The World League is played internationally, with particularly strong followings in Asia. Japan, Korea and China are currently ranked in the Top 12. Along with basketball, volleyball requires the full two weeks duration of the Olympics to determine the medallists, Coincidentally, both these sports are at the top of the tree in regard to commercial value. While volleyball has been on the Olympic program since 1964, beach volleyball is being admitted this year for the first time. There has been considerable debate as to whether the sport should be included in the Olympic Games.
Some people even question whether it can be classified as a sport at all.
But the facts are that beach volleyball has been a huge success in Brazil and the US for 50 years, the top athletes in the sport are making millions in prizemoney and endorsements and crowds of more than 50,000 attend the annual World Series Final in Rio de Janeiro. Don't be fooled into thinking that a beach is needed for beach volleyball - it isn't. Two of the top women's teams are from Germany, where the game is played at indoor swimming centres in winter and on river banks in summer. And for those who don't believe beach volleyball should be an Olympic sport, teams in Atlanta will represent Australia, Brazil, Norway, USA, Canada, Argentina, Cuba, Spain, France, Germany Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Indonesia, Portugal, Sweden and Great Britain. Professional beach volleyball leagues have been operating in California and on Brazil's Atlantic coast since the late 1960s.