Volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification facts for kids

Getting into the Olympic volleyball tournament is a big deal for teams! For the men's teams playing in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, the qualification process happened between September 2023 and June 2024. A total of twelve teams earned their spots to compete.

As the host country for the Olympics, France automatically got a spot for its men's team. They were also the champions from the last Olympics, which is pretty cool!

The other eleven spots were decided in two main ways. First, there were three special Olympic qualification tournaments. The top two teams from each of these tournaments earned a direct ticket to Paris. Second, the last five spots were given out based on how well teams were ranked in the FIVB World Rankings in June 2024. This part of the process made sure that teams from different parts of the world had a chance to qualify, especially continents that didn't have a team yet.

How Teams Qualified for the Olympics

Here's a quick look at how the twelve men's volleyball teams earned their spots for the Paris 2024 Olympics:

How They Qualified		When	Where	Number of Spots	Qualified Team
Host Nation		N/A		1	FRA
Olympic Qualification Tournaments	rowspan="2"|Pool A	September 30 – October 8, 2023	Rio de Janeiro	2	GER
	BRA
	Pool B		Tokyo	2	USA
					JPN
	Pool C		Xi'an	2	POL
				CAN
World Ranking Pathway		June 24, 2024	N/A	5	SLO
					ITA
					ARG
					SRB
					EGY
Total				12

Host Country Spot

The FIVB, which is the main group for volleyball, always gives one spot in the Olympic tournament to the country hosting the Games.

•  FRA – France got a spot because they are hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics. They were also the champions of the 2020 Summer Olympics!

Olympic Qualification Tournaments

These tournaments were a really important way for teams to qualify. The top two teams from each of the three special qualification groups automatically earned their spots for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Teams That Could Play

The FIVB announced which twenty-four teams were allowed to compete in these Olympic qualification tournaments. This list was based on their world rankings from September 12, 2022. There were two exceptions:

• France didn't need to play because they already qualified as the host nation.
• Russia was not allowed to play in international competitions at that time.

Here's what the colors in the table mean:

World Ranking Qualification

After the Olympic Qualification Tournaments, there were still five spots left for the Olympics. These spots were given to the highest-ranked teams in the FIVB world rankings. This happened after the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League was finished.

The FIVB used a special rule called the "universality principle." This means they first looked for teams from continents that didn't have any qualified teams yet. After that, the remaining spots went to the highest-ranked teams overall, no matter which continent they were from.

Here's what the colors in the table mean for the world rankings:

Top 25 rankings as of June 23, 2024

Rank	Team	Points
1	POL	424.50
2	JPN	354.75
3	SLO	354.46
4	ITA	352.33
5	USA	325.89
6	BRA	318.52
7	FRA	317.34
8	ARG	298.34
9	CAN	279.67
10	SRB	259.97
11	GER	250.28
12	CUB	249.34
13	NED	204.81
14	UKR	200.61
15	IRN	185.07
16	BEL	180.15
17	TUR	179.58
18	CZE	165.11
19	EGY	164.05
20	BUL	161.06
21	QAT	153.67
22	CRO	148.48
23	POR	147.16
24	FIN	146.72
25	TUN	145.09

See also

• Volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification
• 2024 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League