The 2016 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Group 1 match schedule has been released
Lausanne, Switzerland, November 27, 2015 – Following the announcement of the 2016 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Finals hosts in early November, the match schedule for Group 1 has been released on Friday.
Group 1 includes the 2015 World Grand Prix winners USA and 10-time winners Brazil, and a stellar cast of top-ranked teams such as Russia, China, Italy, Japan, Germany, Serbia, Thailand, Belgium and Turkey. The Netherlands complete the 12-team composition as they were promoted from Group 2.
The Group 1 Preliminary Round will be played out for three weeks from June 10 to 26, with the 12 teams split into three pools of four.
The first week of the Preliminary Round will take place in China, Brazil and Russia from June 10 to 12. China, Germany, Thailand and USA will play Pool A1 in Ningbo. Brazil host Italy, Japan and Serbia in Pool B1; while Russia host Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey in Kaliningrad in Pool C1.
Macau, USA and Italy host the second week of the Preliminary Round from June 17 to 19. In Pool D1, Belgium, Brazil, China and Serbia will be in Macau. Pool E1 teams Germany, Japan, Turkey and USA are slated to play in Long Beach, USA; while Pool F1 teams Italy, Russia, Netherlands and Thailand will be in Bari, Italy.
Turkey, Hong Kong and Japan were chosen to host the third week from July 24 to 26. Pool G1 will feature Brazil, Belgium, Italy and hosts Turkey in Ankara, then Pool H1 will showcase China, Germany, Netherlands and USA in Hong Kong, while Pool I1 have hosts Japan, Russia, Serbia and Thailand in Kyoto.
The Group 1 Finals will take place from July 6 to 10 in Bangkok, where hosts Thailand will join the top five teams from the
Preliminary Round.
