HOST CITY: 2026 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship
The Chilean capital Santiago hosts the second edition of the FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship from August 6 to 16, 2026. It is the first time the city hosts a World Championship for national volleyball teams of any gender or age.
Santiago, also known as Santiago de Chile, has hosted the CSV South American Volleyball Championship five times in the men's category and twice in the women's category. The 2023 Pan American Games were held in Santiago. The Chilean capital will welcome the 2027 Special Olympics World Summer Games. It has hosted major international events in many other sports, such as basketball, cycling, motor sports, etc.
Santiago is home to about 6.3 million people and nearly seven million in the greater metropolitan area. Spanish is the official language in Chile.
Santiago is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the Chilean Central Valley within the Santiago Basin, between the Andes to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west. Most of the city lies between 500 and 650 meters above sea level, with recent urban growth extending into the Andean foothills. The city’s location contributes to its breath-taking scenic views of the high Andes.
The city is the political and administrative heart of Chile. It houses the presidential palace and the main executive and judiciary institutions. It is the country’s principal industrial, commercial, financial and educational hub. Its steady economic growth over the past few decades has transformed it into a modern metropolis. The city is now home to a growing theater and restaurant scene, extensive suburban development, dozens of shopping centers and a rising skyline, including the tallest building in South America, the 300-meter-high Gran Torre Santiago. It includes several major universities, and has developed a modern transportation infrastructure.
Santiago’s urban landscape combines a 19th-century neoclassical core and surviving colonial churches with extensive modern residential districts, standalone hills, such as Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal, and parklands along the Mapocho River, including Parque Forestal, Parque Bicentenario, and Santiago Metropolitan Park.
Besides the breath-taking cathedral on the Plaza de Armas, other remarkable buildings surrounding the central square are the Central Post Office Building, the Palacio de la Real Audiencia de Santiago, which houses the Chilean National History Museum, the green cast-iron Commercial Edwards building, the colonial building of the Casa Colorada, which houses the Museum of Santiago, the Municipal Theater of Santiago, the Subercaseaux Mansion and the National Library, one of the largest libraries of South America. North of the square are the Paseo Puente, the Santo Domingo Church and the Central Market. The Former National Congress Building, the Justice Palace and the Royal Customs Palace are located close to each other. The latter houses the Museum of pre-Columbian art. Bandera street leads toward the building of the Santiago Stock Exchange, the Club de la Union, the University of Chile, and toward the oldest church in the city, the San Francisco Church. Also in downtown Santiago is the Torre Entel, a 127.4-meter-high television tower with an observation deck.
Within the metropolitan area of Santiago, there are 174 heritage sites in the custody of the National Monuments Council, among which are archeological, architectural and historical monuments, neighborhoods and typical areas. Santiago has a wealth of museums of different kinds, among which are also the National Museum of Fine Arts and the National Museum of Natural History.
The city has a cool semi-arid climate with warm, dry summers. The winters (April to September) are cooler and wetter. The daily mean temperature in August is 10°C.