Dakar comes alive as traditional giants battle for Youth Olympic Games boys’ title

The beach volleyball event at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games will take place at Saly Beach West in Dakar from 31 October to 4 November. It will be the first time Africa will be hosting an Olympic Games competition (junior or senior).

The boys’ competition will feature 24 National Federations which will be represented by one pair each as they go in search of Youth Olympic Games glory in Dakar.

Seeded sixth, Souleymane Seck Ciss & Mouhamed Moustapha Sidibe will lead the host’s onslaught from Pool F where they will take on Palau’s Linzy Moky Allen & Brendan Keane, Türkiye’s Freddie Jude Foks & Polat Kemal Eser and the empowered Casper Tjernqvist & Henrik Brus of Sweden.

German top seeds Lasse Hüper & Filo Wüst will start as favourites having won this year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball U18 World Championships in the Hague in July. They are in Pool A with Morocco’s Yasser Errazi & Othmane Taghdouini, Namibia’s Rene Steinkopff & Robert Alexander Sinclair and Sulaiman A. Bangura & Alie Kainesie of Sierra Leone.

Paul Hohenauer & Martin Poinstingl of Austria will start as second seeds in Pool B where they are grouped together with Iran’s Amirreza Jamshidi Khalkiasari & Amin Vakili, The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Mulapwa Sakeni Jonathan & Gloire Nzazi Mutendi and Rares-Edward Pomian-Brad & Ronald Dylan Simpson of the Cayman Islands.

Fresh from their silver medal performance at this year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball U18 World Championships in the Hague, Australia’s Ryan Edgar & Thomas Turner are seeded third in Pool C together with Kazakhstan’s Alikhan Agabek & Orazali Sagynysh, Ghana’s Justice Adusei Amoafo & Daniel Lartey and Wafi Aljasir & Ali Alawami of Saudi Arabia.

Brazil and USA will renew their beach volleyball rivalry in Pool E where Gabriel Campos & Bruno Fellipe Lobo Silva Souza will represent the South American giants while Caden Phillips & Gavin Mortensen will feature for the North American powerhouse. Venezuela’s Santiago Leandro Camejo Guerra & Moises David Yepez Ramirez and Joseph David Godoy Vásquez & Harold René Vásquez Solorzano of Guatemala complete Pool E.

Fourth seeds Ludvig Sødal Ringøen & Liam Karlsen of Norway are in Pool D with Gael Arias Saldias & Francisco Farias Valdivia of Chile, Nicaragua’s Justin Alfredo Barrios Dinarte & Matthew Eberhard Kempf Palacio and South Africa’s Duncan Luke Davids & Evra Carter King.

The boys’ competition will feature 24 teams divided into six pools of four. The pool phase will take place on 31 October and 1 November, with teams competing in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each pool, together with the two best third-placed teams, will advance directly to the Round of 16.

The four remaining third-placed teams will compete in an additional qualification round on 2 November, with the two winners securing the final spots in the 16-team single-elimination phase.

The Round of 16 will also take place on 2 November, followed by the quarterfinals and semifinals on 3 November. The competition will conclude on 4 November with the bronze and gold medal matches.

Click here to visit the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Beach Volleyball event page.