The 24 participating teams are split into four single round-robin pools of six teams each for the first stage of the championship.

The top four teams from each of the four pools advance to the eighthfinals. After the eighthfinals, these 16 teams go through another three rounds of elimination matches (quarterfinals, semifinals and final for the winners; playoffs and classification matches for the losers) to fill the places from first to 16th in the final standings.

The teams placed fifth and sixth in the four pools move on to the playoff 17-24 matches. The four winners of the playoff 17-24 matches advance to the playoff 17-20 matches, while the four losers move on to playoff 21-24 matches.

The two winners of the playoff 17-20 matches advance to the classification match for 17th place, while the two losers move on to classification match for 19th place.

The two winners of the playoff 21-24 matches advance to the classification match for 21st place, while the two losers move on to classification match for 23rd place.

The Nigerian Volleyball Federation was unable to secure entry visas for its team delegation and therefore all the matches of the competition shall result in the forfeiture with the score 0-3 (0-25 / 0-25 / 0-25).