Africa’s road to LA 2028 and World Cup 2027 starts in Nairobi

The 2026 CAVB Women's Volleyball African Nations Championship got underway at the Kasarani Arena and the Ulinzi Complex in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday, August 25. The medal matches on September 4 will not only determine this year’s continental champion, who will get Africa’s first ticket to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games volleyball events, but will also issue three tickets to the 2027 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup.

15 African women’s national volleyball teams are split into four round-robin pools, with all of them advancing to the playoff phase of the tournament, which starts with the eighthfinals and leads to the medal matches.

Pool A is the only pool featuring just three teams. Defending continental champions and tournament hosts Kenya highlight the lineup. At number 24 in the FIVB Ranking, they are also the highest ranked African team in the world. They are also the most decorated country in the history of the competition, with 10 gold and four silver medals in their collection. The pool also features Mali and Zambia.

The runners up of the previous edition in 2023 and the second most decorated team of the African Nations Championships Egypt – with three titles, four silvers and four bronzes – headline Pool B, where they are in the company of Burkina Faso, Senegal and Uganda. Of these three teams, only Senegal have ever made the continental podium, with bronze in 2019.

The next two African teams in the World Ranking – number 49 Cameroon and number 53 Ghana – are rivals in Pool C. While Cameroon have collected 12 continental medals – three golds, two silvers and seven bronzes, including the one from 2023 – Ghana are yet to make it to an African Nations podium. Another team from that pool, however – Tunisia – has also celebrated the crown three times, in addition to two silvers and three bronzes. Nigeria, the fourth team in Pool C, have piled up some hardware as well – four silvers and two bronzes – but they never sat on the throne.

With one first place and three runner-up finishes, Algeria are the most decorated team in Pool D. Rwanda, on the other hand, stopped just short of the podium at the previous edition, finishing in fourth place three years ago. Burundi and DR Congo also started the African Nations Championship from Pool D.

CAVB Women's Volleyball African Nations Championship: schedule and results

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