There hasn’t been any action on the sand to update you on, but there were a few decisions about World Championships and European events made last week. Here is the latest from the beach volleyball world.

World Championships moved to 2022

First off, the FIVB announced a very sensible and expected decision to move the World Championships from 2021 to 2022. The idea of having the Olympics and World Championships in the same summer didn’t make sense. With Tokyo 2020 being rescheduled for July to August of 2021 the World Championships moved, too. The tournament will still take place in Rome and although the exact dates aren’t stated in the announcement, it will be sometime in June.

Fans crowded into the Rome World Tour Finals in 2019. The World Championships will be played on Italian sand in 2022, too. Photo by FIVB.

CEV Makes Tentative 2020 Plans

The CEV made a few contingency decisions in a meeting this week. They discussed world tour events, EuroBeachVolley 2020 and the Continental Cup.

First, they they intend to reschedule all confirmed CEV managed World Tour events to late summer. That is not as big of a deal as it sounds. Only two events haven’t already been canceled from the World Tour schedule: Ostrava’s 4-star and Jumara’s 3-star. It is encouraging that they still plan to run these events late in the summer rather than cancel them at this point.

Ostrava’s unique industrial setting could still play host to an FIVB four-star later this summer. Photo by FIVB.

Organizers must announce any cancellations one month prior to the scheduled events. Ostrava doesn’t have a new date set yet, so it isn’t clear when the deadline for canceling a potential 4-star would be. We already know that the Beach Major events in Hamburg, Vienna and Gstaad have been canceled along with Warsaw, Moscow, Espinho and Rome.

An additional concern about running an event in such a crazy summer is how it would play into the Olympic qualification points. It is unlikely that teams from every country will be allowed to travel to an event if it does run. And if teams can travel, they will be at different levels of fitness depending on how severely their countries have been hit or enforced quarantine measures. All of these factors will have to be considered if we are lucky enough to see international beach volleyball this summer.

They also announced plans to have the Netherlands host EuroBeachVolley 2020 in the late summer. The lack of specific dates for these events doesn’t fill us with confidence, but it is understandable under the circumstances.

Finally, the Continental Cup, which will send one men’s and one women’s team to Tokyo was addressed. The second round will now take place in April or May 2021. The hosts for this round may change. They also announced the final round, which was going to be in Holland may be moved. The Continental Cup finals will be from the 21st to the 27th of June 2021. The host gets an automatic place in the finals, so this could impact the Dutch teams if they lose the bid.

Other Continental Cup Updates

The AVC also announced changes to their continental cup, but didn’t provide any new details. I am sure that every confederation will move their Continental Cups to 2021 with the finals likely concluding on June 27th.

AVP Tour Update

The early events on the AVP calendar were canceled long ago, but an additional stop was postponed. The season opening New York Gold Series tournament has been put on hold and now the Hermosa Beach Open is set to kick off an abbreviated summer on the American sand in late July. The COVID-19 situation and opening up to California beaches is very unpredictable though, so as with everything, Hermosa is no guarantee. If it does run, the grandstands packed with fans probably won’t be part of this years fun. The new date for The NYC Open is listed as TBC on the AVP website.

Player’s Opinion

The International Beach Volleyball Players’ Association conducted a survey of players to gauge opinions about how the Olympic Qualification process should be adapted. The survey results haven’t been published but IBVPA vice-president Anouk Vergé-Dépré shared a some insight in an interview on beach-volleyball.de. According to the article, Vergé-Dépré says most players favor keeping the process as close to the original 2020 plan as possible. The decision on any changes to the qualification scheme lies with the FIVB and the IOC, but players are hoping that their opinion is taken into account.

Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré attacks at the World Championships in Hamburg last summer. She is working hard off the court to represent professional beach volleyball players interests to the FIVB and IOC. Photo by FIVB.

Hopefully we’ll all be able to enjoy playing and watching beach volleyball sometime soon. Until then, keep safe, be kind and take all the precautions you can to keep COVID-19 from spreading.