The countries most successful at volleyball

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Volleyball has long been a popular sport the world over, with 2 variants – beach and indoors. A close look at the records over the years, reveals the countries that are best at it:

Brazil: Currently leading the FIVB World Rankings, Brazil remains all-time favourites and lead online betting predictions. With 3 gold and 3 silver medals at the Olympics, Brazil are the leaders in men’s volleyball, which they dominated from the 1980s, after displacing the position occupied by the erstwhile Soviet Union. They also claimed two out of four gold medals as the home team in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Volleyball is so popular in Brazil, that the nation has also invented the casual sport of footvolley, which combines football and volleyball.

United States: Discounting the Soviet Union, which no longer exists, the second position in volleyball is currently occupied by the United States. The American presence in the sport started with the 1984 Olympics, which was boycotted by the Soviet Union, where USA won gold and silver in the men’s and women’s events. Since then, Brazil and USA have been rivals, with the American women’s team winning its first gold after defeating Brazil 3-0 at the 2020 Olympics. The men’s team, however, floundered and faced an early exit after defeats at the hands of Brazil and Argentina.

Japan:The popularity of volleyball has been steadily on the rise with medals being shared across various nations. One of these centres of volleyball is Japan, which with a combined tally of three gold medals is well ranked on both the men’s and women’s tables. However, the two gold medals won by its women’s teams date back to 1964 and 1976. The men’s team too won its solo gold medal in 1972. Hence, Japan has room for improvement, if it intends to be a dominant presence in volleyball and is looking to make a mark against Thailand and South Korea, at the upcoming Asian Games.

France: While France has not had a historical presence in volleyball, they have made rapid strides with their men’s team winning gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (after finishing ninth in 2016) and are rated second in the FIVB men’s rankings. They have also won both the World League and European Championships 2016. However, the women’s team have been less successful, and will play their first Olympic games only in 2024, where they have qualified as the host country.