This week, many teams from South America are looking to take home the South American Women’s Club Championship title, giving them an automatic bid to the 2017 FIVB Club World Championship in Kobe that is set to take place from May 8-14.
At the South American Women’s Club Championship, six team divided into two pools will compete against each other to vie for the continental trophy in the five day competition in Uberaba and Uberlandia. The top two teams from each pool will continue with crosswise semifnals, before next Saturday’s finals.
The winners of this competition will join Hisamitsu Springs of Kobe and reigning Asian Champions NEC Red Rockets of Kawasaki in the Club Worlds in May. The winners of the 2017 European Champions League will also have a direct ticket before the full roster is completed with the addition of four wild cards.
One team looking to make this their third consecutive and fourth overall win of the title, is Rexona-SESC Rio de Janeiro. Rexona is the current leader of the Superleague, and head of Pool B in Uberaba along with Argentina’s Boca Juniors and last year’s runner-up University of San Martin de Porres of Peru.
In Pool A in Uberlandia, a second Brazilian squad is entered in Dentil Praia Clube, who is currently second in the Superleague. Joining them are Argentina’s Villa Dora of Santa Fe and Bolivia’s Club Olympic of Cochabamba.
A Brazilian team hasn’t lost a gold medal in the competition since Deportivo Power of Peru defeated Supergasbras of Rio in the 1988 final in Asuncion. If Rexona comes out victorious, it will be their fourth overall appearance in the Club World Championships. In 2013 they earned silver, followed by a 4th place finish in Zurich in 2015 and 5th last season in Manila.
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