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