# FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships is the double-gender world championship for the sport of beach volleyball organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) the sport's global governing body. The first official edition of the event was held in Los Angeles, United States in 1997 and tournaments had been awarded every two years since then. Before 1997, ten unofficial championships not organized by the FIVB were all held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 1987 and 1996. The most recent World Championships took place in Mexico in 2023.
Winning the World Championships is considered to be one of the highest honours in international beach volleyball, surpassing the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour and being surpassed only by the beach volleyball tournament at the Summer Olympic Games.

## Format

The tournament has a 48-team main draw per gender and consists of two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage. The prize pool for each gender is US$500,000.

## Editions

First Beach Volleyball World Championships were held from 10 to 13 September 1997 in Los Angeles, California (United States). It was the first official edition of this event, after 10 unofficial championships between 1987 and 1996.
| Edition | Year | Host City | Host Country | Events |
| 1987–1996: 10 Unofficial World Championships before recognized by FIVB |||||
| 1 | 1997 | Los Angeles | United States | 2 |
| 2 | 1999 | Marseille | France | 2 |
| 3 | 2001 | Klagenfurt - Maria Wörth - Velden | Austria | 2 |
| 4 | 2003 | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | 2 |
| 5 | 2005 | Berlin | Germany | 2 |
| 6 | 2007 | Gstaad | Switzerland | 2 |
| 7 | 2009 | Stavanger | Norway | 2 |
| 8 | 2011 | Rome | Italy | 2 |
| 9 | 2013 | Stare Jabłonki | Poland | 2 |
| 10 | 2015 | The Hague - Amsterdam - Apeldoorn - Rotterdam | Netherlands | 2 |
| 11 | 2017 | Vienna | Austria | 2 |
| 12 | 2019 | Hamburg | Germany | 2 |
| 13 | 2022 | Rome | Italy | 2 |
| 14 | 2023 | Tlaxcala - Apizaco - Huamantla | Mexico | 2 |
| 15 | 2025 | Adelaide | Australia | 2 |

## Results summary
### Men's tournament

| Year | Host City | Gold medal match | Gold medal match | Gold medal match | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match | Teams |
| Year | Host City | Gold Medalists | Score | Silver Medalists | Bronze Medalists | Score | 4th place | Teams |
| 1997 Details | Los Angeles | Rogério Ferreira and Guilherme Marques | 2–1 | Canyon Ceman and Mike Whitmarsh | Dain Blanton and Kent Steffes Paulão Moreira and Paulo Emilio Silva | was not played, both pairs who lost at semi-finals were awarded a bronze medal | was not played, both pairs who lost at semi-finals were awarded a bronze medal | 48 |
| 1999 Details | Marseille | José Loiola and Emanuel Rego | 1–0 | Martin Laciga and Paul Laciga | Rogério Ferreira and Guilherme Marques | 1–0 | Javier Bosma and Fabio Díez | 48 |
| 2001 Details | Austria | Mariano Baracetti and Martín Conde | 2–1 | José Loiola and Ricardo Santos | Vegard Høidalen and Jørre Kjemperud | 2–0 | Rob Heidger and Chip McCaw | 48 |
| 2003 Details | Rio de Janeiro | Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos | 2–0 | Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger | Márcio Araújo and Benjamin Insfran | 2–0 awarded (walkover) | João Brenha and Miguel Maia | 48 |
| 2005 Details | Berlin | Márcio Araújo and Fábio Luiz Magalhães | 2–0 | Sascha Heyer and Paul Laciga | Julius Brink and Kjell Schneider | 2–1 | Marvin Polte and Thorsten Schön | 48 |
| 2007 Details | Gstaad | Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers | 2–0 | Dmitri Barsuk and Igor Kolodinsky | Andrew Schacht and Joshua Slack | 2–0 | Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos | 48 |
| 2009 Details | Stavanger | Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann | 2–0 | Alison Cerutti and Harley Marques Silva | Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers | 2–0 | David Klemperer and Eric Koreng | 48 |
| 2011 Details | Rome | Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego | 2–0 | Márcio Araújo and Ricardo Santos | Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann | 2–1 | Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Jānis Šmēdiņš | 48 |
| 2013 Details | Stare Jabłonki | Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen | 2–0 | Álvaro Morais Filho and Ricardo Santos | Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik | 2–0 | Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego | 48 |
| 2015 Details | Netherlands | Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt | 2–1 | Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst | Evandro Oliveira and Pedro Solberg Salgado | 2–0 | Theo Brunner and Nick Lucena | 48 |
| 2017 Details | Vienna | Evandro Oliveira and André Stein | 2–0 | Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst | Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Nikita Liamin | 2–0 | Maarten van Garderen and Christiaan Varenhorst | 48 |
| 2019 Details | Hamburg | Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Viacheslav Krasilnikov | 2–1 | Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler | Anders Mol and Christian Sørum | 2–1 | Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb | 48 |
| 2022 Details | Rome | Anders Mol and Christian Sørum | 2–0 | Renato Carvalho and Vitor Felipe | André Stein and George Wanderley | 2–1 | Chaim Schalk and Theodore Brunner | 48 |
| 2023 Details | Mexico | Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner | 2–1 | David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig | Bartosz Łosiak and Michał Bryl | 2–0 | Trevor Crabb and Theodore Brunner | 48 |

### Women's tournament

| Year | Host City | Gold medal match | Gold medal match | Gold medal match | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match | Teams |
| Year | Host City | Gold Medalists | Score | Silver Medalists | Bronze Medalists | Score | 4th place | Teams |
| 1997 Details | Los Angeles | Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva | 2–1 | Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak | Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno | was not played, both pairs who lost at semi-finals were awarded a bronze medal | was not played, both pairs who lost at semi-finals were awarded a bronze medal | 48 |
| 1999 Details | Marseille | Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar | 1–0 | Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan | Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs | 1–0 awarded (walkover) | Sandra Pires and Adriana Samuel | 48 |
| 2001 Details | Austria | Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar | 2–0 | Tatiana Minello and Sandra Pires | Eva Celbová and Soňa Nováková | 2–0 | Barbra Fontana and Elaine Youngs | 48 |
| 2003 Details | Rio de Janeiro | Misty May and Kerri Walsh | 2–0 | Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar | Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson | 2–0 | Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan | 48 |
| 2005 Details | Berlin | Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh | 2–0 | Larissa França and Juliana Silva | Tian Jia and Wang Fei | 2–0 | Dalixia Fernández and Tamara Larrea | 48 |
| 2007 Details | Gstaad | Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh | 2–0 | Tian Jia and Wang Jie | Larissa França and Juliana Silva | 2–1 | Xue Chen and Zhang Xi | 48 |
| 2009 Details | Stavanger | Jennifer Kessy and April Ross | 2–0 | Larissa França and Juliana Silva | Maria Elisa Antonelli and Talita Antunes | 2–0 | Shelda Bede and Ana Paula Connelly | 48 |
| 2011 Details | Rome | Larissa França and Juliana Silva | 2–1 | Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh | Xue Chen and Zhang Xi | 2–0 | Lenka Háječková and Hana Klapalová | 48 |
| 2013 Details | Stare Jabłonki | Xue Chen and Zhang Xi | 2–1 | Karla Borger and Britta Büthe | Liliane Maestrini and Bárbara Seixas | 2–0 | Whitney Pavlik and April Ross | 48 |
| 2015 Details | Netherlands | Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas | 2–0 | Fernanda Alves and Taiana Lima | Maria Elisa Antonelli and Juliana Silva | 2–1 | Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler | 48 |
| 2017 Details | Vienna | Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst | 2–1 | April Ross and Lauren Fendrick | Larissa França and Talita Antunes | 2–1 | Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes | 48 |
| 2019 Details | Hamburg | Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes | 2–0 | Alix Klineman and April Ross | Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar | 2–0 | Nina Betschart and Tanja Hüberli | 48 |
| 2022 Details | Rome | Eduarda Santos Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos | 2–0 | Sophie Bukovec and Brandie Wilkerson | Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann | 2–1 | Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré | 48 |
| 2023 Details | Mexico | Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng | 2–0 | Ana Patrícia Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa | Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth | 2–1 | Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy | 48 |

## Medals

As of 2023 Beach Volleyball World Championships.

### Total

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Brazil | 13 | 11 | 11 | 35 |
| 2 | United States | 6 | 7 | 5 | 18 |
| 3 | Germany | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 4 | China | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 | Russia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Canada | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Norway | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 9 | Czech Republic | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Argentina | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Switzerland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Austria | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Sweden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Australia | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 15 | Poland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (15 entries) | Totals (15 entries) | 28 | 28 | 30 | 86 |