The pool phase of the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Champions is now fully set as, following the announcement of the 96 teams that will compete in Mexico from October 6-15 last week, the Drawing of Lots for the event was held on Wednesday in the host country of the tournament.

Marking the return of the event to Latin America for the first in two decades, the 14^th edition of the World Championship will be played across four venues in the cities of Tlaxcala, Huamantla and Apizaco and will include as many as 216 matches – half in each gender.

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

The men's and women's winners will each earn a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics to their countries as well as a share of the $ 1 million prize money. Duos from 40 different countries are set to compete in Mexico in just over a month.

The reigning world champions among the women, Brazilians Ana Patrícia Ramos and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa are in Pool A. The South Americans will begin their campaign in Mexico playing against France’s Lézana Placette/Alexia Richard, Finland’s Niina Ahtiainen/Taru Lahti and Chile’s Maria Francisca Rivas Zapata/Chris Vorpahl.

Pool F is the only one to feature two past world champions – 2015 champion Bárbara Seixas of Brazil, who will be paired with Carol Salgado, and 2017 winner Laura Ludwig of Germany, who will form a duo with Louisa Lippmann. The other two tandems on the pool are Japan’s Miki Ishii/Sayaka Mizoe and Nigeria’s Tochukwu Nnoruga/Franco Ikhiede.

Four other world champions will try to win the tournament again in 2023. Bárbara’s partner in her 2015 title, Olympic medalist Ágatha Bednarczuk is in Pool C alongside partner Rebecca Cavalcanti. The two will face USA’s Kelly Cheng/Sara Hughes, Germany’s Sandra Ittlinger/Karla Borger and Mexico’s Esperanza Albarran/Yerai Vidaurrazaga in the opening round of the event.

The winners of the 2019 World Championship, Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan are back with new partners and in different pools. While Melissa and partner Brandie Wilkerson will battle Czechia’s Barbora Hermannová/Marie-Sara Štochlová, Paraguay’s Erika Bobadilla/Michelle Valiente and Morocco’s Imane Zeroual/Mahassine Siad in Pool D, Pavan and Molly McBain are in Pool H, where they will compete against the Netherlands’ Raisa Schoon/Katja Stam, Switzerland’s Esmée Böbner/Zoé Vergé-Dépré and Puerto Rico’s Allanis Navas/Maria Gonzalez.

Completing the list of world champions is Chinese star Chen Xue, a 2013 world champion, who alongside partner Xinyi Xia will play against USA’s Terese Cannon/Sarah Sponcil, Spain’s Daniela Álvarez/Tania Moreno and Mexico’s Susana Torres/Ivanna Rivera in Pool I.

The 2022 men’s champions, Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway lead Pool A, which also features the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans/Yorick de Groot, Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Enrico Rossi and Mozambique’s Jorge Monjane/Ainadino Martinho.

The 2017 world champions, Brazilians Evandro Gonçalves and Andre Loyola will both have difficult challenges in pool play. Evandro and partner Arthur Lanci will meet Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner, Cuba’s Jorge Alayo/Noslen Diaz and Mexico’s Ricardo Galindo/ Isaias Aguirre in Pool I while Andre and George Wanderley will compete with USA’s Trevor Crabb/Theo Brunner, Ukraine’s Sergiy Popov/Eduard Reznik and Gambia’s Sainey Jawo/Jahara Koita in Pool D.

Crowned world champions ten years ago, Dutch Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen will start their campaign in Mexico in Pool J against compatriots Matthew Immers/Steven van de Velde, Australia’s Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher and Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato.

During the first phase of the tournament, teams in each of the 12 pools will play in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each pool and the best four teams that rank third in their respective pools will move directly to the Round of 32.

The remaining eight third-placed tandems will play a four-match lucky loser round to fill the last four spots in the elimination rounds. From the Round of 32 forward, the tournament continues on a single elimination format, with the Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches.

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