The men's tournament in volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics was the 14th edition of the event at the Summer Olympics, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB, in conjunction with the IOC. It was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 7 to 21 August 2016.
* The Asian Qualifier was combined with the 1st World Qualifier. The best Asian team qualified as the Asian Qualifier winners, while the best three ranked teams except the Asian Qualifier winners qualified as the top three teams of the 1st World Qualifier.
Format
The preliminary round was a competition between the twelve teams, who were divided into two pools of six teams. This round, the teams competed in a single round-robin format. The four highest ranked teams in each pool advanced to the knockout stage (quarterfinals). The sixth placed teams in each pool were ranked eleventh in this competition. The fifth placed teams in each pool were ranked ninth.
The knockout stage followed the single-elimination format. The losers of the quarterfinals were eliminated and ranked fifth. The quarterfinal winners played in the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals competed for gold medal and the losers played for bronze medal.
Pools composition
Teams were seeded following the serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of October 2015.[3] FIVB reserved the right to seed the hosts as head of pool A regardless of the World Ranking. Rankings are shown in brackets except the hosts who ranked 1st. The pools were confirmed on 6 June 2016.[4]
In order to establish the ranking of teams after the group stage, the following criteria should be implemented:[5]
Number of matches won
Match points
Sets ratio
Points ratio
Result of the last match between the tied teams
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser
Referees
The following referees were selected for the tournament.[6]
The first ranked teams of both pools played against the fourth ranked teams of the other pool. The second ranked teams faced the second or third ranked teams of the other pool, determined by drawing of lots. The drawing of lots was held after the last match in the preliminary round.