The
Beach Volleyball Major Series
(or
Beach Major Series
and formerly the
Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series
) was an international series of
beach volleyball
tournaments from 2015 to 2020. The tournaments consisted of Tour Stops and formed part of the
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
. The series concluded with the
FIVB World Tour Finals
.
Each tournament in the series had a prize pool of US$300,000 per gender, except for the World Tour Finals which had a prize pool of US$400,000 per gender.
[1]
History
[
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]
The Beach Volleyball Major Series arose out of a joint-venture between Austrian companies
Red Bull
and the ACTS Group.
[2]
Red Bull was established in 1987 by
Dietrich Mateschitz
. Aside from the
energy drink
, Red Bull's direct marketing focuses heavily on sports and lifestyle.
ACTS Group is a marketing agency founded in 1990 by
Hannes Jagerhofer
.
[3]
It offers services including event-marketing, event-organization, external-communication and public relations. The group has also been responsible for the organizing beach volleyball tournaments, including the FIVB Grand Slams in
Klagenfurt
,
Carinthia
, Austria.
Swatch
was the title sponsor of the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series between 2015 and 2017.
The Series will not continue because of the
COVID-19 pandemic
.
Relation to the FIVB
[
edit
]
The competition was overseen by the
FIVB
, the international governing body for the sports of indoor, beach and grass
volleyball
.
[4]
In the category of Beach Volleyball, the FIVB oversees three competitions, namely: the
FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup
, the
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
and lastly the
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships
.
The Beach Volleyball Major Series formed part of the
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
.
Olympic qualification
[
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]
Beach volleyball
was formally recognized as an
Olympic discipline in 1996
. In order for a beach volleyball athlete to participate in the Olympics, minimum requirements must be met and one of these requirements as stipulated by the FIVB is that all athletes must have participated in a minimum of 12 official FIVB Olympic qualification tournaments as an individual.
Also an athlete hoping to participate in the Olympics must earn FIVB World Ranking points which tallies up to make up the Olympic Ranking.
Participation in Major Series tournaments counts towards Olympic qualification tournaments and also earns athletes FIVB World Ranking points. An exception is the FIVB World Tour Finals ? participating teams do not earn FIVB World Ranking points for this event.
In 2016, the smart Major Hamburg was the final tournament where Olympic ranking points for the
2016 Olympic Games
in
Rio de Janeiro
could be obtained.
[5]
Tournaments
[
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]
2015
[
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]
The first Beach Volleyball Major Series began in 2015. There were Tour Stops in
Pore?
,
Croatia
;
Stavanger
, Norway and
Gstaad
, Switzerland. The Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals took place in
Fort Lauderdale
Florida
, United States.
2016
[
edit
]
The 2016 Major Series schedule began in
Hamburg
, Germany, and took in further stops in
Croatia
, Switzerland and
Klagenfurt
in Austria. The Series culminated with the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto.
2017
[
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]
The 2017 Major Series schedule was released in October 2016.
[18]
As part of the FIVB World Tour, the Swatch Major Series did include trips to
Pore?
and
Gstaad
. The 2017 tour began in February in
Fort Lauderdale
, the site of the 2015 World Tour Finals. The 2017 Finals were held in August in
Hamburg
. The Swatch Major Series was also responsible for the organization of the
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships
in
Vienna
in July and August.
[19]
Dates
|
Tour Stop
|
Major
|
Host country
|
Men's winners
|
Women's winners
|
7?12 February
|
Fort Lauderdale
|
Fort Lauderdale Major
|
United States
|
Alvaro/Saymon
|
Larissa/Talita
|
27 Jun ? 2 July
|
Pore?
|
Pore? Major
|
Croatia
|
Guto/Pedro Solberg
|
Pavan/Humana-Paredes
|
4?9 July
|
Gstaad
|
Gstaad Major
|
Switzerland
|
Lucena/Dalhausser
|
Laboureur/Sude
|
22?27 August
|
Hamburg
|
Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals
|
Germany
|
Lucena/Dalhausser
|
Ludwig/Walkenhorst
|
2018
[
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]
Dates
|
Tour Stop
|
Major
|
Host country
|
Men's winners
|
Women's winners
|
27 February ? 4 April
|
Fort Lauderdale
|
Fort Lauderdale Major
|
United States
|
Lucena/Dalhausser
|
Seixas/Alves
|
5?10 July
|
Gstaad
|
Gstaad Major
|
Switzerland
|
Mol/Sørum
|
Humana-Paredes/Pavan
|
31 July ? 5 August
|
Vienna
|
Vienna Major
|
Austria
|
Mol/Sørum
|
Hermannova/Slukova
|
14?19 August
|
Hamburg
|
FIVB World Tour Finals
|
Germany
|
Mol/Sørum
|
Agatha/Duda
|
2019
[
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]
Dates
|
Tour Stop
|
Major
|
Host country
|
Men's winners
|
Women's winners
|
9?14 July
|
Gstaad
|
Gstaad Major
|
Switzerland
|
Mol/Sørum
|
Klineman/Ross
|
31 July ? 4 August
|
Vienna
|
Vienna Major
|
Austria
|
Mol/Sørum
|
Pavan/Melissa
|
2020
[
edit
]
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
, all three tournaments as well as the whole Beach Volleyball Major Series was cancelled.
[20]
[21]
Dates
|
Tour Stop
|
Major
|
Host country
|
Men's winners
|
Women's winners
|
7?12 July
|
Gstaad
|
Gstaad Major
|
Switzerland
|
Cancelled
|
Cancelled
|
12?16 August
|
Vienna
|
Vienna Major
|
Austria
|
Cancelled
|
Cancelled
|
19?23 August
|
Hamburg
|
Hamburg Major
|
Germany
|
Cancelled
|
Cancelled
|
Mascot
[
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]
The Major Series' official mascot was Marnin. Unveiled prior to the 2016 season, Marnin is described as a cross between a kangaroo and a fox.
[22]
Marnin made his debut courtside on the FIVB Tour at the Hamburg Major.
See also
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]
References
[
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]
External links
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