Beach volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Men's beach volleyball at the Games of the Olympiad
Venue	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars
Dates	27 July – 10 August
Competitors	48 from 18 nations
Teams	24
Medalists
David Åhman Jonatan Hellvig  Sweden Nils Ehlers Clemens Wickler  Germany Anders Mol Christian Sørum  Norway
← 2020 2028 →

Get ready for some exciting beach volleyball action! The men's beach volleyball tournament at the 2024 Olympic Games was held in Paris, France. The games took place at the special Eiffel Tower Stadium, right on the famous Champ de Mars. This amazing competition ran from July 27 to August 10, 2024. A total of 24 teams, with 48 athletes from 18 different countries, battled it out for the gold medal.

How Teams Qualified

To play in the Olympics, teams had to qualify first. This meant they had to earn their spot through different international competitions. Teams could qualify by doing well in specific tournaments or by being ranked high enough in the world. Only the best teams made it to Paris!

Game Rules and Format

The tournament started with 24 teams. These teams were divided into six groups, called "pools," with four teams in each pool.

Pool Play

In the pool play, every team played against every other team in their group. This is called a round-robin.

• Teams earned 2 points for a win and 1 point for a loss.
• The top two teams from each pool automatically moved on to the next stage.
• The two best third-placed teams also advanced.
• The other four third-placed teams had one more chance in a "lucky loser" round.

Tie-Breaker Rules

If teams had the same number of points, here's how they decided who ranked higher:

• For two teams: They looked at the ratio of points scored versus points lost in all their matches. If still tied, the team that won their head-to-head match moved on.
• For three teams: They first looked at the point ratio in matches between just those three teams. If still tied, they looked at the point ratio in all matches. If still tied, the team with a higher ranking before the tournament started moved on.

Knockout Stage

After the pool play, the tournament became a knockout stage. This means if a team lost a match, they were out of the competition. Teams kept playing until only the champions remained!

Competition Schedule

Here's a quick look at when the different parts of the tournament happened.

Participating Teams

Here are the 24 teams that qualified for the men's beach volleyball tournament. Each country could have up to two teams.

Team	NOC
Thomas Hodges – Zachery Schubert	Australia
Mark Nicolaidis – Izac Carracher	Australia
Julian Hörl – Alexander Horst	Austria
Evandro Oliveira – Arthur Lanci	Brazil
George Wanderley – André Stein	Brazil
Sam Schachter – Daniel Dearing	Canada
Marco Grimalt – Esteban Grimalt	Chile
Jorge Alayo – Noslen Díaz	Cuba
Ondřej Perušič – David Schweiner	Czech Republic
Youssef Krou – Arnaud Gauthier-Rat	France
Rémi Bassereau – Julien Lyneel	France
Nils Ehlers – Clemens Wickler	Germany
Samuele Cottafava – Paolo Nicolai	Italy
Alex Ranghieri – Adrian Carambula	Italy
Mohamed Abicha – Zouheir El Graoui	Morocco
Stefan Boermans [nl] – Yorick de Groot [nl]	Netherlands
Matthew Immers – Steven van de Velde	Netherlands
Anders Mol – Christian Sørum	Norway
Michał Bryl – Bartosz Łosiak	Poland
Cherif Younousse – Ahmed Tijan	Qatar
Pablo Herrera – Adrián Gavira	Spain
David Åhman – Jonatan Hellvig	Sweden
Miles Evans – Chase Budinger	United States
Miles Partain – Andrew Benesh	United States

The Draw

The draw, which decided which teams were in which pools, happened on June 28.

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C
Åhman – Hellvig (SWE)	Mol A. – Sørum C. (NOR)	Ehlers – Wickler (GER)
Cottafava – Nicolai (ITA)	Van de Velde – Immers (NED)	Bryl – Łosiak (POL)
Cherif – Ahmed (QAT)	Ranghieri – Carambula (ITA)	Hodges – Schubert (AUS)
Nicolaidis – Carracher (AUS)	Grimalt M. – Grimalt E. (CHI)	Bassereau – Lyneel (FRA)

Pool D	Pool E	Pool F
George – André (BRA)	Perušič – Schweiner (CZE)	Krou – Gauthier-Rat (FRA)
Partain – Benesh (USA)	Evandro – Arthur (BRA)	Boermans – de Groot (NED)
Díaz – Alayo (CUB)	Hörl – Horst (AUT)	Herrera – Gavira (ESP)
Abicha – Elgraoui (MAR)	Schachter – Dearing (CAN)	Evans – Budinger (USA)

Referees

These are the referees who made sure the games were fair and followed the rules.

Preliminary Round

The preliminary round was where all 24 teams played in their pools. The goal was to win as many matches as possible to move on to the knockout stage. Some teams moved on directly, while others had a chance in the "lucky loser" playoffs.

All times are local (UTC+2).

Lucky Losers

After the pool games, some third-placed teams got another chance. The two best third-placed teams automatically moved forward. The other four third-placed teams played in special "lucky loser" matches to earn the last two spots in the next round.

Lucky Loser Playoffs

3 August 2024 18:00	Schachter – Dearing	0–2 (retired)	M. Grimalt – E. Grimalt	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,659 Referees: José Padron (ESP), Osvaldo Sumavil (ARG)
	(1–21, 0–21)

3 August 2024 23:00	Hodges – Schubert	0–2	Evans – Budinger	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,852 Referees: José Padron (ESP), Jean Mukundiyukuri (RWA)
	(19–21, 17–21)

Knockout Stage

This is where the real excitement began! Teams had to win to stay in the competition. The matchups for the Round of 16 were decided by a special drawing. Teams from the same preliminary pool couldn't play each other right away.

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Gold medal

5 August

Cherif – Ahmed (QAT)

2

7 August

M. Grimalt – E. Grimalt (CHI)

0

Cherif – Ahmed (QAT)

2

5 August

Partain – Benesh (USA)

0

Partain – Benesh (USA)

2

8 August

Cottafava – Nicolai (ITA)

0

Cherif – Ahmed (QAT)

0

4 August

Åhman – Hellvig (SWE)

2

Evandro – Arthur (BRA)

2

6 August

Van de Velde – Immers (NED)

0

Evandro – Arthur (BRA)

0

4 August

Åhman – Hellvig (SWE)

2

Åhman – Hellvig (SWE)

2

10 August

Díaz – Alayo (CUB)

1

Åhman – Hellvig (SWE)

2

4 August

Ehlers – Wickler (GER)

0

Ehlers – Wickler (GER)

2

6 August

George – André (BRA)

0

Ehlers – Wickler (GER)

2

4 August

Boermans – De Groot (NED)

0

Perušič – Schweiner (CZE)

0

8 August

Boermans – De Groot (NED)

2

Ehlers – Wickler (GER)

2

5 August

Mol – Sørum (NOR)

1

Bronze medal

Bryl – Łosiak (POL)

0

7 August

10 August

Herrera – Gavira (ESP)

2

Herrera – Gavira (ESP)

0

Cherif – Ahmed (QAT)

0

5 August

Mol – Sørum (NOR)

2

Mol – Sørum (NOR)

2

Evans – Budinger (USA)

0

Mol – Sørum (NOR)

2

Round of 16

This was the first round of the knockout stage, where 16 teams competed.

4 August 2024 10:00	Ehlers – Wickler	2–0	George – André	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,638 Referees: Brian Hiebert (CAN), Rui Carvalho (POR)
	(21–16, 21–17)

4 August 2024 13:00	Perušič – Schweiner	0–2	Boermans – De Groot	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,434 Referees: Davide Crescentini (ITA), Sylvain Druart (FRA)
	(18–21, 16–21)

4 August 2024 14:00	Åhman – Hellvig	2–1	Díaz – Alayo	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,767 Referees: Charalampos Papadogoulas (GRE), Brian Hiebert (CAN)
	(21–11, 26–28, 15–11)

4 August 2024 21:00	Evandro – Arthur	2–0	Van de Velde – Immers	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,559 Referees: Osvaldo Sumavil (ARG), José Padron (ESP)
	(21–16, 21–16)

5 August 2024 10:00	Bryl – Łosiak	0–2	Herrera – Gavira	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,705 Referees: Brian Hiebert (CAN), Robert Leko (SRB)
	(21–23, 18–21)

5 August 2024 14:00	Evans – Budinger	0–2	Mol – Sørum	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,799 Referees: Giovanni Bake (RSA), Davide Crescentini (ITA)
	(16–21, 14–21)

5 August 2024 17:00	Partain – Benesh	2–0	Cottafava – Nicolai	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,105 Referees: José Padron (ESP), Osvaldo Sumavil (ARG)
	(21–17, 21–18)

5 August 2024 22:00	Cherif – Ahmed	2–0	M. Grimalt – E. Grimalt	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,713 Referees: Giseli Amantino (BRA), Brigham Beatie (USA)
	(21–14, 21–13)

Quarterfinals

Only eight teams remained in the quarterfinals, battling for a spot in the semifinals.

6 August 2024 17:00	Ehlers – Wickler	2–0	Boermans – De Groot	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,269 Referees: Robert Leko (SRB), Rui Carvalho (POR)
	(22–20, 21–15)

6 August 2024 18:00	Evandro – Arthur	0–2	Åhman – Hellvig	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,629 Referees: Davide Crescentini (ITA), Brian Hiebert (CAN)
	(17–21, 16–21)

7 August 2024 21:00	Herrera – Gavira	0–2	Mol – Sørum	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,425 Referees: Brian Hiebert (CAN), Giseli Amantino (BRA)
	(16–21, 17–21)

7 August 2024 22:00	Cherif – Ahmed	2–0	Partain – Benesh	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,731 Referees: Charalampos Papadogoulas (GRE), Davide Crescentini (ITA)
	(21–14, 21–16)

Semifinals

Only four teams made it to the semifinals, with a chance to play for a medal!

8 August 2024 18:00	Ehlers – Wickler	2–1	Mol – Sørum	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,591 Referees: Juan Saavedra (COL), Charalampos Papadogoulas (GRE)
	(21–13, 17–21, 15–13)

8 August 2024 22:00	Cherif – Ahmed	0–2	Åhman – Hellvig	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,660 Referees: Robert Leko (SRB), Osvaldo Sumavil (ARG)
	(13–21, 17–21)

Bronze Medal Game

The teams that lost in the semifinals played for the bronze medal.

10 August 2024 21:00	Cherif – Ahmed	0–2	Mol – Sørum	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 8,904 Referees: Charalampos Papdogoulas (GRE), Brian Hiebert (CAN)
	(13–21, 16–21)

Gold Medal Game

The two best teams faced off for the gold medal!

10 August 2024 22:30	Åhman – Hellvig	2–0	Ehlers – Wickler	Eiffel Tower Stadium Champ de Mars, Paris Attendance: 10,088 Referees: Brigham Beatie (USA), Davide Crescentini (ITA)
	(21–10, 21–13)

Final Ranking

Here's how all the teams finished in the tournament.

Rank	Team
Gold Medal	Åhman – Hellvig (SWE)
Silver Medal	Ehlers – Wickler (GER)
Bronze Medal	Mol – Sørum (NOR)
4	Cherif – Ahmed (QAT)
5	Evandro – Arthur (BRA)
	Boermans – De Groot (NED)
	Herrera – Gavira (ESP)
	Partain – Benesh (USA)
9	Díaz – Alayo (CUB)
	George – André (BRA)
	M. Grimalt – E. Grimalt (CHI)
	Perušič – Schweiner (CZE)
	Cottafava – Nicolai (ITA)
	Van de Velde – Immers (NED)
	Bryl – Łosiak (POL)
	Evans – Budinger (USA)
17	Hodges – Schubert (AUS)
	Schachter – Dearing (CAN)
19	Nicolaidis – Carracher (AUS)
	Hörl – Horst (AUT)
	Bassereau – Lyneel (FRA)
	Krou – Gauthier-Rat (FRA)
	Ranghieri – Carambula (ITA)
	Abicha – El Graoui (MAR)

See also

• Beach volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics
• Beach volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament
• Volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
• Sitting volleyball at the 2024 Summer Paralympics – Men's tournament