand’s Ajcharaporn Kongyot are the names that stand out on the NEC Red Rockets roster. LP Bank will be powered by scoring machine Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen.
Pool B
Pool B will also open with a Brazilian-Italian clash, as CSV South American Club Championship silver medallists Dentil Praia Clube Uberlandia and Champions League winners Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano lock horns at 12:30 (04:30) on Tuesday.
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Previously, Imoco have played at the Club World Championships three times and always reached the final, collecting gold medals in 2019 and 2022, and silver in 2021. With names like Monica De Gennaro, Sarah Fahr, Sweden’s Isabelle Haak, Brazil’s Gabriela Guimaraes, Poland’s Joanna Wolosz, China’s Zhu Ting and many others, Imoco are arguably the strongest team in the world and one of the main favourites for the world title.
There is no shortage of big names on the Dentil Praia roster either: Caroline Gattaz, Macris Carneiro, Adenízia Silva, Suelen Pinto and Russia’s Sofya Kuznetsova, to name a few. Praia have played at each of the previous five Club World Championships, but have never reached the podium, finishing fourth in two editions, including the most recent one in 2023.
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In the last match of the first competition day, tournament hosts Tianjin Bohai Bank will be challenged by Egypt’s Zamalek Giza.
Led by Chinese international stars Li Yingying, Yao Di, Wang Yuanyuan and top-calibre middle blocker Irina Fetisova of Russia, Tianjin will appear at the Club World Championships for the fourth time. Last year they achieved their best result, the bronze medals and will now try to reach the first final for a Chinese club in the history of the competition.
Zamalek earned the right to compete at the Club World Championship as 2024 CAVB African Volleyball Club Championship winners. The first Egyptian team to participate in the women’s Club World Champs is headlined by Brazilian outside hitter Milca Lubieska da Silva and continental championship MVP Mariam Metwally.
2024 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship: full schedule
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