First volleyball tickets to LA 2028 and World Cup 2027 to be issued by NORCECA

Three women’s volleyball continental championships are set to serve off on Friday and take place concurrently, and while the NORCECA one in Santo Domingo will be the last one to get underway, it will also be the first one to finish, determining the first qualified team to join hosts United States at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The 2026 NORCECA Women's Volleyball Continental Championship in the capital of the Dominican Republic will be held from Friday, August 21, to Thursday, August 27, when the podium will be finalized and the top three teams will qualify for the 2027 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup. USA aside, the top four teams in the final standings will then battle it out for a single ticket to LA 2028 to be issued on Saturday, August 29.

At the Palacio del Voleibol Profesor Ricardo Gioriber Arias in Santo Domingo, eight teams will vie for continental honors and berths at the major world-level competitions. They are split into two round-robin pools of four. The pool winners will progress straight to the semifinals. The pool runners-up and the third-placed teams will engage in crossed quarterfinals, with the winners of those quarterfinals advancing to the semis, while the losers join the fourth-placed teams of the pools in the games for distributing the places from fifth to eighth in the final standings. The top four teams, excluding the United States as the host country of the Olympic Games, will advance to the NORCECA Continental Qualifier, consisting of two semifinals and two classification matches at the same venue on August 28 and 29 and will award one Olympic berth.

The three major North American powers – United States, Canada and Mexico – are all gathered in Pool A, along with Trinidad & Tobago. Currently number four in the FIVB World Ranking, USA are the highest ranked NORCECA team. Already qualified for both the Olympics and the World Cup as hosts, they will be aiming at their first continental crown since 2015. The Americans have collected 24 continental medals (eight gold, 13 silver and three bronze), collecting the highest number of podiums in the history of the women’s NORCECA Championships. They finished runners-up at the previous edition in 2023. World champions in 2014 and Olympic champions in 2021, USA also took silver at the last Olympics, Paris 2024.

Bronze medalists of the three most recent editions of the NORCECA Championship Canada, currently number 11 in the World Ranking, have never won the NORCECA Championship, but they have collected as many as 13 medals – two silvers and 11 bronzes. As the other co-host of the 2027 World Cup, Canada are already qualified for the premier volleyball competition. Mexico have five podiums, but on two of those – back in 1969 and 1971 – they were crowned as continental champions.

The most decorated team in the history of the competition Cuba and the champions of the three most recent editions Dominican Republic highlight the composition of Pool B. Cuba have piled up as many as 13 continental titles, but none since 2007. They also have seven silver and two bronze medals on their NORCECA record. In 2023, they finished fourth. The country’s glorious volleyball history also features three Olympic and three world titles.

Hosts Dominican Republic will try to add a fifth continental crown to their collection, which also features three silvers and five bronzes. Puerto Rico are the other Pool B team to have medaled at NORCECA Championships. They earned two silvers (most recently in 2021) and two bronzes. Costa Rica complete the pool lineup.

The 2026 NORCECA Women's Volleyball Continental Championship will open on Friday with a game between USA and Trinidad & Tobago, serving off at 13:00 local time (17:00 UTC).

NORCECA Women's Volleyball Continental Championship: schedule and results

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