The Joao Pessoa Elite, the eighth of a total of 12 events on the 2025 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour of the highest Elite category, is set to get underway on Wednesday. It will also be the third of a total of five Elite stops in the mecca of beach volleyball Brazil this year. The first day of action in the men’s competition will offer a single round of eight qualification matches, followed by the first round of pool play in the 24-team main draw.

· Watch the Joao Pessoa Elite on VBTV

As it should be with a tournament of the highest caliber, the Joao Pessoa entry list features a dream line-up of men’s teams, including eight of the top 10 pairs in the FIVB World Ranking, and headlined by the winners of the previous two editions of the event in 2023 and 2024 – Paris 2024 Olympic champions David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champions Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Norway, respectively.

The Joao Pessoa main draw bracket is topped by Mol & Sorum. The Beachvolley Vikings are also Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalists, reigning European champions and the number one team in the World Ranking. They are the most decorated team on the Beach World Tour so far. This season alone, they have medaled at all but one of their six Elite appearances on the Tour, topping the podiums at three of them, including the last two in Montreal and Hamburg. On Wednesday afternoon, Mol & Sorum will open Pool A for action against a team arising from the qualifications in the morning. In the other Pool A opener, American Olympians Miles Evans & Chase Budinger will take on Switzerland’s Marco Krattiger & Leo Dillier.

The world’s number two team Ahman & Hellvig will have the fourth seed in the Joao Pessoa main draw and will headline Pool D. In comparison with the brilliant seasons the Swedish jump-setters had in 2023 and 2024, one may say the 23-year-old stars are struggling a bit this year. In seven participations on the Beach Pro Tour in 2025, the reigning Olympic champions have made it to the podium “only” twice and not since their Ostrava Elite gold in early June. Joao Pessoa will present another opportunity for them to show their usual luster. They will try to regain the trophy they won in 2023, starting against qualifiers in a pool that also features USA’s Chaim Schalk & James Shaw and Brazil’s George Wanderley & Saymon Barbosa.

The number three and number four teams in the World Ranking – Argentina’s Nicolas Capogrosso & Tomas Capogrosso and rising Swedish stars Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson – fell into the same pool in Joao Pessoa. The Capogrossos will start off against Australian Olympians Mark Nicolaidis & Izac Carracher, while the third-seeded Swedish youngsters, who medaled at three of their last four Tour appearances, will get their first opponent from the qualifiers’ pool.

Polish Olympians Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak, ranked sixth in the world, will lead Pool E trying to build upon the two silvers they picked up within their three most recent participations. Powerful Dutch Olympians Steven van de Velde & Alexander Brouwer, who are chasing their first podium together since teaming up for the start of this season, will also compete in Pool E. Both pairs are awaiting their first opponents to become known on Wednesday morning.

Another big Dutch team, the world’s number seven Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot, will be seeded second in Joao Pessoa after picking up one gold and three bronze medals out of five Beach Pro Tour appearances this year. They will try to make the Joao Pessoa podium again, after finishing third in 2023. If they overcome their first opponent in Pool B, they will meet the winners of the match between France’s Teo Rotar & Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Norway’s Mathias Berntsen & Hendrik Mol for the first place in the pool.

The highest ranked Brazilian duo Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano Lanci, number nine in the world, and the world’s number 10 Martins Plavins & Kristians Fokerots of Latvia, will share Pool E with a couple of qualifying teams, who will challenge them in their opening matches.

The men’s qualifiers, set to get underway at 08:00 local time (11:00 UTC) on Wednesday, will feature more high-caliber teams like England’s Javier Bello & Joaquin Bello, currently number 13 in the world, France’s Remi Bassereau & Calvin Aye, placed 19^th in the World Ranking, the Brazilian tandem of former world champion Andre Stein and former World Championship silver medalist Renato Lima, or veteran stars Adrian Gavira of Spain and Alex Ranghieri of Italy’s new pairings with Alejandro Huerta and Manuel Alfieri, respectively.

Once the main draw serves off on Wednesday afternoon, modified pool play format will determine the three teams per pool that will advance to the elimination rounds, which will eventually lead to Sunday’s medal matches in Joao Pessoa.

VW Beach Pro Tour Joao Pessoa Elite: men’s entry list
VW Beach Pro Tour Joao Pessoa Elite: match schedule

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