Race for Asia’s men’s Olympic berth to serve off in Fukuoka

The qualification process for the men’s volleyball tournament at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games will get underway with the start of the AVC Men's Volleyball Asian Championship on Friday, September 4. The Fukuoka prefecture in southwestern Japan will welcome the continental event, set to run through September 13 when the 2026 Asian champion will be crowned not only with the continental title, but also with the first berth at LA 2028 men’s volleyball, besides that of Olympic hosts USA. In addition, all three medalists will earn tickets to the 2027 FIVB Volleyball World Cup. The entire competition will be streamed live on VBTV.

• Watch the AVC Men's Volleyball Asian Championship on VBTV

Asia’s best 12 men’s national volleyball teams will join the battles at the Kitakyushu City General Gymnasium. They are split into three round-robin pools of four. The pool winners, the pool runners-up and the two best-ranked third-placed teams will advance to the knockout stage of the championship. Quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches will follow to line up the podium.

Japan are not only the home favorites of the competition. They are also the defending Asian champions and the highest placed AVC team in the FIVB World Ranking, standing in number six. Japan have medaled at each of the three most recent editions of the continental championship. They are the most decorated team in the history of the competition and their medal collection features 10 golds, four silvers and four bronzes. Japan are the only AVC team to have ever triumphed as men’s volleyball Olympic champions, back at Munich 1972. Earlier this season, they finished fourth in the Volleyball Nations League.

In Fukuoka, Japan will compete in Pool A along with Bahrain, who qualified as the 2025 AVC Nations Cup winners, Oman and 2007 Asian champions Australia.

The world’s number 19 team Iran, four-time Asian champions (2011, 2013, 2019, 2021) and eight-time continental medalists, highlight the lineup in Pool B. They arrive in Fukuoka as runners-up of the previous edition in 2023. Pool B also features three-time title-holders (1979, 1997, 1999) and 15-time medalists China, as well as India, who finished third at this year’s AVC Volleyball Cup, and New Zealand.

Two teams of the top 30 in the FIVB World Ranking – number 24 Qatar and number 26 Korea – will compete in Pool C. Korea are four-time Asian champions (1989, 1993, 2001, 2003). Earlier this season, they took AVC Volleyball Cup silver. Thailand and Chinese Taipei are the other two teams in Pool C.

The competition will open on Friday at 12:30 local time (03:30 UTC) with a game between Iran and New Zealand.

AVC Men's Volleyball Asian Championship: schedule and results

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