With the FIVB Volleyball Nations League replacing the FIVB World Grand Prix for women’s national teams, one of the big questions was how much prize money would be awarded to the 16 teams playing in the 2018 and first edition of the Women’s Volleyball Nations League.
According to an article on May 5th on the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star, there will be a total of $2.2 million dollars awarded at the end of the Women’s Volleyball Nations League Finals in Nanjing, China on July 1st. The winning team will receive $1 million, while the team losing the championship match will receive $500,000. Additionally the third place place will earn $300,000, fourth place $150,000, and the two teams finishing last in each of the two Final Round pools will receive $75,000. Furthermore, individual player awards will be awarded for the MVP ($30,000) and best 7 players (setter, 2 middle blockers, 2 outside hitters, opposite and libero, each at $10,000).
However, I have found information on the tickets page for the women’s matches in Jiangmen, China, that the total prize money is said to be $4 million for the Women’s Volleyball Nations League. That means $1.8 million will be awarded during the five weeks of the Preliminary Round, or $90,000 per pool (20 pools). I am estimating that the prize money for the Preliminary Round will be split in the following ways $30,000 for 1st place, $25,000 for 2nd place, $20,000 for 3rd place and $15,000 for 4th place.
So if a team were to win each pool that they played in during the five weeks, they would earn $150,000 before the Final Round. A team that finished in last place in their pool each week would earn $75,000.
In the 2017 World Grand Prix, Belgium finished last (12th) and received $90,000 in prize money from the Preliminary Round. Serbia took home $240,000 in the Preliminary Round by finishing first in each of the pools that they played in, which was the most of any team last year in the Preliminary Round. So the prize money in the Preliminary Round is a little lower than that in 2017 for all of the teams.
The prize money awarded during the 2017 World Grand Prix Finals was $1.35 million (including individual awards), with $600,000 going to the winner, which was Brazil. With the new Volleyball Nations League awarding $2.2 million in the Finals, it will be the most lucrative women’s national team tournament ever.
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