The FIVB Beach World Series is a new international beach volleyball competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) and Volleyball World. The series will launch in November 2026 and replace the Beach Pro Tour as the premier international beach volleyball circuit.
The new series will bring together ten leading sports and entertainment destinations around the world. Each stop is designed as a standalone sports and entertainment event, combining elite-level beach volleyball with the identity, culture and atmosphere of the host destination.
Dubai will become the permanent opening destination of the FIVB Beach World Series. FIVB, Volleyball World and the Dubai Sports Council have signed a five-year partnership under which Dubai will host the opening stop of the series. The inaugural event in Dubai is scheduled for November 2026.
The full 2027 schedule and the complete list of the ten host destinations have not yet been officially announced. Therefore, specific dates and locations for the 2027 series should be added once the organisers publish the official calendar.
2027 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships
One of the major events of the 2027 beach volleyball season will be the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships. The tournament will take place from August 13 to 22, 2027, in the Netherlands. Matches will be hosted by four cities: The Hague, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn and Rotterdam.
The World Championships are a separate competition and are not part of the FIVB Beach World Series. However, they will be one of the most important international beach volleyball events of the 2027 season.
History of international beach volleyball
Beach volleyball developed as a professional sport during the second half of the 20th century. The first official FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships were held in 1997 in Los Angeles. Brazilian teams won both the men's and women's competitions.
In 2021, the FIVB announced a major reform of the international beach volleyball calendar and introduced the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, which began in 2022. The original structure consisted of three categories: Elite16, Challenge and Futures. Elite16 events featured the world's leading teams, Challenge tournaments provided a pathway to higher positions in the world ranking, while Futures events focused on developing teams and emerging players.
In 2025, the Beach Pro Tour was expanded: the main draw at Elite events increased to 24 teams per gender, while Challenge events grew to 32 teams per gender. The Beach Pro Tour held its final season in its previous format in 2026, before being replaced as the premier international series by the FIVB Beach World Series.
Interesting facts about beach volleyball
- In 1948, one of the early commercial beach volleyball tournaments in the United States offered a crate of Pepsi as the winners' prize.
- The first unofficial World Championships were held in 1987.
- Beach volleyball made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
- At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Georgia was represented by two teams that included Brazilian-born players who had obtained Georgian citizenship.
- The Netherlands previously hosted the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in The Hague in 2015. In 2027, the tournament will return to the country and expand across four host cities.
Follow the FIVB Beach World Series, World Championships and other major beach volleyball events in our Sports Events Calendar.
