Top 6 Remain Unchanged in Updated FIVB World Rankings

The top 6 in the latest FIVB Women’s World Rankings has stayed the same in the latest release, from August 7th, which was the first update since the Olympic Games last summer in Rio.

The latest rankings incorporated the results of the 2017 World Grand Prix in place of the prior 2016 Grand Prix results. Brazil wasn’t boosted any by their 2017 win, given that they were also the 2016 champions as well, and remain ranked 4th in the world thanks largely to the drag of their 5th=place finishes at both the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2011 World Cup – each of which put them at a much bigger disadvantage to China, the USA, and Serbia than the advantage given by their Grand Prix win. For example, the Americans’ 5th-place finish at the Grand Prix gives them 38 points, while Brazil’s win gives them 50. The difference between the American bronze at the Olympics and the Brazilian 5th-place finish, however, is 30 points – from 80 to 50.

Note: because they hosted the 2016 Olympics, Brazil didn’t play in the 2015 World Cup – an Olympic Qualifying Tournament. That means their 2011 performance rolls forward. The same will happen for Japan in 2020, and they too finished 5th in 2015.

China, who won the 2016 Olympic Games, the 2015 World Cup, were 2nd at the 2014 World Championships, and were 4th at the World Grand Prix, remain 1st overall, though the Americans have closed their gap from #2.

The first mover is Italy, who jumped from #8 to #7 after finishing 2nd in this year’s Grand Prix. Ironically, last year, after the Olympics, Italy was the highest-ranked team to not move.

Their 2nd-place finish replaced an 8th-place finish in 2016, which picked them up 15 points and was enough to jump the Dutch by a single point.

Next year will see two opportunities for teams to improve their standing – both a Grand Prix (or its rumored new incarnation that FIVB has not announced details on yet) and a World Championship will happen in 2018. Based on recent results, Serbia should have a chance at catching the United States after next year. The Americans won the 2014 World Championships and therefore cannot pick up any more points there next season, while Serbia was only 7th – and have been in the top 3 of every other tournament that counts in the current world rankings.

See the full rankings here, courtesy: FIVB, or below:

FIVB Senior World Ranking – Women

As per August 7th, 2017

Rk.	Teams	Points	+/- Rk. Aug. 2016	World Grand Prix 2017		Olympic Games 2016		World Cup 2015		World Championship 2014
			Diff.	Rk.	Tot.	Rk.	Tot.	Rk.	Tot.	Rk.	Tot.
1	China	330	0	4	40	1	100	1	100	2	90
2	USA	298	0	5	38	3	80	3	80	1	100
3	Serbia	272	0	3	42	2	90	2	90	7	50
4	Brazil	230	0	1	50	5	50	*	#N/A	3	80
5	Russia	206	0	9	28	5	50	4	70	5	58
6	Japan	182	0	7	32	5	50	5	50	7	50
7	Italy	145	1	2	45	9	30		0	4	70
8	Netherlands	144	-1	5	38	4	70			13	36
9	Dominican. Rep.	121	0	8	30	cq1	3	7	30	5	58
10	Republic of Korea	118	0	14	18	5	50	6	40	AS-B3	10
11	Argentina	93	-1	22	8	9	30	8	25	17	30
12	Turkey	72	0	11	24	cq1	3			9	45
13	Germany	64	0	15	17	cq2	2		0	9	45
13	Puerto Rico	64	2	18	14	11	20			17	30
13	Belgium	64	3	12	22	cq3	2			11	40
16	Thailand	59	-2	10	26	wq1	3			17	30
17	Bulgaria	55	0	17	15		0			11	40
18	Cameroon	47	1	30	2	11	20			21	25
19	Croatia	44	-1	23	7	cq5	1			13	36
19	Canada	44	0	20	12	cq2	2			17	30
21	Kazakhstan	40	0	24	6	wq4	1			15	33
22	Poland	39	0	13	20	cq4	1			EU-K2	18
23	Czech Republic	34	2	16	16		0			EU-M2	18
24	Azerbaijan	33	0		0		0			15	33
25	Cuba	30	-2		0		0	9		21	25
26	Mexico	27	0	29	2		0			21	25
26	Peru	27	3	21	10	cq1	3	11		SA-A3	9
28	Tunisia	26	0		0	cq5	1			21	25
28	Colombia	26	2	19	13	wq1	3			SA-A2	10
30	Hungary	20	3	25	5		0			EU-L3	15
31	Algeria	18	0	32	2	wq3	2	12	5	AF-T3	9
31	Romania	18	0		0		0			EU-I2	18
33	Kenya	17	-7		0	wq2	2	10	5	AF-U2	10
34	Trinid. & Tobago	16	4	31	2		0			NO-PO2	14
35	Spain	15	-2		0		0			EU-K3	15
35	Israel	15	-2		0		0			EU-J3	15
35	Slovakia	15	-2		0		0			EU-M3	15
35	Ukraine	15	-2		0		0			EU-I3	15
39	Costa Rica	14	-1		0		0			NO-PO3	14
40	Egypt	13	0		0	cq1	3			AF-T2	10
40	France	13	4	27	3		0			EU-L4	10
42	Nicaragua	12	-1		0		0			NO-PO4	12
42	Panama	12	-1		0		0			NO-PO5	12
42	Australia	12	1	26	4		0			AS-A5	8
45	Vietnam	10	-1		0		0			AS-A3	10
45	Belarus	10	-1		0		0			EU-M4	10
45	Switzerland	10	-1		0		0			EU-K4	10
45	Cyprus	10	-1		0		0			EU-I4	10
45	Barbados	10	-1		0		0			NO-R3	10
45	El Salvador	10	-1		0		0			NO-P3	10
45	Estonia	10	-1		0		0			EU-J4	10
45	Guatemala	10	-1		0		0			NO-O3	10
45	Haiti	10	-1		0		0			NO-Q3	10
45	Jamaica	10	-1		0		0			NO-S3	10
55	Ch. Taipei	9	0		0		0			AS-A4	9
55	Honduras	9	0		0		0			NO-O4	9
55	Senegal	9	0		0		0			AF-U3	9
55	India	9	0		0		0			AS-B4	9
55	Saint Lucia	9	0		0		0			NO-R4	9
55	American V. Islands	9	0		0		0			NO-S4	9
55	Guadeloupe	9	0		0		0			NO-P4	9
55	Botswana	9	0		0	cq4	1			AF-T4	8
55	Uganda	9	0		0	cq6	1			AF-U4	8
64	Greece	8	0		0		0			EU-H4	8
64	New Zealand	8	0		0		0			AS-B5	8
66	Nigeria	7	0		0		0			AF-T5	7
66	Mozambique	7	0		0		0			AF-U6	7
66	Hong Kong	7	0		0		0			AS-EZ2	7
66	Indonesia	7	0		0		0			AS-SEZ2	7
66	Latvia	7	0		0		0			EU-H5	7
66	Montenegro	7	0		0		0			EU-H6	7
66	Belize	7	0		0		0			NO-J3	7
66	Dem. Rep. of the Congo	7	0		0		0			AF-T6	7
66	Dominica	7	0		0		0			NO-N3	7
66	Saint Vincent & Gren.	7	0		0		0			NO-K3	7
66	St. Kitts & Nevis	7	0		0		0			NO-L3	7
66	Surinam	7	0		0		0			NO-M3	7
66	Uzbekistan	7	0		0		0			AS-CZ2	7
79	Philippines	6	0		0		0			AS-SEZ3	6
79	Austria	6	0		0		0			EU-E3	6
79	Finland	6	0		0		0			EU-B3	6
79	Portugal	6	0		0		0			EU-C3	6
79	Albania	6	0		0		0			EU-D3	6
79	Anguilla	6	0		0		0			NO-I4	6
79	Antigua	6	0		0		0			NO-J4	6
79	Aruba	6	0		0		0			NO-L4	6
79	Bermuda	6	0		0		0			NO-M4	6
79	Bosnia Herzegovina	6	0		0		0			EU-A3	6
79	British Virgin Island	6	0		0		0			NO-K4	6
79	Côte d’Ivoire	6	0		0		0			AF-O3	6
79	Grenada	6	0		0		0			NO-N4	6
79	Mauritius	6	0		0		0			AF-S2	6
79	Namibia	6	0		0		0			AF-R3	6
79	Scotland	6	0		0		0			EU-G3	6
79	Swaziland	6	0		0		0			AF-R6	6
79	Zimbabwe	6	0		0		0			AF-R4	6
97	Myanmar	5	0		0		0			AS-SEZ5	5
97	Denmark	5	0		0		0			EU-B4	5
97	Bahamas	5	0		0		0			NO-A4	5
97	Burkina Faso	5	0		0		0			AF-D3	5
97	Burundi	5	0		0		0			AF-H5	5
97	Cayman Islands	5	0		0		0			NO-E4	5
97	Gabon	5	0		0		0			AF-F4	5
97	Gambia	5	0		0		0			AF-B4	5
97	Iceland	5	0		0		0			EU-F4	5
97	Lesotho	5	0		0		0			AF-J4	5
97	Luxembourg	5	0		0		0			EU-G4	5
97	Malawi	5	0		0		0			AF-K4	5
97	Moldova	5	0		0		0			EU-D4	5
97	Niger	5	0		0		0			AF-E3	5
97	Sierra Leone	5	0		0		0			AF-B5	5
97	Tanzania	5	0		0		0			AF-H4	5
113	Venezuela	4	0	28	2	cq3	2			–	0
114	Chile	1	0		0	cq4	1			–	0
115	Seychelles	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Uruguay	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Iran	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Paraguay	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Mongolia	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Republic of the Congo	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Ghana	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Cape Verde	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Sri Lanka	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Slovenia	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Andorra	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Angola	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Sweden	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Uzbekistan	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Wales	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Afghanistan	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Bangladesh	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Benin	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Bolivia	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Dem. Pop. Rep. of Korea	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Ecuador	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	England	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Eritrea	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Fiji Islands	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Georgia	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Ireland	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Jordan	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Liechtenstein	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Macedonia	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Madagascar	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Malta	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Morocco	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Netherlands Antilles	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Norway	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Pakistan	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Rwanda	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	San Marino	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Samoa Islands	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Singapore	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	South Africa	0	0		0		0			–	0
115	Tonga	0	0		0		0			–	0